

IPhone app that isn't - vais
http://www.mobileorchard.com/bookmarklet-as-app-store-paid-app/

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mildweed
Odd that they'd approve this as an app. Here's the code for free:

[http://www.lifeclever.com/17-powerful-bookmarklets-for-
your-...](http://www.lifeclever.com/17-powerful-bookmarklets-for-your-iphone/)

[http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/07/22/iphone-pro-tips-
find...](http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/07/22/iphone-pro-tips-find-text-
safari-javascript-bookmarklet/)

~~~
vais
Here are 5 reasons: [http://findinpage.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-makes-this-
find-...](http://findinpage.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-makes-this-find-in-
page.html)

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mtinkerhess
Here's another list of free bookmarklets, including find in page, various
translators, and view page source (haven't tried them myself):

<http://ipuhelin.com/en/safariplus/>

~~~
vais
As the blog post author pointed out, let's not miss "a forest for the trees" -
the post is not about THIS bookmarklet (as much as I'd like it to be, for
self-serving reasons) or some other bookmarklet. MobileOrchard blog is for
developers, not consumers of apps, and this post is about opening a new market
and new possibilities for software applications that could benefit from tight
integration with Safari and run in the context of any webpage - your
imagination is the limit. The idea is that if one can monetize this, more
professional-grade bookmarklets can become available. This is an opportunity
for developers, and a boon for consumers.

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blasdel
The real issue is that it's not possible in Mobile Safari to bookmark a
traditional <a href="javascript:...">Bookmarklet</a> link -- unlike a normal
<http://> link you can't even copy it -- the only option you get from a hold-
tap is "Open".

Try bookmarking the "post to News.YC" bookmarklet from your iPhone -- you
can't!

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dreyfiz
There are plenty of iPhone apps out there that aren't really apps at all, but
just content of one kind or another-books, recipes, music. The beauty of the
App Store is that content that could never be monetized on the open web now
can be, and creators who could never make money from anything other than
advertising can now make some money. This is a good thing, people.

Look at this thing, it's beautiful. It has a UI, for Pete's sakes! Beats the
hell out of every other find-in-page bookmarklet I've tried in Mobile Safari.
They've all been atrocities. 99 cents? I'm buying it.

------
dreyfiz
This headline is terrible by the way. The original headline at Mobile Orchard
is much better.

~~~
gcheong
Yeah, I thought this was going to be another rant about the app store
rejection process or something.

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dreyfiz
I just bought it and replaced my crummy old Find in Page bookmarklet in Mobile
Safari with it, then gave it a test-drive.

It's GREAT! Exactly what I always wished for. Thank you vais for creating
this!

------
PhilChristensen
I'm particularly irritated with the distasteful attitude the author took when
he was mad a couple of hacker news readers didn't think it was fair to charge
$0.99 for this.

~~~
vais
I see how packaging up an existing bookmarklet and selling it is an app could
indeed be construed as unfair (although, a point could be made about the added
value of the package itself). Creating an original piece of software, on the
other hand, and making it available to the public for a fee, is the very
definition of fair play in my book.

~~~
dreyfiz
Absolutely right! Bookmarklets are software like any other and deserve to be
treated both by their creators and their users with the same respect and
expectations that any other software gets. Great work, by the way-I'm happy
you took a craftsman's approach and made something worthwhile.

~~~
vais
dreyfiz, thank you for the kind words throughout!

Hacker News readership can be a tough crowd, but I wouldn't want to have it
any other way ;) Thoughtful comments (i.e. where the reader took the time to
do a little bit of research before commenting) make it all worth it.

------
hexley
Nice, though I switched to using the faster and more capable iCab ages ago.
Have even replaced Safari as the system default browser with it.

~~~
vais
iCab looks pretty cool - well worth checking out for its rich feature set.

On the other hand, I feel that switching from Safari to a different browser
merely for the sake of in-page search would be overkill (like using a hammer
to swat a fly) - I actually have no other beef with Safari, I genuinely like
it. So I felt a bookmarklet would be the right-sized tool for the job.

