Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#421

Post by gumami » Sun, Apr 09, 2017, 3:04 PM UTC

hashhar wrote: post #131

jacquesm wrote: post #24

I do, but I've also come to rely on a plug-in called 'scrapbook'. It allows you to cut a snippet from a webpage and save it along with the url of the original. Very handy, and it also protects somewhat against linkrot. I've tied it to a hotkey to copy any bit that is highlighted to the currently open scrapbook. (shift-ctrl-b) without further notifications or interaction other than the keystroke. Super quick and it do…

Firefox is looking to integrate an auto-redirect to the Wayback Machine in case of link-rot. There's a Test Pilot experiement going on and it may be extended to allow for auto-saving of bookmarks on the Wayback Machine when bookmarked.

The wayback machine chrome extension that does this pretty well https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wayback-machine/fp...

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#422

Post by astrostl » Sun, Apr 09, 2017, 6:00 PM UTC

Yes, but only for regularly-visited things. The rest is on Pinboard.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#423

Post by kakarot » Sun, Apr 09, 2017, 11:56 PM UTC

a3n wrote: post #153

kakarot wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that major browsers don't offer a way to offer a view into this data model. The integration is important for an efficient workflow.

Firefox and Chrome both will display a local directory. In fact I exploit that for my no-software written personal wiki, github.com/a3n/miki. I bookmark the directory of the top of my wiki, and drill down into directories to get at my pages, except the pages I've bookmarked. I see no reason why a browser couldn't do that with URLs in local directories. EDIT: Unfortunately I don't think the first part, drag/drop from…

That's a pretty neat use-case, thanks for sharing. I could see it being useful for my own personal knowledge database as well. Unfortunately it doesn't help with my regular browsing workflow, which revolves around a bookmark bar filled with textless favicons arranged by color.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#424

Post by kakarot » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 12:04 AM UTC

AceyMan wrote: post #146

kakarot wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that major browsers don't offer a way to offer a view into this data model. The integration is important for an efficient workflow.

Hmm, I'm not sure what the anti-pattern you see is. I just go to the folder that represents the topic (typically /Vendors/Mgfr/Product/) and there along with spec sheets, user guides, etc., are the URLs I've saved. Then I {wait for it} open a blank tab (ctrl+t) and drag the URL 'file' back and drop it on the blank tab -- Presto, there's the page. Considering I probably find four or five worthwhile web pages for every…

That is quite a few more steps than just clicking a drop down folder on my bookmarks bar or using the omnibar/awesome bar to quickly access previously visited pages. Prohibitively more steps for casual internet users and needlessly more steps for a power user like me who can just further optimize the steps I find myself repeating often.

It's not that maintaining a database of useful links in a filesystem structure is an antipattern, I just find it too limited and hierarchical for most purposes. Knowledge databases like Zotero[0], or mindmapping software like Freemind[1] are good for when I need to build link databases for specific topics and projects, and a combination of web scraping and offline data consolidation and organization provided by such software has so far been the best approach for me.

If I find myself visiting a static page more than 2 or 3 times, it really makes no sense for me not to just archive the page on my hard drive in case it later becomes inaccessible and then tag it for easy searching.

[0] https://www.zotero.org/

[1] http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#425

Post by ard » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 2:26 AM UTC

programbreeding wrote: post #375

tnegoshi wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little known chrome extension that maintains the convenience of ctrl+D for saving bookmarks but adds immediate option to save to a folder via fuzzy search: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/better-bookmark/pn...

I've read through the webstore link and the github page, and I'm clearly missing something. I don't see an option to save to folder via fuzzy search. In fact, I don't see options at all. I see a list of my bookmark folders with a search at the top. If I actually click on any of my bookmark folders then it just closes the menu. It doesn't let me navigate through my folders, and it never opens anything. Edit: Redundant

Hello, Better Bookmark author here. This extension is not meant to open anything - it's only purpose is simplifying the process of adding new bookmarks. It basically displays a list of your bookmark folders (flattened), and lets you select which folder the bookmark should go to. If you click on a folder (or navigate using arrows and confirm with enter), it should close the menu, but the page should be bookmarked into this folder. If it doesn't do it, it's a bug :)

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#426

Post by ard » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 2:28 AM UTC

ollieco wrote: post #317

Houshalter wrote: post #76

Of course, and I'm surprised many people don't. Chrome handles bookmarks well, automatically syncing them between different machines you are signed in on. I used to have them nicely organized into different folders but now it's a bit of a mess... It's especially useful to deal with tab explosion. Control+D and you can just save all your tabs in a single folder (and never look at them again.) The biggest problem is li…

I use bookmarks a lot and I also like Chrome's handy way of managing bookmarks into folders. I just wish there were better keyboard shortcuts for creating bookmarks and automatically sending them to specific folders (e.g: Cmd + D + T will send it to 'Tech' folder). Regarding linkrot, I think Pocket or Instapaper will solve that for your because they copy the underlying content from the page.

A bit of self-promotion: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/better-bookmark/pn... (I essentially had the same issue as you)

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#427

Post by abhinickz » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 8:42 AM UTC

kakarot wrote: post #141

ikawe wrote: post #45

I probably have 500 bookmarks. I never click on them though. Instead I (ab)use bookmarks as a way to increase the weight of URLs in chrome's navigation bar autocomplete/suggestion algorithm. e.g. If you find that you're going to a site's homepage and clicking three times, instead once you get to the actual page you want, bookmark it. You can even give it a more memorable name, like "standup hangout" and then watch it…

That's a very interesting use case! Have you tried using keyword bookmarks? If you find yourself visiting a URL often, you could make it a keyword bookmark with an optional %s search parameter, accessible from the address bar. Useful for websites with generated urls, like reddit or 4chan.

You can see this on chrome with this URL: chrome://predictors/

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#428

Post by abhinickz » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 8:58 AM UTC

I use Chrome new "Bookmark Manager" Extension: "https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bookmark-manager/g...

You can Access, Search, Import, and Export bookmarks from: "chrome://bookmarks/" URL and Pressing "CTRL+D" give you option to save to folder instantly.

Sometimes when I don't remember the bookmark folder location for example(https://news.ycombinator.com), I simply type something like 'news' or 'ycom' and chrome will show me some predictions which will be combination of Bookmark, Google search, and History with different icons or text.

Currently typing 'ycom' shows me five option 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/ with Star Icon. 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/news?p=2 with History Icon. 3. ycombinator (Google Search) 4-5. More History Link.

and If I don't remember anything I just type some random words on Google to get the web link!

I also use Google Keep Extension: 'https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep-chrome... to organize bookmark easily with labels and colors.

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#429

Post by kakarot » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 9:11 AM UTC

abhinickz wrote: post #427

kakarot wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very interesting use case! Have you tried using keyword bookmarks? If you find yourself visiting a URL often, you could make it a keyword bookmark with an optional %s search parameter, accessible from the address bar. Useful for websites with generated urls, like reddit or 4chan.

You can see this on chrome with this URL: chrome://predictors/

That's pretty cool, do you know if a similarly accessible list exists in Firefox?

Re: Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

#430

Post by kk_cz » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 10:20 AM UTC

yes, but only via bookmark toolbar - if you create folders here it acts like a pull-down menu that you have always on top of your browser + plus adding and categorizing new bookmark is as easy as dragging the site's url into matching folder. I haven't seen the "regular" bookmark manager or "add new bookmark" dialog in ages.

About 5-10 most used links are simple 1-click buttons, rest is sorted into folders.

Most of these aren't content websites, but rather different webapps, or links into webapps (like direct link into some intranet forms that are used maybe 2-3x per month)