HACKER Q&A
📣 behnamoh

Are browser bookmarks dead? What alternative(s) do you use?


For some reason, browsers have yet not implemented a way to __search__ through bookmarks. They also have no user-friendly means of __managing__ bookmarks. I often find myself creating nested folders of bookmarks and I wish there was a way to treat bookmarks as __files__ in a folder. I find the complexity of bookmarks systems prohibitive, and am wondering if there's a better way to keep favorite/important webpages for later use.


  👤 fIREpOK Accepted Answer ✓
I still use bookmarks... but I don't categorize them using a nested folder structure, I simply tag them instead. I use the address bar to search for them: * tag

But you aren't the only one thinking that:

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=ask+hn+bookmarks

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32505314

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22105561

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14064096

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34176035


👤 sp332
In the Firefox address bar, type a *. After that, anything you type will be searched in your bookmarks.

Other tips https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/address-bar-autocomplet...


👤 blondin
what do you mean browsers haven't implemented a way to search through bookmarks? chrome was the reason i started tagging my bookmarks many years ago. the omnibar defaults to searching your own bookmarks first.

doing "github " has been my way to go to a repo. or "twitter ". i have many other tags: "shopping", "article", "unread", "read", "people". there is a deliberate effort to make my bookmarks searchable. i export my bookmarks once a month in the standard netscape html format. other browsers import that format fine.

CRTL/CMD+L drops you in the omnibar.


👤 LunarAurora
> __managing__ bookmarks

To better manage your browser bookmarks, try some extensions. One that I like on chrome is https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bookmark-manager-p...

> find myself creating nested folders > I find the complexity of bookmarks systems prohibitive > keep favorite/important webpages

A good tags system in parallel with folders can help with all these. With chrome bookmarks, there is https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bookmark-tags/edpe... Otherwise, there are a lot of alternatives (zotero...)

> I wish there was a way to treat bookmarks as __files__ in a folder

Visually speaking (at least), https://bookmarkos.com/ is sweet.


👤 mattrighetti
I hate bookmarks because they clutter my browser status bar and I tend to save a lot of them, so… I am building an app (iOS only atm) that stores all your links conveniently, plus you can tag them, put them in folders and attach notes to it.

It’s currently in beta but I’m planning to release it to public in a couple of months.

You can check it out and join the beta at https://ulry.app.

Feedbacks are welcome!


👤 JohnFen
I run a private webserver with bookmark management software on it (I just looked and it appears that the author's website is gone now, sorry). It gives me what I need for bookmark management, and lets me access my bookmarks from any browser.

But I also use browser bookmark functionality for short-term purposes, such as linking to reference sites for a topic of temporary interest, etc.


👤 gregjor
Dead in what sense? I still use them and don’t find the management UI “prohibitive.” No need to search when browsers autocomplete from bookmarks, support tagging, etc.

Most often I want to remember an idea, theme, author, resource rather than a specific web page. Regular notes work for that, can embed URLs in my notes.


👤 mystickphoenix
I use https://www.xbrowsersync.org/ to keep track of, organize, search, tag, and sync my bookmarks across all my computers. Very happy with it over the past year.

👤 bigiain
For me, it seems tabs kept open for weeks or months replaced what bookmarks used to do for me...

(These days I save urls to pinboard then mostly never go back to them to read them later...)


👤 hamsterbase
You can try the hamsterbase I developed

1. currently free

2. completely offline, no registration required

3. full text search, tagging, highlighting


👤 mdwalters
I normally use Pocket

👤 moistly
I stuff everything into Safari’s “reading list” and then never read them :-/