«    »

Post to ping.fm from your widget dashboard

06.13.2008     Comments     Related    
I discovered something sort of a cool today after Sean at Ping.fm added a new feature. Ping.fm now allows you to "pop-out" the posting window sort of like when you're in gmail and you want to chat in a new window. Anyway you can also add this pop-out to your dashboard, here's how.

First off you'll need a Mac (buy one if you don't have one so you can try this out) and I believe a version of Safari greater than 3.

Go to the ping.fm dashboard
First you want to login. See in the dashboard where you're used to posting regularly? Now there's an icon pop that will allow you to "pop-out" the window which means you can experience the ping.fm posting awesomeness aside from your normal browsing. Click that icon.

pop out

Right Click
Right click (control+click) anywhere to bring up the menu you see below and select "Open in Dashboard...".

pop out

Select the entire window
Drag out a section to select the entire window. Click the button titled "Add".

pop out

Post from your dashboard
Now all that's left to do is update a trillion social networking sites from the comfort of your dashboard.

pop out

Tags: ping.fm   social web  
Share: Ping This! Add to Delicious Add to Digg Add to Newsvine Add to Reddit Add to technorati Add to Yahoo Add to Spurl Add to Smarking Add to Magnolia

Possibly Related

Comments    Comment Feed

jyoseph 06.13.2008 #
It should be noted (I'm too lazy to edit the entry) that once you end your session w/ Ping i.e. restart your computer you will need to recreate this clipping. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but mine failed to work after restarting.
Matt Burris 06.13.2008 #
That might be something ping.fm needs to do on their end, perhaps with a cookie, to auto-login via the pop-out.



I don't use Webclips on my MBP personally, so I can't help with that.



Also, for those on Windows, you can use Active Desktop to always display the Ping.fm post form. Right-click desktop, choose Properties, click Desktop tab, click on Customize Desktop button, click Web tab, for location put in http://ping.fm/pingout/ and then click OK until you're back to the desktop.



I also posted a tip on how to post status updates and microblog posts using Launchy. I imagine there's probably a way to do updates on Ping.fm with Quicksilver already, I'll have to look around.
jyoseph 06.13.2008 #
Good idea on the Active Desktop! Didn't even think of that one.



Using the Web Developer FF Extension I checked out the cookies and it looks like ping.fm is setting a cookie (a few actually) and a special cookie for those who click "Remember Me" but even then it looks like that is set to expire after a few days. Maybe a super special cookie would be good for folks who want to remain logged in until they physically click the logout link.
pirillo 06.13.2008 #
What about an AIR app for it? :)
jyoseph 06.13.2008 #
I second that!



In fact, all of these attempts to post to ping.fm from my desktop is just an inner cry for an AIR app, good call!
Vincent 06.13.2008 #
And I'll be your third! Excellent idea, I was thinking that same when I read this.
Nuriko 06.13.2008 #
At the very least, until a very smart developer comes around and builds a quick widget so we can update via the Dashboard... this is a clever tip!
jyoseph 06.13.2008 #
This might be good news:

http://twitter.com/seamoss/statuses/839022936
jensenrf 06.13.2008 #
Just ran into this post while looking for a ping.fm widget -- great idea and I really like what ping.fm is doing. Thanks!
jyoseph 06.13.2008 #
Thank you! And yeah those guys are kicking butt and taking names!!
Robert Sanders 06.13.2008 #
I've built a Dashboard widget here. Becauses it uses the API and your shiny personal APP KEY, sessions do not die when you reboot / restart Dashboard.

Install it, configure it, and it'll work forever.

http://code.google.com/p/pingboard

jyoseph 06.13.2008 #
Hey Robert, awesome. I just downloaded it and tested it out. My new favorite by far.
Avi Flombaum 06.13.2008 #
Anyone figure out how to post via Quicksilver?
jyoseph 06.13.2008 #
Hmmm, via Quicksilver? Haven't tried that yet!

Leave One


Like what you see? Snag my blog feed and stay up to date. Check out all of my site feeds here.

Back Up