Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: IceFire on March 06, 2010, 10:51:24 am

Title: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: IceFire on March 06, 2010, 10:51:24 am
Alright... here's a question for everyone.

I currently use Firefox 3.6 as my primary web browser although I like to try everything so I have Chrome, Opera and I once tried Safari on my system.  I of course have Internet Explorer 8 but I almost never use it.

The current trend in Browser UI is to simplify the interface and get rid of things you don't use that much.  I love the tight and simple interface designs that I'm seeing as concepts or that are being implemented already. But here's my thing... in Firefox both at work and at home I keep all of my frequently needed links in the Bookmarks Toolbar along the top.  It's just above my tabs.  Most new designs seem to not plan for major use of that area and I'm wondering if there is a better way to keep all of my bookmarks very readily accessible.

How do all of you keep track of your book marks?
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: JGZinv on March 06, 2010, 12:44:43 pm
Folders - both in the main panel and in the toolbar (you can group bookmarks together and also "Open all in tabs" for
groups you frequently visit.

Ctrl+B for quick searches.

SortPlaces and CheckPlaces extensions for organizing and weeding out duplicates.

FEBE for moving to a new system or all around FF backup.

Pretty sure I've got around a thousand bookmarks on one machine alone, not including older systems
I retired but didn't bring over. It's still not as clean and streamlined as I like but it works most of the time.


There are sites for storing your bookmarks and other specific data in the "cloud" so you can share it, but I'd prefer
not to broadcast everything I'm bookmarking all the time.

Furthermore, if you need to share bookmarks at html links/shortcuts - you can use a app called Transmute to
make a few different types of browsers into IE and other bookmark/favorites types I believe.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Fury on March 06, 2010, 02:08:50 pm
I don't use/have bookmarks. Typing what I'm looking for into Chrome's url bar pretty much just works.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Nuke on March 06, 2010, 02:41:03 pm
one of the main reasons i keep firefox is because of how portable its user profile dirs are. i mean literally within minutes of an os's first boot i can have a fully working firefox installation with all my links where i keep them. i tried to do an import of all my settings with chrome and many of them just woukdnt import. especially all my offline html files (usually manuals for codeing related stuff). i kinda wish there was a way to import my password lists. too many websites require passwords these days and without some kind of password manager (im sure chrome has one) id be completely lost. with maybe the hundred or so passwords in my firefox profile, id hate to be without it.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Ghostavo on March 07, 2010, 07:25:13 am
Opera Link and Speed Dial.

Those are the only things you need.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: IceFire on March 07, 2010, 11:00:16 am
Opera Link and Speed Dial.

Those are the only things you need.
I have more links than Speed Dial seems to hold...at least on the surface of it.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on March 07, 2010, 11:04:43 am
If you visit two or more particular websites every time you start Firefox, you can set both of them as your homepages. Setting "[Site 1 URL]|[Site 2 URL]" as your homepage in Firefox will cause both sites to load the moment Firefox is started.

JGZ also mentions the use of bookmark folders, which is an excellent way of storing lots of bookmarks within that little bar and/or accessing several similar sites at once. I use this to great effect in Safari.

Firefox is also semi-intelligent, like Chrome. If you visit one particular website enough times, all you need to do is type a portion of that site's title or URL into the address bar, and the site you want will show up as the first autocomplete result. As an example, I've visited HLP so many times that simply typing in "hard" or even just "h" into the address bar gives me a link to the list of Updated Topics as the first result.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Mongoose on March 07, 2010, 12:27:37 pm
I'm kind of amazed at the concept of having absolutely no bookmarks.  I have to be well over a thousand at this point. :p
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Ghostavo on March 07, 2010, 12:36:18 pm
Opera Link and Speed Dial.

Those are the only things you need.
I have more links than Speed Dial seems to hold...at least on the surface of it.

You regularly visit more than 25 websites?
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: iamzack on March 07, 2010, 12:42:10 pm
i never close any tabs or windows

also i compulsively stumble

it's because for some reason a few months ago, firefox stopped storing bookmarks correctly. i try to bookmark a page and it bookmarks a totally random thing. so yeah. several windows, hundreds of tabs. all the time.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: JGZinv on March 07, 2010, 03:48:01 pm
@zack

Backup everything with the FEBE extension, uninstall firefox, reinstall firefox, rerun febe to import everything back in.

I give it fair odds of fixing it unless it's a weird malware, or you've got an odd add-on setting somewhere.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: karajorma on March 07, 2010, 10:55:26 pm
I have a firefox extension called morning coffee which will open all the pages I have configured for it with one click. So I can tell it to open certain pages for each day of the week. I find that a very easy way to keep up to date with all the sites I visit once a day.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Nuke on March 08, 2010, 02:54:49 pm
i kinda frown on excessive automation
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: IceFire on March 08, 2010, 05:29:07 pm
Opera Link and Speed Dial.

Those are the only things you need.
I have more links than Speed Dial seems to hold...at least on the surface of it.

You regularly visit more than 25 websites?
Yes actually.  That's why I'm just wondering if there are better ways to deal with the links than I have right now.  Never know... might be something interesting out there.  Lots of good discussion so far :)
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: S-99 on March 10, 2010, 09:02:56 pm
Links of your bookmarks stored in a text file.
Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: Splinter on March 11, 2010, 02:42:47 am
Opera Link and Speed Dial.

Those are the only things you need.
I have more links than Speed Dial seems to hold...at least on the surface of it.

You regularly visit more than 25 websites?
Yes actually.  That's why I'm just wondering if there are better ways to deal with the links than I have right now.  Never know... might be something interesting out there.  Lots of good discussion so far :)

Speed Dial aside.... you can pretty much stick any button anywhere as many times as you like in Opera. (you can even add a personal bar... which defaults with bookmarks already on it but you can add buttons for anything even and adress or search bar if your heart desires... did I mention you can choose the placement as well... that goes for all buttons and bars in Opera.) As shown here (http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/171/52736452.jpg) I have added bookmark buttons in many locations around the browser + added a personal bar with bookmarks on it.

Title: Re: Web browser workflow and storing links
Post by: S-99 on March 11, 2010, 03:58:23 am
Word document with links to bookmarks next to screenshots of where they go.