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E-book InformationBookmark Managers: Programs vs. Web Services
by:
Andrew Nemets
The rapid development of the Earth Wide Web in recent years has led to an explosive growth of information on the Internet. Our contemporary fashion would-be be inconceivable without access to such a super-abundant abundance of valuable information and web aquatics has now become an everyday occupation for even as the most diverse sections of society.
This rapid expansion of web resources raises several new issues for all of us. How could you possibly remember; after a long search, the address of that crucial web page? How will you be able to return to the page without continuance a tedious web search through hundreds and thousands of pages?
The answer is obvious, you need a program that will allow you to easily create and manage a info
of web resources. Of course, this info
must be quick, intuitive and convenient to use.
One way to resolve this problem is to use your web browser's bookmarks feature. Bookmarks are a popular term for the lists of web page links hold on
in web browsers, tho'
they are called 'Favorites' in Cyberspace Explorer. These web browser marker
systems have several severe limitations. For example, each marker
list will only be compatible with a specific web browser. If you use several some web browsers you will have to manage the marker
system in each one. Web browser marker
lists may become cumbersome to use once
your marker
list grows on the far side
a few items. Important features missing from web browser marker
systems include:
- Powerful search functions;
- Synchronization of bookmarks between several computers;
- Detection and automatic deletion of duplicate bookmarks;
- Checks for accessibility of bookmarked web pages.
Specialist programs and web services that store and organize bookmarks are now accessible and they offer a comprehensive resolution to these problems. They are called marker
managers or marker
organizers (in this article several terms have the same meaning). The difference between online (web-based) marker
managers and standalone marker
managers is in the location of the hold on
marker
info
and in the way that the info
is accessed. Web services called 'online marker
managers' store the user's bookmarks on their remote servers and their bookmarks may be accessed from any browser. A standalone marker
organizer is just a program which runs on your local computer. It stores the marker
info
on a hard disk and allows access through its own built-in interface.
Here are several examples of web-based marker
managers:
iKeepBookmarks.com - http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com
LinkaGoGo - http://www.linkagogo.com
Murl - http://murl.com
You can find much links to online marker
managers here:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Web_Applications/Bookmark_Managers/
Bookmark management code can be found here:
Link Commander - http://www.resortlabs.com/bookmark-manager/linkcommander.php
Linkman - http://www.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=product&id=5
Powermarks - http://www.kaylon.com/power.html
Any code catalog will contain plenty of links to marker
managers. For example: http://www.snapfiles.com/shareware/misctools/swurlorg.html
Offline and online marker
managers each have relative advantages and disadvantages due to their differing methods of info
storage and access.
An online marker
manager makes not depend on any particular computer. If you have an Cyberspace connection you can access your bookmarks from any computer in the world. You don't need to synchronize the bookmarks on your home/work PC or notebook because they will all access the same bookmarks database. With an online marker
manager you can access your bookmarks even as once
you are in an Cyberspace cafe! Another advantage is that most of them are free. They will cost you time, though, because you access your bookmarks via an Cyberspace connection. Much importantly, most of the web interfaces are not as convenient as code based marker
managers and don't have so many a useful features. For example, they can't search for and delete duplicate info
items. Here are several of the different potential disadvantages of mistreatment online marker
managers:
1) You risk losing all your bookmarks if, for several reason, the web service closes down.
2) There is a danger of unauthorized access to your private bookmarks because your marker
manager server may not be secure against hackers.
The advantages and disadvantages of offline marker
managers are all but exactly opposite to those of online marker
managers and will be discussed next.
Any offline marker
manager is tied to the computer on which it is installed. It stores your bookmarks in a info
(which commonly has its own proprietary format) that is set on one of the hard drives. To use your bookmarks on several computers you will need to install the program on each computer and find a way to synchronize the marker
databases. Most of the presently
accessible marker
organizers do have a info
synchronization feature. Also, there are now devices with high data remove speeds (e.g. flash drives) that can store an independent marker
info
and allow it to be shared between several computers.
Another disadvantage of marker
manager code is the price. There are several free programs out there, but they don't have a great number of features and technical keep is often weak or unavailable. The programs that require payment are inexpensive, though, commonly cost accounting
from $20 to $40. The user licenses of such programs will commonly allow you to install the programs on all of your computers.
In my opinion, the disadvantages of standalone marker
managers are bottom compared to their advantages. The location of several the program and info
on the same computer guarantees you fast access to your bookmarks and high safety from hacker attacks. The convenience of the program interface and the number of useful features are limited only by the power of the computer and the skills of developers.
So, how should you organize your bookmarks? Should you use an online or offline marker
manager? I don't think there is a definite answer. It all depends on your preferences and working habits. If quality
is your priority, if you travel often and will to access your bookmarks no matter wherever
you are and from any computer, then you should consider an online marker
manager. If speed, ease of use, safety and practicality
is most important to you then an offline marker
manager power be a better choice.
Just about the author:
Saint Nemets is co-founder and CEO of Resort Labs - http://www.resortlabs.com, the code development institution specializing in developing human to computer interaction systems, user interface improvements and routine tasks automation software.
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