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how to manage browsed web pages more effectively?
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Posted by jimspoon
Jan 22, 2009 at 03:56 AM
If I bookmark a page, the page title becomes one of many saved (Firefox) bookmarks, and is difficult to find. So I tend to leave web pages open in tabs so long as I think I might look at them again. The tabs accumulate, and it becomes harder to find a page when I want to look at it, browser memory usage increases, and performance can bog down.
So I’m looking for a way to group browser tabs by research topic, so that I can quickly find an open page I’m looking for. Also I’m looking for a better way to find closed webpages I’ve looked at before, again by research topic. I’d like to be able to see the chronological history of my web researches, to see the path I’ve followed. I’d like to have something more than a mere title of a webpage and link to be able to pick out a page from a group of bookmarks or saved pages - the whole page, or perhaps an thumbnail image.
I’ve looked at Firefox bookmarks, Firefox history manager, the Scrapbook extension, various tab organizers, extensions for tagging bookmarks, Local Website Archive, etc. So far I haven’t quite hit on what I’m looking for.
So I’m wondering if any of you have found a particularly good solution or method for organizing and finding web pages you’ve seen (1) from among web pages still open in the browser), and (2) from the webpages you’ve seen in the past but since closed.
Posted by Graham Rhind
Jan 22, 2009 at 07:43 AM
Jim,
For exactly that purpose I use Tasktop - http://www.tasktop.com/ .
It positions itself as a task manager, but I don’t find its task management utilities sufficient for my needs. However, it allows me to group open web page tabs in groups or projects, and it stores a history of pages opened in its navigator tab. It is not entirely bug free, but I have found it very useful.
Graham
Posted by Prem
Jan 22, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Jim,
Hi, I’m a newbie in this forum. I am a content developer, having worked as a journalist, instructional designer, and a script writer for 3D animations and spot presentations. Most of my work requires a lot of referencing on the web and in libraries.
For years I was looking for that ideal PIM whih would serve both my note-taking and my referencing needs. About a year ago I discovered KnowledgeWorkshop (http://www.lmsweb.com/main/index_fla.shtm) which has an efficient archiving capability and a lot of the functionality that people expect from a PIM. I have not seen much written about this software, while a lot is spoken about Ultra Recall. I have found KnowledgeWorkshop far better than UR.
This software is also very strong on indexing and search. In addition it has the ability to store tasks (with reminders and alarms), making it something of a GTD as well as a personal repository for researchers.
But the biggest attraction for me is its ability to save snapshots of the numerous webpages I visit. KnowledgeWorkshop creates a repository of all the research that I do, and saving a snapshot is a simple drag-and-drop function. I also have the choice of saving either the URL only or a local version of the webpage for offline browsing. I have found it very efficient in storing even the multimedia bits on a webpage such as the .swf files.
Another advantage is that I can store the whole webpage or a section of the webpage. The software also allows me to download all the pages on a website to whatever level I choose.
Here are some of the other advantages that I have had from this software:
1. The interface is like a 2-pane PIM with the flexibility to store pages in as many nodes and sub-nodes as I want.
2. I can annotate, highlight, or add notes directly on the stored webpages.
3. I can pull into my topic tree any document such as .PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, etc.
4. The software can save citations which display the source from where the page/document was dragged-and-dropped. This could be the original website URL or the local file path.
5. I can add text directly into KnowledgeWorkshop topic trees by opening a “Note” page. The software provides most of the formatting functions that the average wordprocessor provides. The Note page can also embed and display rich media like animated gifs. Video clips etc can be included as attachments or sub-nodes.
6. After including webpages, word documents, PDFs etc to my tree, I can add additional attachments.
7. The search and highlight facility is impressive. The search operation extends to the MS Office PDFs and other formats that are included in my topic nodes.
8. The software allows me to publish my research material either as an XML-based package or as an mht-based mini website. The XML-based package can be accessed by those who have the KnowledgeWorkshop software or viewer. The mini website can be accessed through any browser.
9. The software has a portable version which can be used from a pen drive or external drive.
10. There is a free version of this software, which has a limit on the number of nodes that can be created. But this is pretty much good enough for students and researchers who do not have to create large repositories.
So Jim, I guess you could look at this software as it might serve your purpose.
Prem
Posted by $Bill
Jan 22, 2009 at 12:54 PM
jimspoon wrote:
>So I’m
>looking for a way to group browser tabs by research topic, so that I can quickly find an
>open page I’m looking for. Also I’m looking for a better way to find closed webpages
>I’ve looked at before, again by research topic.
Simply using the tag feature in Firefox 3 would seem to address some of your desires. I use this method as temporary holding place or for “quick and dirty” work.
“When you bookmark a page in Firefox 3, you have the option of adding “tags” to the bookmark.”
“You can add tags to bookmarks so they will show up in search results that you save as Smart Folder”
I use Ultra Recall to structure and manage my more important collected research. Perhaps Zotera would be of interest.
Posted by Jan Rifkinson
Jan 22, 2009 at 12:58 PM
I’m also thinking that SQLnotes aka InfoQube
does all the above & more. True, it is still in beta but stable & capable even @ this stage. Anyone more knowledgeable than I care to make a comparison?
—
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield CT USA