MyKaroo Documentation

Using
 MyKaroo

Here is the documentation for MyKaroo. We've tried to make MyKaroo as easy and intuitive as we can. Hopefully, most things are pretty straightforward. But here on this page we've written everything out so you can see it all in one place.
The MyKaroo browser extension runs under Mozilla Firefox (any OS) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (Windows OS). To install the extension, go to our main web page www.mykaroo.com. At the bottom of the page are big buttons, one for Firefox and one for IE. Click the big button for the browser you use, and follow the directions. Don't forget to restart your browser after you install. If you use both Firefox and IE, you can install both extensions if you want. They'll play nice together.
When you install MyKaroo a MyKaroo menu item is added to your browser's menu bar. It's under the Tools item in Firefox or IE. It has four sub-options:
AutoShow: display the MyKaroo window automatically when the browser starts
Show Now: if it isn't currently showing, display the MyKaroo window now
Uninstall: Uh, uninstall :) You can also uninstall the IE version using Add/Remove Programs
About: the inevitable About box
Internet Explorer 7 has its menu bar turned off by default so you'll need to display the menu bar to use these settings.
Internet Explorer 7 under Vista has a Protected Mode which is on by default. You'll need to turn this off in order to use the current version of MyKaroo with Vista's IE7.
By default the MyKaroo window comes up when you start your browser. If you don't want it to automatically show the MyKaroo window when the browser starts, turn off AutoShow with the MyKaroo menu item under Tools on the browser's menu bar.
MyKaroo works best when cookies aren't disabled. If you have disabled cookies in your browser MyKaroo will still function, but a few things won't work well, and a few more won't work at all.
If you close the MyKaroo window (for example, by clicking the upper-right corner X) it will stay closed until you close and restart your browser. Or, you can re-open the MyKaroo window using the Show Now item on the MyKaroo menu under Tools in your browser.
To post a new comment click New Comment on the MyKaroo window's menu. Or click Reply To This which is under each comment. The post-a-comment form appears. The comment (or entire page) you are replying to is shown underneath. Fill it in and click Submit Comment at the bottom of the form. It will be added at the end of the list.
When writing your comment you can use standard HTML formatting codes for bold, italic, underline, or strikeout. To format some text, enclose it in tags. Each tag consists of a "less-than" angle bracket, then the code, then a "greater-than" angle bracket. You need a start-tag and a matching end-tag for each format. The end-tag is the same as the matching start-tag but with a slash. For example:
bold text
italic text
underlined text
<s>~~strikeout text~~</s>

Your comment can include video. Your video must be 400 x 300 or smaller and must be from one of these allowed sites:
youtube.com
revver.com
flicklife.com
flickr.com

To embed a video, use a video tag with the parameters src= and vid= in the tag. There are examples just below.
Set the src= parameter to the name of the video host. If your video is hosted on YouTube.com, use src="YouTube". If it is on Revver.com, use src="Revver". If it is on Flicklife.com, use src="Flicklife". If it is on Flickr.com, use src="Flickr".
Set the vid= parameter to the video ID number which designates your video on that host. Naturally, each video service does this a little differently :) Some services may also require other parameters, these are described below.

On YouTube the video ID is the number at the end of the URL in the address bar. For example if the URL is http://youtube.com/watch?v=aZtPcN3UKzA then the video ID is aZtPcN3UKzA. You can also find this number as part of the Embed code on each video's page. No other parameters are needed. Here is an example:
<video src="YouTube" vid="aZtPcN3UKzA">

On Revver the video ID is the number at the end of the URL in the address bar. For example if the URL is http://one.revver.com/watch/343714 then the video ID is 343714. You can also find this number using their Grab Code feature. No other parameters are needed. Here is an example:
<video src="Revver" vid="343714">

On Flicklife the video ID is the number in the middle of the URL in the address bar between the slashes. For example if the URL is http://www.flicklife.com/973de8a3h72ce627e261/Future_Of_Ice_Cream.html then the video ID is 973de8a3h72ce627e261. However on Flicklife this number is not enough. You must also give a param1= parameter. This is at the end of the src= part's 'file' element, it is the 4-digit number just before the '.flv&vid' in their Embed Player code. For example, if their Embed Player code contains...
src="http://www.flicklife.com/flvideo/flvplayer.swf?file=http://www.flicklife.com/flvideo/1922.flv&vid=dc372fbdyv1d4e6b5d69&e=y"
...then the MyKaroo video tag for this Flicklife video would be
<video src="Flicklife" vid="dc372fbdyv1d4e6b5d69" param1="1922">.

