The concept of bookmarking in the browser has slowly faded away for many savvy Internet users. Most of my reading is done via RSS subscriptions in Google Reader – the idea of having all the content I care to follow in one location, always up to date, is logically appealing. It simply saves time and energy while still digesting a palatable amount of web content. However, bookmarks still have a vital role in the browser ecosystem.
For me, bookmarks have transitioned into temporary situations; a read it later on a one-off web site visit. Perhaps I’m researching a particular topic or comparing a few new gadgets for an upcoming purchase. The saving and grouping of bookmarks is understood and straightforward but if you don’t stay on top of it, these temporary bookmarks can explode and make it very difficult to find any newly relevant saved content – perhaps for your next project.
If the concept of temporary bookmarks sounds appealing the a browser extension like TempMarks for Google Chrome is worth a look. TempMarks is separate from your traditional Google bookmark links; sites can be added or removed by clicking the TempMark icon added to your Chrome browser bar.
It’s important to realize that the bookmarks aren’t cleaned automatically after any set period of time – it’s still a manual process but it’s only a few clicks to clean it all out. If you are a diligent user, you could just as well use a separate folder within your traditional bookmarks system that all temporary links can be stored in – keeping them isolated from your permanent sites. For me, I welcome the separation though.
