I have yet to pick a web browser and stick with it. I mostly use Firefox, but I’ll find myself in safari now and again. There is nothing more annoying that wanting to look at a website but not knowing the url or have your bookmarks unavailable. The latter mostly happens when you’re not on your own computer. There are ways to sync your Safari and Firefox bookmarks with .Mac and various other 3rd party applications, but this does nothing for when you are not on your own computer. In steps Google Bookmarks.
I’ve been using Google Bookmarks for the better half of a year now and I couldn’t live without them. By using Google Bookmarks all your bookmarks are stored online! This gives you access to them in any browser and on any computer :) When I first started using the service I was a little worried that the process of bookmarking a page wouldn’t be as quick as using the browsers built in bookmarks. However, this is not the case.
By putting a simple button (bookmarklet) in your browser you are one click away from bookmarking your favorite sites. You can find this button at the bottom of your Google Bookmarks page, it should look like this…
When you click on this bookmarket button you will be provided with a pop up dialog box. The pop up box allows you to change the name of the bookmark, add notes to it, and organize it using Google’s “label” system. Labels take the place of folders and are much more powerful. A single bookmark can be filed under multiple labels, where as a with folders a bookmark can only reside within a single folder. By using labels your bookmarks are much more organized and you’ll be able to find what you want easier.
The fun doesn’t stop there. 3rd party developers have written some really cool Firefox extensions that work with Google Bookmarks. Here are two of my favorites.
GMarks: This Firefox add-on is laid out along the left hand side of your browser and known as a sidebar. You might be familiar with the layout since it’s the same as the History sidebar. My only complaint about this plugin is that there is no way open the sidebar with a keystroke :( But, it does gives you quick easy access to your Google Bookmark.
Firefox Google Bookmarks: If you are looking for an add-on that mimics the way that Firefox handles bookmarks then this is your best bet. The add-on places a button to your menu bar that gives full bookmark functionality. This would be my favorite add-on, but there is a pretty major drawback. When the add-on is activated Firefox’s spell checker will no longer display recommended corrections when you bring up the context menu! I haven’t found a work around for this problem yet, so if any of you do I’d really like to know.
Unfortunately, I haven’t ran across any good Safari plugins, extensions, or add-ons for Google Bookmarks. This doesn’t mean that you can’t add, remove, or browse your Google Bookmarks from within Safari. To accomplish this just point Safari to http://www.google.com/bookmarks/ and you have full access to everything :)
All in all I’m really happy with Google Bookmarks. At some point I’ll try out del.icio.us, which is probably the most popular online bookmarking service. But for the time being I’m content with Google Bookmarks. It offers most of what I need, is free, and is very simple.
Share This Article With Your Friends!
i have not read your entire post about bookmarks, but one that i use is foxylinks in firefox…
on exit it syncs your bookmakrs so i can use it at home and at work.
it is pretty cool.
I looked around for Foxylinks, but couldn’t find it. Do you have the url?
basically it is a firefox extension.
so at both locations i use firefox…
when you go to Mozilla.com, look under extensions, and search for it there.
it is pretty much the best thing that i use right now for that.
there are 2 other programs that are good for Mac.
one syncs bookmarks across the browsers on your mac and the other checks links for being live and dupes…
both cool programs….
I still can’t find it :( By any chance would this be the one?
thats it…
basically it is a firefox extension.
so at both locations i use firefox…
This should help out on Safari:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070719135209367
Thanks Jason, thats a really good news Google Bookmarks on Safari!
zelcna
is there an automated system out there, that would use google bookmarks as a storage area, and auto sync safari and firefox (and any other browser, for that matter)