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Sherlock plugins for power searchers.

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Getting Sherlock Plug-ins
Managing | Creating | Metasites | Top | Home

From the clever folks who gave you Sherlock. Help support Apple by stopping by here first in your quest for new plug-ins. Include plug-ins for major search engines & popular websites.

Behind this site's unassuming title are over fifty (50!) plug-ins to search journals & publications covering Medicine, Biology, Biotechology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Virology, and more. Includes two plug-ins to perform sequence searches for DNA or proteins. Thanks to Adam Shutes for a site that's an absolute must-see for anyone working in these scientific areas!
The epicenter of the Sherlock plug-ins: Over 300 plug-ins covering all areas of the web. Download all of them at once, or use their search feature to see if a plug-in exists for a particular site. Great job guys, it's truly impressive!
Search Corel's library of stock photography with this plug-in (say "cheese"!).
A straightforward, no-nonsense site with 14 plug-ins, including eBay, Jayde Planetsearch & Tucows. Also provides an example of a typical Sherlock plug-in.
A set of 30 eclectic plug-ins covering news, books, the arts, music, MP3, and of course, Apple.
Now with over 130 plug-ins (and growing constantly!), including planetRx, howstuffworks, EXTOXNET, Celebsite, SkateCity, and more. Download them all at once or one at a time. Site also provides direct access to 16 popular search engines. Courtesy of the Praestare Corporation.
A collection of at least 75 plug-ins organized into 21 downloadable "Channels" including Financial, School, Mac, Gaming, Movies/TV, Recipies, and more, with 2 to 30 (or so) plug-ins in each download. Website requires Version 4 or above of Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Tip! This page is only part of a much larger web site covering Mac News, Software, Appearances, Sounds, Downloads, etc. Check it out!
Plug-ins for the MIT & Mechanical Engineering search engines (MIT, MIT ME, MIT CADlab)
Note! This is a University site. Please be considerate when you use this site!

This site includes two pages of Sherlock plug-ins:

  • One for people using Mac OS 8.5 to 8.6.1, containing over 28 plug-ins covering search engines, books, medicine, government, and more.
  • The other for people running Mac OS9 and consisting of over 60 plug-ins organized into seven new "Channels" and downloadable as one "Megachannel" pack.

While some plug-ins duplicate those already available from Apple or included with the OS 8.5 thru 9, the site is still worth a look.

Nice collection of plug-ins, especially for Information Professionals and Library Scientists, and anyone who wants to get right to the search engine itself. Covers News, Business, Government, Engineering, Technology, Standards & Intellectual Property websites, and includes search engines such as deja.com, alltheweb, and Altavista's Raging!
Check out these plug-ins if your interest is University, Government, or Foreign Affairs information. Includes plug-ins for the United Nations, John Hopkins University, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Central Europe Online. Thanks to Sotiris Cartsos for writing this elegant site and bringing it to my attention: I'm looking forward to seeing his future plug-ins!
Prétendant être le " premier site français entièrement consacré à Sherlock ", il a des embrochablex pour les sites français tels que Yahoo.fr, voila.fr, Annumac, JeuxVideo, et d'autres. Inclut également quelques embrochablex pour des sites anglais-languge importants, une liste d'expédition, et des liens à d'autres sites de Sherlock.

(Trans: Claiming to be the "first French site entirely devoted to Sherlock", it has plug-ins for French sites such as Yahoo.fr, voila.fr, Annumac, JeuxVideo, and others. Also includes some plug-ins for important English-languge sites, a mailing list, and links to other Sherlock sites.)
Twenty plug-ins aimed primarily at software developers.
Plug-ins concentrating on French magazines, websites, or search engines.


Managing Sherlock Plug-ins
Getting | Creating | Metasites | Top | Home

Organize your plug-ins into convenient groups with this plug-ins manager that works like your Mac's "Extensions Manager". Very handy for us power searchers!
From those same people who brought you the excellent (and free!) program Metagenerator, Glooton is a free metasearch program that uses ordinary Sherlock plugins. They claim it allows you to defind sets of plug-ins, supports relevance ranking, removes duplicate links, and checks for dead links. It's available in both Mac OS and Win-32 varieties, and their web site includes a number of links to Sherlock-related web sites.
Written by Apple, these four handy (and free!) AppleScripts let you create, activate, edit, and delete "sets" of Sherlock plugins to make your (meta) searching easier. Requires Leonard Rosenthol's "OSA Menu Lite", which is included in the "CD Extras" folder of the Mac OS CD-ROM.
Although designed to work only with certain plug-ins found at this website, it focuses your search on just the latest information by automatically synchronizing your plug-ins to today's date.
Think of this program as an "Extensions Manager" for your Sherlock Plug-ins: It displays the background information for any plug-in (such as date created, any comments, and if it's designed to update itself) and lets you create sets of plug-ins you want to group together. Totally free, courtesy of Jeffrey Robbin of Casady & Greene, the firm who wrote the exceptionally handy "Conflict Catcher".
This little software patch allows you to resize Sherlock's window to display more plug-ins. Might help save a little scrolling around if you have a large number of plug-ins.
Note! You do not need this if you are using Mac OS 8.6 or above.


