Trying to make computer work for my dad easier

My dad is not familiar with computers at all. I put bookmarks on his desktop for all his favorite places. He can click those and get those places, and little else. And finding keys and inputting text is very hard and tedious for him. He thinks I am a pc wizard by my little knowledge, which I am no where near. I asked him what I could do to make working with the computer easier for him and his work. He is in real estate; he opens up the bookmarked real estate listing page, and wants me to automate the process of taking an address from that page, and having that information automatically input into Google maps page where it shows the picture of the property, and then from there, have the address input into our local county appraisal district site area where it brings up the property's information on that site. He has such trouble typing and opening up multiple pages, that this process, for him, is causing him much stress and many troubles. I want to make his life easier, but I have no programming skills and do not know the first place to start. My thoughts are that there has to be a program, software, or way I can set it up where once he highlights and copies the property address from the original site, it can be transferred, transported, jumped or told to put that information into the Google maps search bar, and have it enter there. Then he could copy the same property address from there and by the same process shoot it over to the appraisal site address search bar and submit it there. So I guess I am looking for a way to have copied information, jump to another website and inputted into an area and submitted , and then repeated at another site. Any help in leading me into the right direction, or detailed instruction, or advice would be greatly appreciated. I really want to help my dad out, and show him I can do this for him. I thought this would be a great place to ask.

Dale

 

I'm sure he appreciates your help. I'm going to give some advice I've used in similar situations, before, in case it helps.

If it's easier, you can use search plugins instead of going to the site. Most browsers support their own search plugins, and many also support the OpenSearch standard plugins. Here is a list of Google Maps plugins available on Mycroft, which includes OpenSearch and Mozilla's Sherlock formats: http://mycroft.mozdev.org/search-engines.html?name=google+maps
The ones marked A9 are OpenSearch. They are easy to install in Firefox or Internet Explorer. You just need to click, confirm and the rest is automatic.

Other sites may have OpenSearch or other search plugins available. You can also look on official Firefox and IE plugins sites. OpenSearch plugins should work for both browsers, independent of the site you find them on. Others are just for that browser. If you can't find one that you want, they are relatively easy to make. There are plugins and things that try to make them for you, though I haven't tried them. You can also use the Mycroft form to generate and test them, using information found in the search form's source code. I like to make them as raw XML, and wouldn't mind making one for you.


I use 2 methods to search multiple sites with these plugins:

1. The method I would suggest first for this situation:
Copy and paste into the search bar, then choose each plugin to search and press enter or click the button to search. The tools posted above from MajorGeeks should make this process easier.

2. This alternative method bypasses the clipboard, but may be more complicated for multiple searches or if navigating tabs causes problems:
Select the text to search and choose the desired plugin from the browser's drop-down search menu in the toolbar. Then, right-click the selection and choose to search with that plugin. You can then change to the next search plugin, and right-click to search again, avoiding the clipboard entirely.
I usually just use this method if I am only searching one or two sites, or I'm saving the clipboard contents for something, because if you accidentally click, you may need to select the text again. It also uses tabs, which may be an added difficulty, if your father is used to having only one site open at a time.


One more tip:
There should be a Manage Search Plugins option in the plugins menu. I move the plugins I use most frequently to the top of the list, and delete ones I don't want, to keep it clean and simple.