Customizable links

So Tim's idea is that instead of having fixed buttons on the popup (currently, they are Amazon, Wikipedia, Google, Dictionary, and WebClipboard), users could select their own services (Ask.com instead of Google, Flikr instead of Dictionary, etc) to have in their own personal widget.

When we were first looking at ideas, we found HyperWords.net, a similar sort of add-on with many (MANY) features ... cascading menus of options to do everything from translating text to converting currencies, etc. In a sense, we defined the project in opposition to their "everything and the kitchen sink" approach ... instead of more options, we would consciously have fewer.

In fact, the question I have been asking has been: is even a five option set too large? Maybe the real killer feature is simply the clipboard, and the rest of it is unnecessary. On the other hand, I do tend to use the Wikipedia and Dictionary links quite a bit, and Google when I highlight an address (Google Maps is usually the first result).

Perhaps we could limit it to Clipboard plus 4 other buttons, and offer a bunch of alternative options for the 4 "free form" buttons. While most people would likely simply use the defaults, there might be some who feel so strongly about Ask.com or Barnes & Noble that they would not use us without this feature.

I am definitely interested in hearing what other people think about this. If you have a chance, you could read the 37 Signals free eBook Getting Real, which informs my attitude on the subject.