Advanced Surfing
Tips & Tricks: Bookmarks

Contents

1. Introduction

Bookmark introduction

Personal toolbars

Both Netscape and Internet Explorer have 'personal toolbars'. In Netscape it is called the 'Personal' toolbar. In Internet Explorer it is called the 'Links' toolbar.

To update your 'personal toolbar': 

(surf to desired page) drag 'page proxy' icon to personal toolbar (drop it where you want it) note #1: folders must be created in the bookmark editor and placed on the personal toolbar folder note #2: when you drag the proxy icon onto them, they will expand, and you can select where in the folder you want to drop the bookmark

 

(surf to desired page) drag 'page' icon to your 'links' toolbar (drop it where you want it)

additional notes:

• In Netscape you can mark any folder to be your toolbar folder!
• To reorganize your 'personal toolbar', click + drag + drop individual page links.

Organizing bookmarks (Netscape only)

This tip is only for Netscape surfers. You IE folks -- if you don't like what you got, call Bill and complain! IMHO, 'favorites' implementation is one big thing IE does wrong!

Many surfers bookmark pages but have no strategy for organizing bookmarks.

A default installation of Netscape will have you adding new bookmarks at the bottom [as in... everytime you want to use a recent bookmark (high likelihood) you have to scroll all the way to the down] of your bookmark file. There are any number of organization strategies. Here's mine. avoid the long scroll to recent bookmarks by... creating a new bookmark folder moving it to the top of the bookmark list setting it as the new bookmarks folder note: I name mine by month and year and created a new one each month. I try to review the previous month's links and weed out any I don't think I really want to keep. make use of the Personal Toolbar area create a new bookmark folder (alternate is to delete all the stuff in the existing Toolbar folder) set it as your Toolbar folder (highlight folder | View | Set as Toolbar Folder) create one or more subfolders move or copy the 20-50 bookmarks you use most frequently to the appropriate toolbar subfolders this system works for me. I never seem to have time more sort my bookmarks into categories. If I'm looking for a former bookmark, I'm more likely to use the search bookmark feature. Usually my toolbar folder is 2nd or 3rd in my list because that is where the most activity happens.

 
additional notes:

• In Netscape you can move entire folders. Be sure to collapse them first.
• To reorganize/rearrange your 'personal toolbar', click + drag + drop individual page links.
• You can drag new bookmarks directly onto your Toolbar and exactly place it in the subfolder of your choice.
• To change the name of a link on the toolbar, use the Bookmark Properties (Netscape) or Shortcut Properties (Internet Explorer).
• Keep Toolbar folder names short -- you can fit more folders on the Toolbar

Searching bookmarks (Netscape)

Your bookmark file is also searchable. You can SEARCH your bookmark file by name, location, or description.
 

CTRL + B | Edit | Find in Bookmarks...   or  CTRL + B | CTRL + F

The dialog box provides a place for your search string and options to search the name, location, or description fields. There are also options to match case and look for whole words.

Bookmarking more than Web pages

You can bookmark more that just Web pages 

• a search query: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=bookmarks
• a newsgroup: comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html 
• an FTP site: ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/
• a gopher site: [this type of site is nearly extinct, mostly replaced by web sites!
• a place on your hard disk: c:\temp
• a chunk of JavaScript code: The one for the Wordsmyth dictionary/thesaurus is worth the trip.

Sharing bookmarks

Share your bookmarks with a friend. You  already probably know how to send a single URL or Web page to a friend without having to write it down. 

What if you want to give them a whole folder full or all of your of bookmarks?
 

CTRL + B | File | Save As   or   (copy file .../bookmark.htm)

The usual location for a Netscape bookmark file on NT is c:\winnt\program files\netscape\users\(profile)\bookmark.htm
 

(outside of IE) open Explorer drag Favorites folder (or a subfolder) to A: drive

The usual location for the Internet Explorer favorites folder on NT is c:\winnt\profiles\(logonid)\favorites

GEEK alert! Anatomy of bookmarks

Netscape bookmarks are kept in a standard HTML file that is upated and read by the Netscape software. Each bookmark is actually a definition term within a definition list (HTML terminology). The keywords used within the tag are Netscape enhancements. You can back it up, copy, edit (when your browser is closed) it with a standard editor like NotePad, and in general treat it like any other file. You bookmark is typically stored at: C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\(profile name)\bookmark.htm look at your bookmark.htm file

<DT><A HREF="http://www.botos.com/marine/" ADD_DATE="950676719" LAST_VISIT="950677019" LAST_MODIFIED="950677019"> Sonia's lessons</A>

This is an Internet Explorer 5.0 Favorite. There can be more or fewer elements depending on the specific page. Look at one of your Favorites with a regular editor like NotePad. For example on my NT system, mine are stored at C:\Winnt\Profiles\(profile name)\Favorites/(nnnn).url . note: You probably won't see the 'url' suffix, since NT doesn't seem to want to display it.

[DEFAULT] BASEURL=http://www.botos.com/marine/ [InternetShortcut] URL=http://www.botos.com/marine/ Modified=30EB8F783978BF0193 IconFile=http://www.botos.com/marine/favicon.ico IconIndex=1

Organizing immediately

  Bookmarking into a specific folder
 

Drag the proxy icon (the small icon to the left of the location field) over the word 'bookmark' on the toolbar. Continue to hold the mouse button down as you drag the proxy icon over folders (which will open), to your selected place in the folder hierarchy.

 

Favorites | Add To Favorites  (note questions for favorites subscription setup) press Create in >> button select folder

Converting bookmarks

There are programs available that will covert between Netscape and Internet Explorer. There is another class of programs which will manage your bookmarks completely outside of either browser.

My solution may be less than elegant. I do all my bookmarks in Netscape. I have a link to my Netscape bookmark file under Internet Explorer so I can read and link from the bookmark file.

If you want to find some software, you can start with this list from Googleo. I have no specific recommendations.

Finding updated sites with your bookmarks

  Automatically check for updates on all your bookmarked pages. Once you've visited a page that has helpful information, you'd like to take another look when new content is added to that page. How do you do that with a minimum of effort?
 

CTRL + B | View | Update Bookmarks  You can choose to update all bookmarks or only selected ones. If you want selected ones, you need to select them before clicking on "Update Bookmarks". (A page that has been modified is identified with accentuating lines ('blue gleam') in the bookmark icon; a page whose modification has not been verified is notated with a question mark in the bookmark icon.)

 

Favorites (pulldown) | Update All Subscriptions    (Modified pages have accentuated bookmark icons ('red gleam'). Assumes you set up 'update subscriptions' when you added your 'favorite')

Bookmark HELP

Bookmark references:  Bookmarks are a key time saver. Be sure you make the fullest use of them on your particular system.  Both browsers have HELP files which you can read offline.

 

Help pulldown (or F1) select Index ball enter bookmarks in 'Look for:' area

 

Help pulldown | Contents and Index (or F1) enter favorite on the Index tab click Display dialog button

 

Don't be shy, even if all you say is "Hi!".