A quick way to sign your blog comments

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I’ve entered over 3,700 blog giveaways to date so a number of my posts over the next month will be related in some way to entering giveaways. To enter most of these contests, you leave a comment(s) on a blog post. When entering at blogs that use the Blogger platform, it can get a bit tiring adding your e-mail address to each comment. There are a few different ways to make this go faster, but I find a “bookmarklet” to be pretty easy.

A bookmarklet is a bookmark/favorite that runs a snippet of javascript code rather than goes to a designated URL. I use the following bookmarklet to sign blog comments:

javascript:(function(){document.activeElement.value+="\nusername@domain.com"})();

What this does is go to the textbox where my cursor is, and, at the end of any existing text, it insert a new line (that’s the \n) and the text username@domain.com. I’ve stored this bookmarklet in my bookmarks toolbar (Firefox) and favorites bar (Internet Explorer) which display across the top of my browser window. Below are directions for installing/using this bookmarklet (disclaimer). One caveat is that this bookmarklet doesn’t work with 100% of the textboxes out there. Sometimes the textbox is coded into the website in such a way that the bookmarklet can’t make changes to it.

Firefox 3 bookmark

1. Right click on this link and select Bookmark This Link from the displayed menu.
2. Enter the name for the bookmark.
3. Select Bookmarks Toolbar from the dropdown menu.
4. Click the Save button.
5. If your bookmark toolbar is not enabled, go to the View menu and select Toolbars then Bookmarks Toolbar.
6. Voila, your bookmarklet should be sitting there at the top of the browser window.
7. Now you need to tweak it to insert your signature. Right click on the bookmarklet and select Properties from the displayed menu. In the Location field, change the string \nusername@domain.com to whatever you want. When you’re done, click the Save button. [Quick aside, if you put a space in your string, the system will convert it to %20 after you save the bookmarklet. Don’t worry, it comes out as a space when the bookmarklet runs.]
8. To use the bookmarklet, just put your cursor in a textbox on a website then click the bookmarklet.

Internet Explorer 8 favorite

1. Right click on this link and select Add to Favorites… from the displayed menu.
2. You may get a popup message at this point warning You are adding a favorite that might not be safe. If you trust the bookmarklet author, click Yes.
3. Enter the name for the favorite.
4. Select Favorites Bar from the dropdown menu.
5. Click the Add button.
6. If your favorites bar is not enabled, go to the View menu and select Toolbars then Favorites Bar.
7. Voila, your bookmarklet should be sitting there at the top of the browser window.
8. Now you need to tweak it to insert your signature. Right click on the bookmarklet and select Properties from the displayed menu. In the URL field (Web Document tab), change the string \nusername@domain.com to whatever you want. When you’re done, click the OK button. [Quick aside, if you put a space in your string, the system will convert it to %20 after you save the bookmarklet. Don’t worry, it comes out as a space when the bookmarklet runs.]
9. To use the bookmarklet, just put your cursor in a textbox on a website then click the bookmarklet.