Category: Quick Tips

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Open Source Quick Tips Software Tutorials

Following RSS Feeds with Mozilla Thunderbird

So I know many people see the RSS feed logo on a daily basis and have no idea what it does, or why it exists. RSS stands for rich site summary,  and does exactly what the name implies – provides a detailed summary of what is happening with a blog, news feed, or website in general. Most people use RSS because it can streamline a user’s daily news. Instead of visiting all of the blogs I enjoy to check for new content, or signing up for newsletters, I can have news and posts piped right into my RSS client. In this case I’ll be using Mozilla’s discontinued Thunderbird mail and feed client. I love the program as a free offline mail program, for it’s scheduling ability, and feed following, did I mention it was free? Get it here.

This is an RSS icon, you've undoubtedly seen it before.

This is an RSS icon, you’ve undoubtedly seen it before.

  1. Start by launching Mozilla Thunderbird
  2. Press alt to bring up your menu bar
  3. Navigate to File > New > Other Accounts…
  4. Select ‘Blog & News Feeds”
  5. Next
  6. Name your feed, I choose names based on how it will help me sort the feeds
  7. Next and finish
  8. In your left bar you should now see your new account, click on it
  9. Center top of your screen, click on “manage subscriptions”
  10. Paste or type in your feed URL
  11. Finish by clicking add
  12. Browse your new feed by clicking on it’s name in the left panel
  13. Double click a post title in the center window to open it in Mozilla Thunderbird
Categories
Open Source Quick Tips Software

A Tool for Remapping Your Keyboard

I needed to rename hundreds of files individually, with underscores instead of spaces. I could have named all of my files using spaces, and used str_replace among other PHP tricks to change them to underscores. Instead I turned to the powers that be (read: Google) and discovered a handy tool, AutoHotkey. This tool allows you to do anything from re-mapping a key, to completely automating tasks via it’s native scripting language and macros.

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Direct from the AutoHotkey website:

AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you can:

  • Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder.
  • Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually any key, button, or combination can become a hotkey.
  • Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing “btw” can automatically produce “by the way”.
  • Create custom data-entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars. See GUI for details.
  • Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.
  • Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script.
  • Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities.
  • Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don’t have AutoHotkey installed.

This thing already saved me two hours of shift clicking by allowing me to remap my underscore to the spacebar. Totally a five-star piece of software and my open source recommendation of the month.