Tracking Bookmarks

Listen to the podcast: Tracking Bookmarks.

Transcript

This is Leo Notenboom for askleo.info.

How do you track your bookmarks?

I mean, when you visit a website and it's one that you hope to return to someday, how do you remember the URL?

The "traditional" way has been to add a bookmark in your browser. The problem with that approach is that your bookmarks are stored in one place. Should you be somewhere else, say a different machine or even using a different browser on that same machine, your bookmarks are nowhere to be found.

I move machines regularly but want my bookmarks available everywhere. As a result I cobbled up a solution that I've been using for the past few years: I created a web page on my own site that is nothing but a page of links that I use as my browser's home page. In fact with other pages there are several hundred links for my quick and easy access.

The big problem with this approach is that you have to have a website to put it on, and they're a royal pain to update. Each time I want to make a change I need to edit the page and re-upload it to my server.

So this week I'm embarking on a grand experiment. I'm finally getting around to trying del.icio.us, a bookmarking site that's also been around for several years. (Delicious is "del dot icio dot us").

While I'm not totally happy with the layout of their pages, the fact is it's easy to save bookmarks to del.icio.us, easy to edit them, and easy to tag them in a way that represents a logical organization to me. And being a web service my bookmarks are available to me anywhere - even on my web-enabled cell phone.

But there's more.

My bookmarks are available to you. At least the ones I choose not to keep private.

Del.icio.us calls themselves a "social bookmarking site". That means that your bookmarks, tagged with whatever words you think are appropriate to describe them, are available to anyone who cares to look. You can now see what I've set my browser's home page to, and what sites I've bookmarked there. You can also see the other tags that I'm using to organize my bookmarks.

And again, only those bookmarks I've elected to share.

The social aspect has been interesting. I can see how frequently others are bookmarking the same places I do, and with what tags. And as a website owner it's pretty cool to see that 275 people have bookmarked Ask Leo! and what tags and descriptions they've used.

It's an interesting solution to a complex problem, but I'm looking forward to expand my use of del.icio.us and discovering more of its features.

I'd love to hear what you think, and perhaps what bookmark management solution you're using. Visit askleo.info and enter 11766 in the go to article number box to access the show notes, the transcript and to leave me a comment. While you're there, browse over 1,200 technical questions and answers on the site.

Till next time, I'm Leo Notenboom, for askleo.info.