The Firefox version has the same functionality that the Chrome extension offers. An icon is added to the Firefox navigational toolbar upon installation and restart. Users who do not use the toolbar can right-click on it and select customize to move the icon to another toolbar.

A click on the Clearly icon turns standard web pages into pages that have been optimized for readability. Only text, images and videos that belong to the content on the web page are displayed, the remaining elements, advertisements or menus, are removed. Clearly in addition attempts to display multi-paged articles on the same page.

Evernote Clearly furthermore changes text and layout styles. The add-on uses a larger base font size, line height and width, a light gray background, black text and blue link colors for better readability.

Styles can be edited in the add-on options, just like it was possible in Google Chrome. Here it is then possible to change all values that have been mentioned above, plus the body, header and monospace font, as well as advanced CSS commands. This includes adding custom CSS styles and how links and large graphics should be handled by the Firefox add-on.

A click on the icon displays the optimized version in the same browser tab. Icons on the right can be used to change the default page style and font size, to print the optimized page or to clip it to Evernote (which requires an Evernote account).

A keyboard shortcut is available to open pages with the help of Clearly directly. This can be useful for users who do not want to use the icon or prefer keyboard navigation. The default shortcut is Ctrl-Alt-Right Arrow, it can be changed in the options.

Evernote Clearly is a useful extension for Firefox users who want to improve a page’s readability or print a printer friendly version of a page.

Evernote Clearly is a new Chrome extension by the makers of Evernote. The extension basically reduces web pages to their textual contents. It is in this regard comparable to other tools, like Readable, TidyRead, Paragrasp or Readability that I have reviewed in the past.

Evernote Clearly adds an icon to Chrome’s address bar. Whenever you click on the icon the current web page is converted into a text only version that is very pleasing to the eye. The extension keeps the page title, text, images that belong to the article and links. It may add other elements at the end that do not necessarily belong to the article but are not distracting as they are displayed below the article.

Here is a screenshot of how the latest Ghacks article looks after it has been processed by Clearly.

The extension will also turn multi-paged articles into a single page. You can easily switch back to the original article at any time by clicking on the back icon in the small tool bar on the right. A click on a link leaves the Clearly interface as well and returns the target web page unaltered.

Clearly comes with three themes that can be activated with a click on the Aa button in the interface. The default theme displays black text on a gray page. The other two themes display black text on a white page or gray text on a black page.

It is furthermore possible to change the font size from medium to small or large.

The toolbar links to printing options to create a print out of the selected page.

Evernote users can link Clearly to their account which gives them the option to add clippings to Evernote. An option to create a custom theme is also available in the extension’s options. Here it is possible to change font types and colors as well as ling heights and widths. Experienced users can add custom CSS and make further modifications to the custom theme.

The extension works very well. I tried it on sites like Ghacks, Lifehacker, ZDnet or the Wall Street Journal. It did not work well on some sites though, including PC Magazine with its dreaded slideshows.

According to the introductory blog post over at the Evernote Blog, Evernote Clearly will available for other web browsers soon.

Google Chrome users can download Evernote Clearly from the official Chrome Web Store. (via)

This article will walk you through some of the features of Springpad that set it apart from Evernote and OneNote, so if you haven’t already, you may want to jump over to Springpad’s website and sign up.

The first time you log in you will see one of Springpad’s most visually attractive features – your ready-made home theme. Make a selection, upload a profile photo if you think you need one, and then click next. Springpad will walk you through its unique organization system, which centers on the usual notebooks but makes them available through a graphical interface that you may find friendlier than that of OneNote and Evernote.

Where Springpad takes a sharp turn away from its competition is when you add notes to your notebooks by “looking things up.” For example, let’s say that you’ve just heard of a new album but don’t have time to look into it right away. By clicking the plus sign near the top of the screen and selecting Look it up, you bring up a search field which will crawl select sites for more information. By typing in the album and selecting the Album tab, Springpad presents you with a list of possible matches for your search. Selecting one adds it to your general notebook, where you can now find information about not only where the album can be purchased and for how much, but also when it was released and where the artist has been touring lately. You can even “Like” the album to Facebook, straight from your Springpad.

There are other quirks Springpad has that its competition does not. The checklist feature found in other note taking applications is streamlined in Springpad, and alerts can be set up to remind you to do things on the lists you create. You can sync your Google Calendar to your Springpad account, leaving the Google side of your calendar untouched but automatically providing additional information on Springpad’s side.

In conclusion, it is easy to see that Springpad is different from Evernote and OneNote is some distinct ways. These differences will not be right for everyone by any stretch of the imagination. Students will probably still find OneNote the best choice available, and computer users who are just trying to keep track of the bulky information they pull from the internet will still probably prefer Evernote. Yet if you are looking to add more organization to your life, if you are less interested in the information you are getting and more interested in putting it into arrangements that are more meaningful to you, then you may find Springpad the best possible option.

