If you look up, you'll see a little screen shot for a Kiva toolbar I created for the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers. This little project is kind of aimed at the Kiva fanatic, which should probably go over well around here.
It's your standard browser toolbar. You've probably seen things like it before. Yahoo and other places have these which let you access their info and services from anywhere. The concept is the same here. This toolbar will keep you connected to Kiva and Kiva related stuff anywhere you're at on the web.
Here's a quick rundown of the functions/features our little bar has, from left to right:
Kiva logo - Clicking on that will bring you to the Kiva site at any time. The little arrow next to it has a menu with direct links to lots of the pages on Kiva (My Portfolio, Contact, Journals, etc etc) plus all the options for the toolbar.
Search box - Lets you to search Google and a bunch of other engines you can choose from the pulldown next to it. It remembers your searches, highlights terms on result pages and stuff (until you clear it).
Goodsearch is available as an option, but make sure you select Kiva on their homepage first so Kiva gets the credit for your activity.
Network - This is a drop down menu full of all Kiva related links, nicely organized. As new links become available or change, I can add them and they'll automatically update on your end without needing to re-download the bar. I think all the Kiva related sites and blogs are there. Please let me know if I'm missing anyone.
Statistics - Clicking that will pop open a little box with the Kiva stats you see in the upper right corner of this site. Now you don't need to come here to see it! This might not be a good thing.
Listings - A drop down menu of the latest loans that have been posted on Kiva. It checks every 15 minutes and display in
business name - country format. If something looks interesting to you, click and it'll bring you directly to their page on Kiva where you can read more (and lend)
Kiva Friends - RSS feeds from the all the forums here. It'll let you know when there are any new posts. Clicking the button will show you the titles of the new posts/replies and bring you here to read them if you select something.
Blogs - Feeds for the following blogs that will notify you when they have new posts:
- Inside Kiva
- Kiva Chronicles
- Blogs from the Field (Kiva Fellows)
- Kendal Mau's Microfinance Travels
- Ramon's Kiva Blog
- Lend Me Your Goat!
- How I Changed The World Today
Alerts - News about Kiva. Basically anything I post in there will be zapped over to your toolbar. These are just brief news alerts when something interesting/important happens. There is one in there now about Kiva hitting 10 million, for example.
That pretty much ends the Kiva related stuff, for now.
To make the bar more useful, there are also optional extras like a web privacy button (which will block popups, clear your browser cache, delete cookies, etc), and e-mail notifier that will tell you if you have e-mail from any accounts you add to it, and local weather. All of these you can set up or remove by unchecking them in the toolbar options.
If you want it, download it by clicking the image at the top of the forum any time or right............
here and follow the simple instructions. It also comes with an uninstaller if you don't like it.
Any problems or suggestions, feel free to post them in this thread or send me a private message. Enjoy.
