Cleeki - The World One Click Away

I am pleased to announce that Cleeki now comes to Google Chrome. For those who are not familiar with Cleeki, you can consider Cleeki as an superior alternative to IE8 accelerators, but works for IE (6.0+), Firefox (1.5+), and now Google Chrome (2.0.174.0). Just select some text, and Cleeki can search/share/publish the content and preview the results immediately. Here is an example:

In this article, I will give a quick overview highlighting Cleeki's unique features. If you haven't install Chrome or Cleeki yet, I have any article going through the steps.

Overview

Cleeki is a perfect pal if you need to launch search/share/publish tasks based on any content in your browser. Currently the following channels are default in Cleeki's Chrome addon:

1. Google: inlcuding web, image, video, blog, books, and spell check.
2. YouTube: an all-time favorite channel
3. Google map: including draging, zooming, direction, and local search.
4. Amazon: including the deal of the day on amazon
5. eBay: never miss a hot item!
6. TheFreeDictionary: an owesome online knowledge website
7. Google translation: including both paragraph and webpage translation, with two highlighted features: it automatically recognizes the source language, and remember your target language. So just select any text/page, and it will do the translation automatically.
8. SearchMe: a very cool visual search channel
9. Hulu: watching ABC's high-quality online TV programs
10. Share It: provide content share/publish via SocialTwist, supporting all mainstream blog/social/IM/email/bookmark services.
11. SlideShare: search slide presentations.
12. Wikipedia: search wikipedia articles
13. Technorati: blog search
14. Yahoo! web search

As a bonus feature, Cleeki can also preview a hyperlink without open a new window/tab.

The following are among the standard features in Cleeki addons. Nevertheless, due to the preliminary status of Chrome, they are either not available or not fully supported by Chrome. I am optimistic that these features will be added to Cleeki's Chrome addon later when Google officially announces the add-on system in Chrome.In the meantime, you are welcome to try out these features in Cleeki's addons for IE and Firefox. Check Cleeki's website for more details.

1. Customize your cleeki: you can virtually customize anything: add/delete/edit channels, skin, size, click behavior, etc.
2. Import IE8 accelerators: you can easily import IE8 accelerators into Cleeki
3. Copy pure text: copy text content without any format, quite useful in pasting web content into your document or email, without any format hassle.

Select-n-Go

In order to use Cleeki, simply select any interested text, and you will see a launching icon near the mouse position. Click the icon will bring a channel menu:

Or, you can also directly summon the channel menu: select any text and hold (don't release) the mouse button until you see a channel menu:

Click on any channel will launch the search in that channel immediately, without leaving your current page or opening a new browser window/tab:

To preview a hyperlink, simply move the cursor over the link, and wait until a preview icon appears:

Click the preview icon will launch a preview window so that you can get some quick impression. This is quite useful especially if you want to preview lots of hyperlinks.

You can also share/publish any web content simply by choosing the share channel:

Others

Cleeki shares the unique experience in IE, Firefox, and now Chrome. Further more, Cleeki also provides stand-alone software if you want to extend Cleeki's features beyond your web browsers to your desktop. Cleeki software can capture any content anywhere on your screen from virtually any programs (Word, Outlook, etc.). Check our website for more details.

Should you have any comments, questions, or suggstions, I'd love to hear from you. Simply drop a comment, or write to me directly (contact AT cleeki.com).

Since early this year, Cleeki has provided its unique "select-n-go" features for both IE (6.0+) and Firefox (1.5+). Starting from version 1.6.0, Cleeki now supports Google Chrome. For those who are not familiar with Cleeki, you can consider Cleeki as an alternative to IE8 accelerators, only superior. Just select some text, and Cleeki can search/share/publish the content and preview the results immediately. I have another article introducing Cleeki for Google Chrome: At First Glance. And here is an example:

The following is an instruction on how to make Cleeki working on your Chrome. Since Chrome is still under active development and has very limited support for add-ons, the steps below includes configuring your system environment. If you have already done so (i.e., subscribing to the dev channel of Google Chrome), you can simply skip such steps.

Install Google Chrome

In order to enjoy Cleeki in Chrome, you first need to have a Google Chrome installed. Obviously, right? Not really: you need to have a Chrome subscribing to the "development channel". In plain English, that means you need to have the latest released version (2.0.174.0 and above) installed. There is an excellent guide online at:

http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel

You can read inside if you are curious to know more details, or here is a quick overview:

1. Install Google Chrome from http://www.google.com/chrome.
2. Download the Chrome Channel Switcher.
3. Launch the channel switcher, and subscribe to the dev channel. See below:

You might be scared seeing "dev" not marked as "stable". Don't worry, in my experience, the dev channel is as stable as (or as unstable as) the official release for your everyday surfing.

Now please ensure you have the minimum required version (2.0.174.0) installed. Start your Chrome, and type "about:version" in the address bar to check the version. If the version is lower than the minimum, here is how to get the latest verion:

Click on the menu located right most to the address bar, and select "About Google Chrome":

The about dialog will help you check and update to the latest version automatically.

Enabling extension

The next step is to enable the extension system in Chrome by adding a command line parameter to Chrome's shortcuts. By default Chrome installs three shortcuts: one in the startmenu, one in the quick launch menu, and one one your desktop. The following instruction applies to all of them.

1. Locate a Chrome shortcut, right click on it, and choose "Properties" from the contextual menu.
2. Locate the "Target" item in the Properties dialog
3. Attach " --enable-extensions" to the end of the string in the "Target" item. Now it should look sth. like:

"C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --enable-extensions

[User Name] is the account name you are using. According to Google's document, this step is only needed for now, and will be eliminated in the formal release.

Here is an illustration:

Now you can ready to download and install Cleeki's addon for Google Chrome. Note later on if you want to install/reinstall Cleeki or other addons, you don't need to repeat the aforementioned steps again. Your Chrome is ready to rock in the extension world. Congrats!

Install Cleeki for Chrome

Here are the quick steps to install Cleeki:

1. Download the addon package
   
2. You can either use Chrome to open it directly, or drag it to Chrome after it is downloaded.
3. You will be propmted whether to install it. Say "Yes, I Do", or click "OK":
   

After you restart Google Chrome, you should have Cleeki already working in Chrome. For a quick test, just select any text, and you should be able to view a launching icon (Note: Cleeki might not work in your first opened page, usually your homepage. This is a confirmed bug in current Chrome. Just navigate to some other pages):

Click on the launching icon will bring a channel menu on your screen. And you can now enjoy the unique convenience Cleeki brings to you. Here is an example:

Last but not least

One last thing I want to mention is that current version is quite a beta release, just as the status of the dev channel of Google Chrome. Specifically the following are confirmed limitations in current Chrome:

1. Cleeki might not work in the very first page (usually your homepage) when you launch your Chrome
2. Although everything in Cleeki is customizable (channel, size, skin, behavior, etc.), you can't do it yet because Chrome lacks an offocial user preference system. There is a hacking way to customize it, and I might introduce that later on.

Here are some additional resources:

1. Cleeki's homepage: http://www.cleeki.com
2. Cleeki's Firefox add-on page, including additional instructions and screenshots, which also apply to Chrome: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7750

Here are a quick list of the links used in the article:

1. Install Google Chrome from http://www.google.com/chrome.
2. Download the Chrome Channel Switcher.
3. Download the addon package

Should you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave a message, or write to me at contact AT cleeki.com.

I hope you enjoy the unique experience Cleeki brings to Google Chrome. In another blog, I give a quick overview introducing Cleeki for Google Chrome: At First Glance. And you are welcome to give a shot.