Evernote

Everyone, it seems, has covered Evernote in the past, talking about how great it is, how to use it, and all of its wonderful features. You’d think it would have been done to death by now, right?

Nope. Here are six features of Evernote that are equally awesome and useful, that don’t get the press or coverage they deserve.

Saved Searches

One of the great features of Evernote is the ability to use Notebooks and tags to sort all of your notes – its organization features are among the reasons it’s so useful. Saved Searches add even more functionality to tags and notebooks, because it lets you weed out only exactly what you want. You can search for, say, everything in your “School” Notebook that doesn’t have a “History” tag, or only things that are tagged with “To Do” and are in either your “Home” or “Office” notebook. The more notes you have, the harder it can be to weed out exactly what you want – Saved Searches are a lifesaver.

To create a saved search, right-click on the left side of the Evernote client, and select “New Saved Search.” Then, enter your parameters, and you’re set!

Sub-Tags

Within a given tag, you can create sub-tags that will make it even easier to sort what you’re looking for. To do so, right-click on a given tag and click “Create tag in ___”. You can create as many tags as you want within a given tag.

I have a ton of tags within my Evernote, but sub-tags lets me put them all underneath the general topic of what I want. This isn’t so much a feature as it is a way to further organize your notes under umbrellas, to be able to access all the appropriate ones at the same time, in the same place.

Global Shortcuts

This is the single most-used thing in my Evernote workflow. From any window or application on your desktop, a particular keystroke (that you create) can create a new note in Evernote, clip a screenshot into Evernote, or paste selected text right into Evernote. This means getting information into Evernote is super fast and simple, and makes Evernote the easiest place on your desktop to put information.

HTML Export

One worry I hear from people, when I tell them to use Evernote, is “what if it goes away?” It’s a fair point, as Web apps are prone to up and disappear without any warning. With Evernote, though, there’s no worry. First, because the desktop app works offline, and will still function even if something happens to Evernote.

And second, there’s no worry because Evernote lets you export notes to HTML. Most other applications will read an HTML file, so exporting it that way makes it easy to import into another application, or even keep accessible on your hard drive. Thanks to this export, there’s no fear of ever losing your Evernote data – you just might, possibly, one day, have to move it around a bit.

To-Do Lists

Since Evernote is aiming to be your “second brain,” your place to keep everything in your head and in your life, it’s a natural place to keep a to-do list. All the information is there; why not have your action items there too? Evernote does a great job with this – you can easily, with a mouse-click or keyboard shortcut, create a checkbox next to any line of text.

You can also search for to-do items, and keep track of any number of lists within Evernote. It’s flexible, easy to add to and edit, and a perfect solution for to-do lists simple and complex.

Formatting Goodness

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Evernote actually works fantastically as a word processor. It’s not especially feature-rich, but it has all of the basics you’d need when you’re writing – font, color, size, bold, italics, underline, justifications, bulleted lists, and even tables can all be featured in your documents. They’re all saved automatically into Evernote; it’s great for writing everything from a journal to a novel.

What about Evernote works (or doesn’t work) for you?

I’m a university student and having spent a few weeks attempting to organise my notes with MS Word (Trial Edition) I was quite excited to discover this great note taking application. OneNote really is useful, but I just couldn’t help feel as though it was a little overkill for me and how I would use it.

OneNote is targeted more at people working in business of course, which is shame because Microsoft is really losing out on the student market. In fact there are two main reasons I couldn’t effectively use OneNote:

• Organisation: Like many students I’m very unorganised. In fact considering most students are, designing a note taking program with this in mind would be a good decision.
• Too much for too little: What other reason aside from lectures and tutorials would I use OneNote? Sure I tried using it for some other things as well, but really it just feels like too big an application for what I need it for.

Enter EverNote.

I had a beta invitation to EverNote months ago, however based on reports of bugginess and performance issues I waited till the service has improved a little.

After the latest version 3.0 update yesterday I have begun to use EverNote for all my notetaking needs. I quickly discovered it’s a fantastic application for what I need it for. Here is why:

• Synchronisation: EverNote is running a ‘freemium’ model for their service. What? Pay?! I’m quite glad of this as it means EverNote is very likely to stick around as they have an actual business model! You will get 40mb free data synchronisation each month between different computers and mobile devices.
• Organisation: Is far easier and simpler, Use notebooks, tags and attributes to organise all your content. It is much quicker to just get in and start working and easier later to locate what you wrote through the search focused toolbar.
• Search in Images: It could still do with a lot of improvements but the Image searching feature of EverNote is pretty impressive. It will locate any text within any image you paste into your notes. You can also take screen clippings like OneNote which is handy.

In essence EverNote is a killer note taking product I couldn’t recommend more.