On Flickr, click on the Embed button above the Flickr video, this takes you to another page. At the bottom of that page is a block of code. Towards the bottom of that block of code, find the 'photo_secret' and 'photo_id' elements in the flashvars section. The video ID is the number in the 'photo_id' element. You must also give a param1= parameter. This is the 'photo_secret' element in the flashvars section. So, for example, if their 'flashvars' code contains...
flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=a733983bc3&photo_id=2411005502"
...then the MyKaroo video tag for this Flickr video would be
<video src="Flickr" vid="2411005502" param1="a733983bc3">.

For all of these, if you like you can use height= and width= parameters, for example <video src="YouTube" vid="aZtPcN3UKzA" height="300" width="400">. Or just leave these off and we'll size it for you.
Also, you might want to update to the latest Adobe Flash player if you're having any trouble seeing the videos people have posted on MyKaroo. To get it click here.
Your comment can include pictures. Your picture must be a gif, jpg, or png, 400 x 300 or smaller, and must be hosted on one of these sites:
photobucket.com
imageshack.us
flickr.com
webshots.com
picturetrail.com

These sites make it easy to get the URL of any image they are hosting. To embed an image into a MyKaroo comment, use an img tag with the src= set to the URL of the image. Here is an example:
<img src="http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/Karklyn/Backyard.jpg">

If you like, you can use height= and width= parameters. An image without these will display at its natural size. For an image bigger than 400 x 300 please use height= and width= parameters so it displays within our size requirements.
When you want to post a new comment you will be asked for a handle and email. The handle is displayed on the MyKaroo page to show who posted this comment. The email isn't displayed.
Your handle can be a safe email link so people who read your post can click on it and send you a private email. The message is relayed through MyKaroo and the sender can't see your email address, so your privacy is preserved.
You can get copies of any replies to your post. Check the "replies to this post" box and we'll email you copies of any post that's a reply to your own comment. The other user can't see your email address, so your privacy is preserved.
Your privacy is important to us. We don't do anything icky with your email.
When posting a comment you will need to give a code to show that you are a human being, not an auto-posting robot or anything. This is to help control spam.
You can edit your own posts. Any comment that you posted will have an Edit button. Click it to update or delete your comment.
Firefox 2.x cut & paste bug: There's a bug in Firefox 2 where, when you're in a text field it sometimes doesn't allow text selection, clipboard cut & paste, navigation keys like arrow keys, Home, End, etc. This can make it harder to edit or post a MyKaroo comment. This bug has been fixed in Firefox 3. For Firefox 2 users, here's a workaround. The bug happens because Firefox gets out of sync about which window is active. To resynchronize it, click in another program's window so the other program becomes active. Then click back in the text field in the MyKaroo window. Firefox should then work correctly.
Another way we control spam is with our comment-rating system. See the red and blue numbers next to each post? The blue "positive" numbers are "thumbs up" ratings; the red "negative" numbers are "thumbs down" ratings. If a post is rated badly it won't be displayed any more. Any user can rate any post. Click on the blue number to give this post a "thumbs up", or on the red number to give this post a "thumbs down". For each separate post, you can only rate it one time.
The most recent post is at the end of the list. When a new MyKaroo page appears the last (newest) page of the list is displayed. Use the navigation buttons to go to other parts of the list.
There are four navigation buttons at the top of the MyKaroo window. They work about as you'd expect:
<< first page of the list (oldest posts)
< previous page of the list
> next page of the list
>> last page of the list (newest posts)

Click on the Search item in the MyKaroo menu to search MyKaroo posts. MyKaroo can search within a date range, in the current channel or any channel, in the current page or any page, in user comments or header essays. It can search for matches in the handles, the title, or the body of the posts. If you just list some words (or partial words) MyKaroo looks for posts containing all the words you typed.
You can also build sophisticated searches using parentheses, AND, OR, and NOT in the handles, the title, or the body of the posts, for example:
((apple OR grape) AND plum) NOT pear

Terms associate left to right by default. If you think anything might be ambiguous, use parentheses to make sure the terms associate the way you had in mind. MyKaroo assumes AND between the words unless you tell it otherwise. The AND, OR, and NOT are capitalized here for readability, but actually they're not case sensitive.
A search returns a list of posts. You can move through the list using the navigation buttons. Your search terms are shown at the top of the page. If you like, you can change them and refresh. When you are done with the search results, click Cancel to return to the regular view.
You can use the Options menu to set the current channel. Each channel on each MyKaroo page is a separate conversation. Change the MyKaroo channel and you're in a different conversation. Then when you go to another website you're still in the same channel, but on the new site. That is, you're reading the new site's conversation which is in that channel. Each channel has a different focus and there are channels for many interests. There is also an Option to let you set the number of posts shown on each MyKaroo page. You can set "one screenful" to be a specific number of posts, or one day's worth, or a week's worth, etc.
And the most important item in these instructions is... have fun with MyKaroo! We sure did when developing it, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

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