They’re Alive!

21Aug06

No, I’m not talking about dinosaurs here!

They're Alive Logo

It’s a program name They’re Alive! which helps you navigate further information about a word or phrase on any web page you select. A menu pops up providing several options – searching a word / phrase on Google, finding dictionary definition, looking up in references, etc.

They’re Alive! runs on Windows 2000 & XP and needs IE version 5.0 or higher. As of now it doesn’t support Firefox browser.

They’re Alive! usage can be summed up in four simple steps:

  1. Download and install They’re Alive! on your PC.
  2. Start Internet Explorer and navigate to any web page.
  3. Select any text on the web page.
  4. A menu related to the text selected will pop-up. Choose any item from the menu.
  5. The first item on the menu will depend upon the content of the webpage. Select a movie or an actors name for example, and the default action will be to take you to IMDb.com. Select an email address, and the default action will be to launch your email editor.

You can configure menu items and set up your own relevancy settings. Read more on how to do this.
That’s all there is to it. We’ve tried to make the menu as simple to use and as unobtrusive as possible. The screenshot below shows They’re Alive! in action:

They're Alive Demo

To temporarily enable / disable the menu, use the They’re Alive IE toolbar button. This should be visible by default on the IE toolbar. In the event that it’s not, click on View -> Toolbars -> Customize and choose the They’re Alive! button from the list of Available toolbar buttons. Alternatively, the last item on the menu is always Customize They’re Alive!. Clicking on it takes you to the options screen from where you can enable / disable They’re Alive! FAQ’s

Hyperwords™ Anim LogoHyperwords™ is a similar super cool extension for Firefox users. With Hyperwords™ installed in your web browser, select any text and a menu appears: searches, references, emailing, copying, blogging, translation, and more…

Screenshot below displays it’s menu activity:
FAQ’s :: User Guide.

Hyperwords™ Menu Demo

Update: Version 1.5 is now out, it features a Toolbar and more! Version 2.0 due out late September, will feature support for Internet Explorer and serious customizability!


Filed under: Hyperwords™, They're Alive!   |  1 Comment

One Response to “They’re Alive!”  

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  1. 1 hyperwords on August 31, 2006 said:

    Hi.

    Thanks for mentioning Hyperwords™. A quick update.

    We just released version 1.5 which adds a powerful Toolbar function.

    This new version also addresses the issue of the menu popping up to frequently (which could make it a little annoying) by adding new Preferences so you can specify exactly how it should work.

    In a month’s time version 2.0 will be launched, featuring full user customizability, as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer support.

    Get this new version as well as more information at http://www.hyperwords.net

    1.5 is borne out of user feedback and we’d be very grateful for any further thoughts and perspectives or questions. Please contact me via email ‘frode ‘at’ hyperwords.net’.

    Frode Hegland
    Project Director
    The Hyperwords Company
    http://www.hyperwords.net


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