Two years ago I began to look into what I could do to improve my productivity. Part of my workflow analysis included management of bookmarks. I needed a way to keep all of my bookmarks synced, categorized, and easily sharable.
To provide some background, I have thousands of bookmarks that I have collected. My bookmarks include links to articles about design, software and hardware reviews, technical how-to(s), product manufactures etc. These links have been gathered while researching solutions for friends, colleagues, and clients. When a conversation comes up where someone is looking for solution ‘x’, I can recall, go back, and find options for them to choose from.
As my bookmarks grew and grew they became a management nightmare. I had links at home, on laptops, at work, and archived from computer crashes and OS rebuilds. I began having challenges with keeping everything all synced up.
The solution I have found that works best for me is an open source tool named SiteBar. You can sign up to have SiteBar store up to 500 bookmarks for you. Or, you can download and install the SiteBar server software on your own server. Once you have created an account (either via SiteBar or your own installation) you can choose to make your bookmarks public, or not. You will also want to install the SiteBar Chrome extension that enables you to access SiteBar right from your web browser. The interface is Web 2.0 enabled. You can right click to modify link properties, e-mail them to friends and more. The interface is also skinable.
Finally, the characteristic that distinguishes SiteBar from Google bookmarks is that you can store your information where you choose to. Your information is not retained on a third party server unless you choose for it to be store there. I really value the option to store bookmarks on my own server.
I have been using SiteBar for nearly a year now. It has become a part of my daily workflow and provides an easy way to access my favorite sites and online resources from any workstation.
