Is there a Firefox extension that will let you hover over keywords on the page and have it show a quick summary from wikipedia?

May 15, 2010 11:31 AM

Is there a Firefox extension that will let you hover over keywords on the page and have it show a quick summary from wikipedia? I'm using a Firefox Extension from evri.com that does this, but it also comes with an ugly toolbar. If you hide the toolbar, the functionality goes away, but I really like it. (Example.) Is there anything like this? That maybe does it better? Most importantly is it bringing this data in dynamically without me having to spawn a new window or leave the page.
posted by dep to technology (6 answers total)

I'm using a similar tool now called LookItUp2. It's actually a Greasemonkey script, and it works by highlighting a word and then pressing a hotkey ("w" for Wikipedia, "D" for dictionary, etc.). The search result pops up in a temporary sidebar which disappears when you click outside of it. Most pages are reformatted in a simple plaintext view for easy loading. I use it all the time and get a lot of mileage out of it.

If you'd like something smaller -- similar to the extension you have -- you can get the Kwiclick add-on. After installing, if you double-click a word and wait a moment, a "search clover" with four customizable buttons will pop up. Click the service you want and the content will appear in a little scrollable box. It's pretty nifty.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:47 AM on May 15, 2010

http://www.answers.com/main/firefox_plugins.jsp

crtl+alt click over a word
posted by andryeevna at 12:50 PM on May 15, 2010

I use Wikilook. Works great, no problems.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 4:06 PM on May 15, 2010

FastestFox is the add-on that I use for this and more. It requires that you select the text, rather than just hover over it, but it may be what you're looking for.
posted by mumkin at 6:32 PM on May 15, 2010

I use Wikipedia Lookup -- lets me select text and right-click to pick a "Lookup in Wikipedia" contextual menu item.
posted by WCityMike at 7:16 PM on May 15, 2010

Thanks everyone. Totally dig "LookItUp2" Rhaomi. I think that's my ticket! :D
posted by dep at 6:05 AM on May 16, 2010