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.

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

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

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.

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

Knowledge Workshop: Interesting product, but I'm reluctant even to give it a trial because the way they structure the editions is just plain annoying.

The free "personal" version is limited to 500 notes/items -- effectively a trial version. I've no problem with that.

But the "plus" version ($49) also has a limit to the number of entries (2000). Only the "professional" edition ($99) takes away the limit on entries. In the end, if you use this product in earnest for a long period, you will be forced to upgrade to the pro edition just to add more notes. Which makes it an expensive product in its category.

This type of purely arbitrary product limitation is irritating. I understand charging more for complex/business-oriented features such as shared databases/network access etc. But placing a limit on the number of notes in a note-taking application is just bizarre.

I startee a similar thread last month and the three products that offered a solution that might meet my needs were IQ (still in beta), Surfulator and LinkStash. I really like all three programs, and was going to use Surfulator, but decided I was not yet ready to start capturing web pages. As IQ is still in development, I am waiting to see how the final product develops, although the beta releases are quite mature in many of the the program's feature sets. In the end, I ordered Link Stash, recommended by Alexander IIRC, and it seems to best meet my needs. It is not a hard program to learn or use, its portable, and it is browser neutral. If you do not need to actually capture the web page's content, this is a nice program worth consideration. If surfulator was portable, I might have started with it instead.

--Ken

I agree with $Bill. The tag features in Firefox 3 together with a couple of add-ons make it a great bookmark manager. Pretty innovative, even.

With Firefox using SQLite to store bookmarks, with automatic backups in case the database gets corrupted, I don't see the need for using a dedicated bookmarks manager like LinkStash or Powermarks. And Firefox on a stick is easier enough to set up if you need to access bookmarks while on the move. Even better, Firefox 3.1, currently in beta, has new and improved bookmarking features: http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/Firefox_3DOT1_Will_Add_More_Awesomeness_to_the__Awesome_Bar_

Of course, I'd much rather Powermarks still worked with Firefox. The greatest, fastest, slickest bookmark manager ever: a detailed thread on this over at http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?PHPSESSID=vroiq47cmte73g9l60ioedn7t0&topic=13754.0 . I've been using it since 2001 - over 10,000 bookmarks... and that's not many compared to serious Powermark users.

For getting Firefox 3 to do what jimspoon requires, I recommend tweaking its already excellent tag features with the TagSifter, Add Bookmark Here 2, Tagging for Multiple Bookmarks, Taboo and Read it Later add-ons.

I use these to manage articles, journal pdfs in the Firefox Scrapbook add-on as well as site urls. I'd include the Firefox Zotera add-on, but I find Zotero takes up too much space - what with a left-hand panel always open for TagSifter and Scrapbook. If I needed to save full citations for academic work, I'd use it.

Ike

Pity there isn't an editing feature on this forum. I meant to add in the post above that, unlike $Bill, I'm adding bookmarks to Firefox for the long haul. My worry is that the SQLite database won't be up to the job. Does anyone have any experience with SQLite? How much it can hold? Do I have to worry about it slowing Firefox down - once it reaches, say, 5,000, 10,000 plus bookmarks? How stable is it?

Ike

Ike Washington wrote:

My worry is that the
SQLite database won't be up to the job. Does anyone have any experience with SQLite?
How much it can hold? Do I have to worry about it slowing Firefox down - once it reaches,
say, 5,000, 10,000 plus bookmarks? How stable is it?

Very stable.

From the SQLite documents: "If you need to store and modify more than a few dozen GB of data, you should consider using a different database engine."

This might comfort you...you can see other well known users of SQLite here. http://www.sqlite.org/famous.html

"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."

Have you looked at the iRider browser? It seems to handle tabs rather cleverly.

I have found traction Control (Firefox add-on) to be useful for looking back chronologically over a session's surfing.

If you have Zoot running then its web database (web.zot) keeps a chronological tally of the sites you have visited.

This only covers a part of what you are looking for, of course.

myInfo doesn't do exactly what Derek is seeking, but it does allow one to search for items/
web pages that were saved during a specific date/time period.
-c


Derek Cornish wrote:

"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."

Have you looked at the iRider browser? It
seems to handle tabs rather cleverly.

I have found traction Control (Firefox
add-on) to be useful for looking back chronologically over a session's surfing.

If
you have Zoot running then its web database (web.zot) keeps a chronological tally of
the sites you have visited.

This only covers a part of what you are looking for, of
course.

Thanks for the reassuring note, $Bill. SQLite also sits behind photo management software IDimager (thanks Jan for the tip) and music management software MediaMonkey. Both have been handling huge amounts of data for me without any problems. So, yeah, Firefox as a bookmarking system looks stable as well as being flexible and innovative. The workflow is perhaps even better than with PowerMarks. The way to go, I think.

Ike

-----------

$Bill wrote:

Ike Washington wrote:
My worry is that the
SQLite database won?t be up to the job. Does anyone have any experience with SQLite?
How much it can hold? Do I have to worry about it slowing Firefox down - once it reaches,
say, 5,000, 10,000 plus bookmarks? How stable is it?

Very stable.

From the SQLite documents: ?If you need to store and modify more than a few dozen GB of data, you should consider using a different database engine.?

This might comfort you...you can see other well known users of SQLite here. http://www.sqlite.org/famous.html

I just was looking back at info on some PIMS, and opened the Inquiry Pro web page
( http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/Inquiry_Professional_Edition.htm )

Seems like this may be what some of you are looking for. I'm still happy with MyBase+WebCollect.

-c