Black Google really seems to have caught on lately. I’ve seen a lot of blog posts calling this site a copy of other black google pages. I never would have created this black google search engine if one had already existed. In fact, the one on blogspot did exist, but it did not display search results with a black background (so what was the point?). I spent quite a long time looking for a black google page (I dug over 40 pages into the google search results as well as yahoo and msn), and I was quite surprised that one didn’t exist. So, after creating the first black google search page to display results with a black background, you can imagine how annoying it is to see people say that “others have caught on to the trend, like jabago.com.” Anyway, I figured that rather than going around complaining about it or posting “jabago was the original black google search page,” I would just re-design it to make it the most enjoyable black search page. I’ve seen some people claim that a black background is harder on the eyes. Well, to each their own. I use this page all the time because it is the most gentle color combination I’ve ever seen on a computer screen. I’ve also seen a lot of people complain about claims that black google does not really save energy. The fact is, it does save a little energy on CRT monitors, but not on LCD monitors. I apologize to anyone who feels misled. LCD monitors use less energy than CRT monitors anyway, so if you’ve got one, you’re doing the world a favor. Thanks for visiting Jabago.com, and I hope you enjoy the new black google design.
Internet Explorer users have it a little more difficult. I recommend that you skip this explanation and install Firefox. If you don’t want to, you can test these buttons easily to see if you want to go to the trouble of following the instructions below.
To test the blackify digg button, simply right click it here , select “copy shortcut,” then go to digg.com and paste the shortcut into the address field and press enter. Repeat to test the enlargify digg button.
To Add blackify digg and enlargify digg buttons to Internet Explorer 7:
In IE7, click the “add to favorites” button and select “add to favorites.”
Type “_Blackify Digg ” in the name feild and select “create in Favorites” and click “add.”
Right click this icon , select “save picture as,” browse to your desktop, and select save. Repeat for this icon .
Right click on the Blackify Digg button above and select “copy shortcut.”
Click the Favorites button , right click on “Blackify Digg ” in the dropdown menu, and select “properties.”
Delete everything in the URL field and then type ctrl+v to paste the Blackify Digg URL.
Click in the shortcut feild and type “d.” This makes ctrl+alt+d the shortcut key for Blackifying.
Click the “change icon” button, browse to “desktop,” and select the icon that you saved there.
Click OK. You will get a warning that “The protocal ‘javascript’ does not have a registered program. Do you want to keep this target anyway?” Select yes. If this worries you, see the “how it works” section below. This will not harm, track, or spy on your computer.
Now, ctrl click here to visit digg.com in a new tab (that way you can keep this page open) and type “ctrl+alt+d” to Blackify the page. Voila, it’s black.
When you’re done, click the Favorites button, right click any favorite, and select “sort by name.” Since you added an underscore before the name of these favorites, they will rise to the top of the list where they will be easier to access.
To install the “Enlargify Digg ” button, reapeat steps 1-8, substituting the word “Enlargify” for “Blackify” and make “ctrl+alt+g” the shortcut key.
Because I use Google more than any web site and I find it very hard on my eyes, I’ve added a black Google portal (click here for access). Searching from this portal will take you directly to google.com, but all search results will be displayed with a black background and light colored text.
The internet has clearly become the most sensible medium for keeping up with the news, technology, and, well, everything. While some people are content to read small black text from a computer monitor all day long, most find that it makes their eyes sore. I’ve found that reading light colored text with a black background (like what you’re reading) greatly reduces the strain on my eyes. Unfortunately, most of the best sites on the web are formatted with black text on a white background. To fix this, I’ve created a couple buttons that will "blackify" and "enlargify" any website.
Now I’ve taken it one step further by creating buttons to reformat digg.com. The "blackify digg" button loads a new style sheet that formats any page on digg.com with a black background, light colored text, and deep colored buttons. The "enlargify digg" button enlarges all text on digg.com so that you can read it from a more reclined position.
