Found this useful tip on how to add a ping shortcut to your Firefox address bar over at Lifehacker. I love its simplicity.
It also reminded me of a useful feature of bookmarks, and Mozilla and Opera bookmarks in particular.
You will not require a plugin, add-on or Greasemonkey script. All you need to do is create a new bookmark of the url: http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=ping&host=%s.
The important part is to add the keyword ping to the service when you add it as a bookmark. The major use of keyword is that it provides a way to pass parameters. A secondary purpose is that the bookmark does not have to be accessed from the menu anymore, which means keyword enabled bookmarks can be hidden out of the way
For example, If you want to ping a server you enter ping url in the address bar of Firefox, e.g. ping martin-english.com.
Firefox will recognize the ping keyword and load the url http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=ping&host=martin-english.com
Now, building on what lifehacker have done, this technique can be used anywhere that a web script expects parameters. For example, the website used for the ping keyword has some other services that can be accessed, using the same technique. Bookmark each of the links below, remembering to specify a keyword.
Bear in mind that the ping and trace functions are run on the network-tools.com servers, not from your machine.
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