Hi Jane, You can manually create a web shortcut file by using TextEdit in plain text mode and typing or pasting in three lines. I'll paste in text from the post I made earlier this year, in answer to a query on how to create such a web shortcut file for the bard site.
1. From Finder, press Command-Shift-A to navigate to your Applications folder 2. Press “t” to navigate to TextEdit, and open it with Command-Down arrow or Command-O 3. If you’re using the default TextEdit settings, press Command-Shift- T to switch from rich text to plain text format. 4. Type the following three lines, noting that for the third line you will simply be pressing the return key: [InternetShortcut] URL=https://nlsbard.loc.gov/ enter key 5. Save the file with Command-S, and if you want it saved to your Desktop press Command-Shift-D. Type in a name in the text box like “bard.url” (without the quotes), and press return. You’ll be asked to confirm that you want to use the “.url” extension instead of “.txt”‘; just press return to accept this. 6. Close the file with Command-W Now you have a file on your Desktop that will open Safari to the bard web site whenever you open it. If you want to create a similar file for another web site, just change the URL address that you put into this file. In fact, you can simply copy the file you created, open the copy with TextEdit to change the URL address, and then save it to another file name with a “.url” extension. For the first line you must have left and right brackets enclosing "InternetShortcut", which is spelled with capital "I" and "S", but no space between "Internet" and "Shortcut". (You might want to just copy and paste that line). The second line just begins with "URL=" and then you paste in the URL address of the specific web page you want to bookmark. The third line will appear to have nothing on the line -- you just press "return". I've adopted John Panarese's description (when he save my post to the "macfortheblind.com" site in the "tips and tricks for the Mac" page) of writing "enter key". The file name can be anything you choose as long as it has a ".url" extension. When the file name has the ".url" extension, opening it will open your default web browser to the web page address you specified. You can place the files on the Desktop or under any folder, place an alias of the file in your Dock by using the Command- Shift-T shortcut from Finder (just as with any other folder or file), or mail this file as an attachment to friends. Opening the file in either Mac or Windows systems will work. You can also go back and edit the file as long as you open the file in TextEdit. That's no longer the default application for opening the file once you use the ".url" file extension in the name, so you have to use the contextual menu (VO-Shift-M) and select the "Open with" option, then select "TextEdit" as the application. This can be useful if the address of the web site changes, and you don't want to create a new web bookmark file from scratch, or if you have forgotten the syntax, and want to create more such files. For example, you probably have one of these files for the Mail Archive web page for the mac-access list. You can use this as a template for making more such files by simply copying the file and renaming it, then opening that copied file with TextEdit (via the "Open with" dialog), and just changing the address on the second line after the "URL=" string. This is the same type of file that gets generated when sighted users drag and drop the highlighted URL on the address bar to their Desktop. It's just that it's possible to get the same results in a completely accessible fashion with TextEdit. For completeness, I'll add that the .url extension files that work on both the Mac and Windows won't work on earlier, non-Intel Macs. There's an alternate, Mac-specifc file extension called ".webloc" files (for "web location") that works on all Macs, including the earlier PowerPC Macs under Tiger, Leopard, etc. that you can also create with TextEdit in plain text mode, but it has a more complex structure to type, since it uses XML coding. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Sep 8, 3:40 pm, Jane <juanitatig...@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm setting up an old iMac for my daughter for school It has Snow Leopard > installed on it. > > I need to place certain bookmarks on the desktop for her to make it easier > for her to get to her online lessons, but Ive forgotten how to do it. How do > I add URLs to the desktop? > > Jane -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