If you’re using Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Netscape (Internet Explorer users click here), simply drag each of these buttons up to your bookmarks toolbar. If you don’t like them, you can right click on them on your toolbar and select delete. They won’t harm, track, or spy on your computer.
Now return to digg.com, then click them one at a time. Voila! The "blackify digg" button will render the page black with light text, and the "enlargify digg" button will enlarge all the text.
If you want your "blackify digg" and "enlargify digg" buttons to include these icons , you will need to add them to your browser slightly differently. For instructions, click here for "blackify digg" and here for "enlargify digg".
I’m also working on some custom blackify and enlarfify buttons that reformat some of my other favorite web sites. You can find all of the web tools I create listed here. And the black google portal which requires no buttons can be found here.
Internet Explorer users have it a little more difficult. I recommend that you skip this explanation and install Firefox. If you don’t want to, you can test these buttons easily to see if you want to go to the trouble of following the instructions below.
To test the blackify button, simply right click it here , select “copy shortcut,” then go to another web site (I recommend wikipedia), paste the shortcut into the address field and press enter. Repeat to test the enlargify button.
To Add blackify and enlargify buttons to Internet Explorer 7:
In IE7, click the “add to favorites” button and select “add to favorites.”
Type “_Blackify” in the name feild and select “create in Favorites” and click “add.”
Right click this icon , select “save picture as,” browse to your desktop, and select save. Repeat for this icon .
Right click on the Blackify button above and select “copy shortcut.”
Click the Favorites button , right click on “Blackify” in the dropdown menu, and select “properties.”
Delete everything in the URL field and then type ctrl+v to paste the Blackify URL.
Click in the shortcut feild and type “b.” This makes ctrl+alt+b the shortcut key for Blackifying.
Click the “change icon” button, browse to “desktop,” and select the icon that you saved there.
Click OK. You will get a warning that “The protocal ‘javascript’ does not have a registered program. Do you want to keep this target anyway?” Select yes. If this worries you, see the “how it works” section below. This will not harm, track, or spy on your computer.
Now, ctrl click here to visit wikipediea in a new tab (that way you can keep this page open) and type “ctrl+alt+b” to Blackify the page. Voila, it’s black.
When you’re done, click the Favorites button, right click any favorite, and select “sort by name.” Since you added an underscore before the name of these favorites, they will rise to the top of the list where they will be easier to access.
To install the “Enlargify” button, reapeat steps 1-8, substituting the word “Enlargify” for “Blackify” and make “ctrl+alt+e” the shortcut key.
The internet has clearly become the most sensible medium for keeping up with the news, technology, and, well, everything. While some people are content to read small black text from a computer monitor all day long, most find that it makes their eyes sore. I’ve found that reading light colored text with a black background (like what you’re reading) greatly reduces the strain on my eyes. Unfortunately, most of the best sites on the web are formatted with black text on a white background. To fix this, I’ve created a couple buttons that will "blackify" and "enlargify" any website.
If you’re using Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Netscape (Internet Explorer users click here), simply drag each of these buttons up to your bookmarks toolbar. If you don’t like them, you can right click on them on your toolbar and select delete. They won’t harm, track, or spy on your computer.
Now browse to any website (or click here to go to wikipedia), then click them one at a time. Voila! The blackify button will render the page black with light text, and the enlargify button will enlarge all the text and convert it to an easy to read font.
If you want your blackify and enlargify buttons to include these icons , you will need to add them to your browser slightly differently. For instructions, click here for blackify and here for enlargify.
How do they work? These buttons each call a JavaScript function that imports a new cascading style sheet (CSS) from the jabago.com server. The blackify style sheet replaces all background images and colors with black, all text with light grey text, and all links with light orange. The enlargify style sheet increases all text to 24 pixels tall and replaces the all fonts with arial for easy reading. Feel free to download and modify the style sheets and scripts.
I’m also working on some custom blackify and enlarfify buttons that reformat some of my favorite web sites. You can find all of the web tools I create listed here.