Managing bookmarks (“favorites” for those of you raised on Internet Explorer) has long been a pain in the ass. The problem is compounded by running multiple computers and multiple browsers. I routinely use two computers, a laptop for work and a desktop at home. On top of that I use both Firefox and Internet Explorer (don’t ask). If you’ve ever seen the look of total frustration on my face via the webcam, now you know why — I’m searching in vain for some site I ran across, but now cannot find.
Well I’m happy to report that those frustrating days are completely over (leaving me more time to be frustrated by other problems). I’ve found del.icio.us.
Del.icio.us isn’t new. I heard about it quite awhile ago but never really checked into it until recently. I wish I had jumped on it earlier, because this site has completely changed the way I view bookmarks.
What is Del.icio.us? Besides the clever name (yes, the URL really is http://del.icio.us), it is a fabulous way to store, retrieve and even share bookmarks. To use it most effectively, you add to shortcuts to your Links bar in the browser(s) of your choice. Post to del.icio.us saves a website address for future retrieval. Rather than require folders or categories, del.icio.us uses tags. You can create tags on-the-fly and use as many as you like for an entry. my del.icio.us lets you browse your saved bookmarks, regardless of what browser you’re using or what computer you’re on.
This is where it gets even more interesting…
You can share your bookmarks. In fact, to see mine, click to http://del.icio.us/bigblueball. By default, this shows the most recently added sites. Beneath each link you’ll see how many other people have also bookmarked that particular site. Over on the right, you’ll see all the tags I’ve used. You can view them as a list or in the cloud view that has been popularized by similar sites that support folksonomy-style tagging.
It gets better. To view all the links for a given tag, just click the tag (try spanish). Notice the URL format. Now if you want to see all sites tagged with “spanish” across all users, change the URL to simply http://del.icio.us/tag/spanish. Nice, eh?
Finally, you can retrieve any of these pages as RSS for use in an aggregator, portal or blog. Yep, it’s as simple as http://del.icio.us/rss/bigblueball. So go sign-up for del.icio.us, then swing back here and let me know what you think.
Wow, I’ve heard of del.icio.us before too, but never really got around to checking out exactly what it was. Thank you for the nudge, I think I’m going to be using it alot!
Wow, I’ve heard of del.icio.us before too, but never really got around to checking out exactly what it was. Thank you for the nudge, I think I’m going to be using it alot!
Wow, I’ve heard of del.icio.us before too, but never really got around to checking out exactly what it was. Thank you for the nudge, Jeff 😉 . . .
Dead easy initial setup (following their clear instructions) I must say. . .
But a big job to then setup my current bookmarks there. And if/when I switch to using del.icio.us exclusively (running 2 parallel systems is stupid) I’m at their mercy – what if they go bust, or lose all my data ?? . . .
I think I’ll just use it as a “novelty” for a few weeks, and weigh up the benefit/risk factors.
Wow, I’ve heard of del.icio.us before too, but never really got around to checking out exactly what it was. Thank you for the nudge, Jeff 😉 . . .
Dead easy initial setup (following their clear instructions) I must say. . .
But a big job to then setup my current bookmarks there. And if/when I switch to using del.icio.us exclusively (running 2 parallel systems is stupid) I’m at their mercy – what if they go bust, or lose all my data ?? . . .
I think I’ll just use it as a “novelty” for a few weeks, and weigh up the benefit/risk factors.
Eagle_Kiwi, you may also want to wait and check out Flock (when they’ve worked out the bugs). As I understand it, you can configure Flock to use your del.icio.us account, and it will even import your bookmarks from Firefox/Mozilla and Internet Explorer.
Unfortunately that feature is not yet working in their developer’s release, so we’ll have to wait to see how well it works.
Eagle_Kiwi, you may also want to wait and check out Flock (when they’ve worked out the bugs). As I understand it, you can configure Flock to use your del.icio.us account, and it will even import your bookmarks from Firefox/Mozilla and Internet Explorer.
Unfortunately that feature is not yet working in their developer’s release, so we’ll have to wait to see how well it works.