Bookmarking Services: General Considerations and Problem Solving Example
The problem of storing bookmarks is as old as the Internet itself. As Excite co-founder Joe Kraus recalled:
To access web pages hidden “just in case,” bookmark storage services were needed in the past, needed now and needed in the future.
Obviously, the problem of storing bookmarks is important for all “living in the network”, and this problem is somehow solved with the use of various tools and various approaches. But there is no generally accepted set of tools.
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The most popular "solution" is bookmarks in the browser. A kind of crutch that allows you to save a dozen, another bookmarks, and then pile up an unbroken heap and think about solutions that allow you to manage a large number of bookmarks with greater comfort.
It is unnatural to use local software on a local computer to manage bookmarks.
To work with a purely network resource, it is natural to use an online service.
For some reason, the bookmark storage services have not put forward unconditional leaders from their ranks. At one time, it seemed that there was a recognized leader, and this is the social bookmarking service, which, in its best times (in 2008), announced 5 million users and 180 million unique bookmarks. However, over time, the service lost its appeal, and with it, loyal users.
Such a disgrace is possible, because in most cases it is more convenient to contact the search engine, although there are exceptions when only the exact address will allow you to find the right page.
Probably, there are no obvious leaders because the graphic interface has not been invented, which is deadly surpassing all other visual metaphors for bookmarking services.
The main templates of graphical interfaces used in bookmarking services are as follows:
There is no certainty, disoriented users have to limit themselves to the history of visits and automatic substitution in the browser.
And what if you move a successful visual metaphor from one sphere to another?
When designing TheOnlyPage online service, it was decided to use the familiar online mail interface:
Above the search bar, on the left panel selection labels for various categories, in the central part of the list (letters / bookmarks) with dates.
The selection / filtering of the required bookmarks is performed instantly by entering text in the search line or clicking on the left pane with keywords and colored labels. You can also organize bookmarks by the time of creation / editing / viewing by clicking on the appropriate column.
A good graphical interface template is good for manipulating bookmarks already saved, but creating new bookmarks is more convenient with a special bookmarklet that causes the usual form of creating a new bookmark.
To install the bookmarklet you just need to drag the link to the browser bookmarks bar.
Read more about the installation procedure here .
If you need to create a bookmark on your favorite page - just click on the bookmarklet link.
As a result, a form will appear with the fields already filled. Click the Create button and the bookmark is created, uploaded to TheOnlyPage and ready for further use.
Thus, the usual mechanics of working with online mail can quickly get used to and efficiently work with collections of bookmarks.
* I quote from the book: How it all began (Faunders at work. Stories of statups' Early Days) by Jessica Livingston (Jessica Livingston), Russian edition, Moscow, EKSMO, 2012
... at the end of 1995, when Microsoft offered to buy Excite, its technical director Nathan Mayrvold shouted: “The search engine is not a business. People use it only once or twice and, having made bookmarks for the found sites, never again refer to it. *This respectful attitude to bookmarks was present at the dawn of the Internet era.
To access web pages hidden “just in case,” bookmark storage services were needed in the past, needed now and needed in the future.
Obviously, the problem of storing bookmarks is important for all “living in the network”, and this problem is somehow solved with the use of various tools and various approaches. But there is no generally accepted set of tools.
')
The most popular "solution" is bookmarks in the browser. A kind of crutch that allows you to save a dozen, another bookmarks, and then pile up an unbroken heap and think about solutions that allow you to manage a large number of bookmarks with greater comfort.
It is unnatural to use local software on a local computer to manage bookmarks.
To work with a purely network resource, it is natural to use an online service.
For some reason, the bookmark storage services have not put forward unconditional leaders from their ranks. At one time, it seemed that there was a recognized leader, and this is the social bookmarking service, which, in its best times (in 2008), announced 5 million users and 180 million unique bookmarks. However, over time, the service lost its appeal, and with it, loyal users.
Such a disgrace is possible, because in most cases it is more convenient to contact the search engine, although there are exceptions when only the exact address will allow you to find the right page.
Probably, there are no obvious leaders because the graphic interface has not been invented, which is deadly surpassing all other visual metaphors for bookmarking services.
The main templates of graphical interfaces used in bookmarking services are as follows:
- hierarchical folders with bookmarks;
- portal-like list in several columns;
- flat list and tag cloud;
- tile previews.
There is no certainty, disoriented users have to limit themselves to the history of visits and automatic substitution in the browser.
And what if you move a successful visual metaphor from one sphere to another?
When designing TheOnlyPage online service, it was decided to use the familiar online mail interface:
Above the search bar, on the left panel selection labels for various categories, in the central part of the list (letters / bookmarks) with dates.
The selection / filtering of the required bookmarks is performed instantly by entering text in the search line or clicking on the left pane with keywords and colored labels. You can also organize bookmarks by the time of creation / editing / viewing by clicking on the appropriate column.
A good graphical interface template is good for manipulating bookmarks already saved, but creating new bookmarks is more convenient with a special bookmarklet that causes the usual form of creating a new bookmark.
To install the bookmarklet you just need to drag the link to the browser bookmarks bar.
Read more about the installation procedure here .
If you need to create a bookmark on your favorite page - just click on the bookmarklet link.
As a result, a form will appear with the fields already filled. Click the Create button and the bookmark is created, uploaded to TheOnlyPage and ready for further use.
Thus, the usual mechanics of working with online mail can quickly get used to and efficiently work with collections of bookmarks.
* I quote from the book: How it all began (Faunders at work. Stories of statups' Early Days) by Jessica Livingston (Jessica Livingston), Russian edition, Moscow, EKSMO, 2012
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/232597/
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