

Ask HN: How do you organize your bookmarks? - olegious

There must be a better way than folders in Chrome...
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sundeep_b
I'm not answering your question directly, but instead I am posting my
experience that it might help you. Feel free to ignore.

I've stopped collecting my links on Instapaper as I hardly find time to read
through all the links I save and never found a single instance where I went
back to cherish that stuff(at least in the 3 month period that I archived).
Instead, I stopped worrying, and started to enjoy the content: read it and
forget it and your brain will take the responsibility to spring it up later in
the hour of need.

Here's the four step process I'm currently following. 1\. If the post is an
experience, well, I read it as-is, comment if I may, form my opinion and
forget about it peacefully. 2\. If the post contains some detailed how-to's
that are hard to remember, I spool it. 3\. If the post contains
links(generally to tools and open source code) that I might need to find
later, I tweet it. 4\. If the post is really awesome, I blog about it or add
to my to-blog list(another way of bookmarking, time taking, but the impression
lasts for a longer time)

I now have 18 articles spooled in the last 2 months that I clearly remember
why I bookmarked each of them as opposed to several hundreds on
Instapaper.(I'm not comparing Spool and Instapaper, I happened to pick
Instapaper first and used Spool later when I changed my tactic). Also, I don't
try to bookmark everything I find amusing, only those I might need later. Now,
I see myself reading and taking more pleasure compared to when I was worrying
about bookmarking most of the things I read. Only time will make selection
better!

------
jameswyse
I've never been happy with the way I manage bookmarks.

Right now, I use the bookmark bar in chrome only for sites I access
frequently, I have nowhere to store links that 'might be useful in the
future'.

For very frequently visited sites (GMail, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, HN, etc)
I have icons only (no text)

Then I have some folders with more organised links for other sites I access
semi-frequently (hosting accounts, control panels, bank websites,
documentation, etc)

This works well when I know where I want to go. The problem is when I find a
link (say from a HN post) that I want to come back to later, but bookmarking
it is next to useless because I'll forget I have it and end up searching
google for a solution instead, wasting time.

The only way I've found is to simply leave the tab open, but when I can't even
see the favicons in my tab bar, that becomes a problem!

I've often thought about developing an app, browser extension or web service
to fix this problem, but haven't found the time to do so yet. I've tried many
of the bookmarking services out there in the past and none of them really hit
the spot. I have solved the 'web design inspiration' bookmark problem using
LittleSnapper for mac, that works a treat for that particular type of
bookmark.

Now I need something for everything else!

~~~
goblin89
If you're on Chrome, you may find SessionBuddy[0] useful. I'm sure there are
similar extensions for other browsers.

Currently I find myself using it more like a superior bookmark manager that
allows to quickly save open tabs under a descriptive name and easily
manage/navigate them afterwards.

[0]
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/edacconmaakjimmfgn...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/edacconmaakjimmfgnblocblbcdcpbko)

~~~
jameswyse
Thanks for the link, I'm not sure about using it to replace bookmarks but I'll
definitely be using it for those tasks where I need a few tabs open. I do wish
it had a menu to select saved sessions rather than opening a new tab, though.

------
alias1
I have seemingly endless (1k+) lists of links on the likes of Pocket[1]
(formerly ReadItLater) and the Read Later list in Rockmelt[2]. Found
Pearltrees[3] a couple of months ago and been absolutely loving it!

The easiest way to describe it is sort of like a mindmap for bookmarks.
Currently has a flash interface ( _shudder_ ) but seems to work fairly well,
lets you export all of your content at any time, has some social aspects
(follow others pearltrees, etc), iPad app (iPhone coming soon) and an API
supposedly out later this year (I hope sooner rather than later)

Hope you find something that works for you!

[1] <http://www.getpocket.com>

[2] <http://www.rockmelt.com>

[3] <http://www.pearltrees.com>

------
crisnoble
I use xmarks to sync my bookmarks bar up between computers and now I tag and
search my bookmarks with <http://stashmarks.com/> I also use
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/epfjibmdcelinmbfei...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/epfjibmdcelinmbfeimnfeeggpebleje)
to help make my bookmarks more searchable.

------
rmATinnovafy
I built my own bookmark app. Going to release it as an open source project
soon.

Why?

I became tired of the way browsers handle bookmarks. The endless lists of
links that did not give me any context. I also hate the way they are shown
(the UI).

So I built the app that allows me to write in some context for the link. I can
search the links by context, if needed.

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enieslobby
Some people like to bookmark sites they frequent like gmail/facebook/etc, but
I prefer just navigating to them normally. Still seems faster than bookmarking
and I don't waste browser chrome on icons/bookmark text.

I generally try to store all articles I want to come back to in Instapaper to
be as browser/platform agnostic as possible.

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dsowers
Self promotion here, but I just released a bookmarking app on monday called
Briarpatch. It's more of a way for everyone to benefit from the collective
bookmarking process than it is an organization tool. Get to enjoy other
people's bookmarks, though: <http://briarpat.ch/hot>

------
idleworx
Yes there is. I've switched to pinboard.in from delicious a while back and
have been happy so far. You can read my experience with pinboard if you're
interested. [http://blog.idleworx.com/2012/02/goodbye-delicious-hello-
pin...](http://blog.idleworx.com/2012/02/goodbye-delicious-hello-
pinboard.html)

~~~
sundeep_b
I haven't used pinboard, but I am considering this strongly if I go back to
start keeping all the required and interesting links. This site is a one man
show and having read his blog, I find him very honest,open and of course,
hardworking! Then, he provides support through twitter plus the pricing's just
pay once and use for life time(pay more if you want archival).

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epikur
Pinboard.in! I opted for the $25/year archival account, because I noticed that
some of my older bookmarks were dead links.

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shellehs
just using evernote. sometimes clip the articles, sometimes just clip the url
for later reading.

