7 Ways to Start Surfing Google Wave

In Getting Started with Google Wave,  I mentioned one of the things you can do to get started with Google Wave is type in and enter with:public in the search box above your list of waves.  That command will create a list of public waves that will flood your Google Wave inbox.

To narrow the topic down a bit, you can type in with:public <topic>, where <topic> is something you’re interested to see what other people on Google Wave are talking about regarding that topic.  By the way, don’t enter the angled brackets.  So if I wanted to see what the public is talking about regarding WordPress, I’d enter with:public wordpress.

Here are 7 more ways you can get started experiencing Google Wave.

1. Talk to Eliza the Robot Shrink

Eliza the Robot Shrink is an automated robot you can converse with if you don’t have any of your friends on Google Wave yet.  It’s kind of fun and funny to play around with Eliza’s responses.

You can converse with Eliza by adding her to a wave.  Click on the plus sign above a new or existing wave and enter the contact information elizarobot@appspot.com.

2. Write a Posterous Blog Post

Here are the steps to write a blog post in Google Wave and have it sent to your Posterous blog:

1. Add posterous-robot@appspot.com as a contact
2. Enter your email address and password for your Posterous account
3. Make sure you click Done or press shift-enter to save your login information
4. Click on the Login to Posterous button
5. Start a new wave and add the posterous-robot as a user
6. Now when you want to write a blog post in Google Wave and have it go to Posterous, just click the Done button and it will post the Wave to Posterous.

Note: While editing your blog post in Google Wave, there is a check box by the Done button to save the post as a draft.  Also, not all formatting done in Google Wave will transfer correctly to Posterous, for now at least.  Wave is still in beta.

3. Open Multiple Waves

Here’s a tip to open multiple waves.  Hold down the Ctrl key in Windows and click on the wave you want to open in your inbox.  The wave will open (called a blip) under any existing open waves in the wave (blip) panel.  See image below.

Click image for larger view (800)

4. Adding Gadgets

Gadgets allow you to extend the functionality of a wave (blip).  Blips are on the far right panel where conversations take place.

You can find a list of gadgets at Google Wave Extensions List Page.  Typically gadgets are an .xml file.  You add them by finding the little green puzzle piece button on the toolbar of a blip.

There are many gadgets, but to get started, try the Likey Gadget.  Copy and paste the url http://www.nebweb.com.au/wave/likey.xml into the Gadget URL.  See image below.

The Likey gadget places a Like and Dislike in a blip.  So you can rate each blip as like or dislike.

Again, there are quite a few gadgets.  The video, audio and conferencing gadgets look very interesting.  Check them out at the extensions link I provided above.

5. A Google Wave Address

Even though your wave address looks like an email address <name>@googlewave.com, it’s not.  You can’t send and receive email via that address.

However, if one of your Google Contacts (in Gmail) also has a Wave account, they will automatically show up in your contacts list in Google Wave.

6. Google Wave and Internet Explorer

You can browse to wave.google.com with Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Flock and starting using it right away, but not with Internet Explorer, you’ll need to install a plugin.

7. A list of Keyboard Shortcuts

Here’s a list of common keyboard shortcuts that help while navigating Google Wave:

• The home key will take you to the first blip in a wave
• The end key will take you to the last blip in a wave
• While editing a new blip, press shift-enter to save the blip (same as clicking Done)
• Page Up and Page Down takes you up and down a whole panel’s worth of blips
• Up and Down Arrows move up and down one blip at a time
• If you start a new blip and want to remove it before saving it, press the Escape key
• To edit the current blip, press Ctrl-E

Google Wave is just getting started.  It’s powerful and has a lot to offer which makes it kind of confusing for some folks.    But rest assured, I’ll write more about Google Wave here on my blog as well as in my newsletter.