Creating Sherlock Plug-ins
Getting | Managing | Metasites | Top | Home

If you want to write a Sherlock Plug-in, are reasonably familiar with HTML and possess a good deal of patience, this step-by-step tutorial from Apple Computer will show you how (and you don't have to be a programmer to follow it, but it sure doesn't hurt!).
Written by Apple Computer and directed mainly towards Webmasters & Programmers, it details the structure & syntax of Sherlock Plug-ins, and how to tailor your site's search output to make Sherlock's job easier.

Written by Apple Computer and directed towards Programmers, it details how Sherlock's Find By Content feature can be built directly into an application. Tip! Also check out TN1181.

Just drop a web site's HTML file onto this handy AppleScript, and it will try to create a Sherlock plug-in for it. While it isn't designed to create a fully-working plug-in, it'll save you time and effort. Includes a Step-by-Step Tutorial, using an actual web site as an example.
Note! This program requires AppleScript be installed on your Mac.

Generate your own Sherlock Plug-ins with this program courtesy of Fraser Speirs, who is quick to point out the program still has some rough edges.
Note! Requires Stuffit Expander v5.0 or above.

Written by Chilton Webb, this small program (33.6k) provides a series of templates designed to help you quickly build a Sherlock Plug-in. Includes Online Help.

If you write your plug-ins by hand (like I do!) use this to check for proper structure & syntax. Thanks to Peter N. Lewis of Stairways Software Pty, Ltd for this tool.


Sherlock Plug-in Metasites

Getting | Managing | Creating | Top | Home

Direct from the Mothership, background on the what, why and how of Sherlock. Includes articles written for the consumer & programmer alike, plug-ins to popular commercial websites, and a tutorial on writing Sherlock plug-ins.
From those same people who brought you the excellent (and free!) program Metagenerator, Glooton is a free metasearch program that uses ordinary Sherlock plugins. They claim it allows you to defind sets of plug-ins, supports relevance ranking, removes duplicate links, and checks for dead links. It's available in both Mac OS and Win-32 varieties, and their web site includes a number of links to Sherlock-related web sites.
If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Apple should be quite proud of this site: It provides a forum, breaking news, helpful utilities, updates, and over sixty (60!) plug-ins in alphabetical order, all in one easy-to-read, compact website. Courtesy of MacInEurope.
A set of 30 eclectic plug-ins covering news, books, the arts, music, MP3, and of course, Apple. He's even got his own Sherlock Plug-in to help you search through them.
This site includes a wide variety of plug-ins covering both Commerical & Government web sites, this list of convenient Sherlock links, a free program to help you create plug-ins, and (coming soon!) tips to make any search more productive.
Contains ...The "Almost Complete List" covers over 200 plug-ins.
Note: Page claims it hasn't been updated since 11/06/98.


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Disclaimer: These plug-ins and any associated programs at this website have been provided to make your searching with Sherlock more convenient & productive. While they have been thoroughly tested & work just fine on my Macintosh, they are provided "as is" without warranty or remedy of any kind: You assume any risks in using this software, and are solely responsible for any outcome resulting from such use. Unless explicitly stated, these plug-ins were created solely by the Author through direct examination & use of the websites mentioned, and are neither endorsed nor supported by Apple Computer or the specific websites they are designed to work with.

Copyright: While this information is available free of charge, it is not in the public domain. Plug-ins may be distributed provided the entire folder of information is distributed without alteration. If you would like to distribute them in a collection, CD-ROM or by other mass duplication means, contact me for permission. Thanks.

Questions? Comments? Plug-ins? Contact me! I welcome any questions, comments, suggestions, plug-ins or links you may have.

Trademarks:

  • Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Made on a Mac Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission.

Any other trademarks, service marks, or icons mentioned/shown in this document are the property of their respective owners, and it is not the intention of this site to dilute or compromise such marks: Contact me if you wish your mark to be acknowledged or removed from this site.

 

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03/14/01