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Part of a Vancouver Online User's Group (VOLUG) brown bag lunch presentation.

I. Bookmarks vs. Favorites (Netscape vs. Internet Explorer)
Introduction
At work, many of us do not have a choice of web browser. Reasons may vary from the company supporting only one browser, to hardware compatibility, and personal preferences. Whichever browser you use, organizing URLs are important if you wish to find that "perfect site" again and especially if you want to share your list with others.

One of the main differences between Netscape and Internet Explorer (IE) --- Netscape puts all your URLs into one file (an HTML page) while IE saves all your sites into one folder with each URL being a different file. These differences are important if you wish to share your bookmarks with others. It is also why finding a tool to convert bookmarks and favorites can make life easier … even if you just use one kind of browser.

Tip: Ensure you always have a recent backup copy of your bookmark file or favorites folder. Upgrading, software crashes, or switching browsers are all possible "where are my bookmarks?!!" scenarios.

Add a Bookmark in Netscape Navigator:
When you are at a site you would like to bookmark, go to the Bookmarks menu and select the Add Bookmark option. Click on the Bookmarks menu again, and you will notice the title of the current page has been added to the bottom of the menu.

Add & Organize a Favorite in Internet Explorer:
Favorites can be added in one of two ways: by right clicking and selecting Add to Favorites or by selecting Add to Favorites from the Favorites menu. By default, the name assigned to the favorite is the title of the Web page, but you can change it to something more memorable.

The favorite will automatically be added to the Favorites menu in alphabetical order, or you can place it in a specific folder. To select a folder, click the Create In button and select one of the available folders, or click New Folder to create a new one.

To return to a favorite, simply open the Favorites menu and select it.

Organizing Your Bookmarks:
If you spend much time browsing the Web, you will quickly accumulate a long list of bookmarks. You will probably want to organize them in some manner to make returning to those sites easier.

From the Bookmarks menu, select the Go to Bookmarks.... All your bookmarks will be displayed by name. At this point you can rename, move, add or delete bookmarks as well as adding comments or descriptions to the list... More details follow below.

II. Converting to bookmarks from favorites
Even if you never want to redistribute your URL collection or need to convert them for easier organization, you may be faced with changes beyond your control such as changing jobs or your company decides to support a different browser. Another reason to convert ... ease of portability. Copying one file onto a floppy is much faster and less complicated that a collection of 100 separate files. This way, you can take your favourite URLs home or to work.

Tip: Before playing around with your bookmarks or favorites, make a another copy to work with! In the case of your bookmark file, rename your working copy.

The Software
I originally found this software by searching DejaNews for discussions on this topic (I thought others would be facing the same dilemma). Navex was one of the products suggested and I found it easy to download and install the software and the price was right (free). Recent discussions on the SOLO Lib listserv focused on this problem as well. These discussions are archived and you can get details at the: SLA Solo Division Website.

Creating a temporary folder to store your converted file helps prevent overwriting or "misplacing" the file.

Instructions may vary depending upon your software. But the basics should be the same. Select the conversion process, enter the path and file names you want to convert, and then enter the file name of the new bookmark file. This software will also verify your links, but you have to be connected to the Internet and the process may take quite a while if you have a slower modem and lots of links.

... a couple of seconds later ... That’s all there is to the conversion. Navex also converts a bookmark file into favorites... check out our accompanying article Simons' Useful Websites.

III. Making your own homepage (a.k.a. organizing bookmark page)
Organize logically for your situation (our forté): How you organize or classify your URLs will vary depending upon how you approach information and the needs of your clients. But the importance here is to be able to find the URL you want quickly and, if sharing the bookmark file, to make the organization logical for your clients.

1. Bookmark file: From Netscape Navigator, select Bookmarks, Go to Bookmarks. Here you can add, delete, and organize your favourite URLs. You can also open a new file (the one you converted) to organize it.

2. Adding URL’s: On the fly (which I mentioned before…) When you are at a site you would like to bookmark, go to the Bookmarks menu & select the Add Bookmark option (CTRL-D)

   You do not have to visit the site to add a URL to your bookmark file. For example, if you find a reference in an article, go to Item, Insert Bookmark and fill in the blanks. Remember to preface the URL with http:// ...

   If you decide to add the URL manually, test it by trying to go to the site…. By the time it gets into print the URL could have changed, typos or unintentional hyphens all help make the address invalid.

3. Create Directories or Folders: Group like URLs together. When accessing your bookmarks you will be able to expand the directories and subdirectories making it easier to view without going into the dreaded More bookmarks section (which is actually the same window used for editing)

   One method of organization is to group sites by topic, like Search Engines and Associations. You may want to arrange sites within subdirectories such Associations alphabetically. To group items, click on the top item in the list (it will say something like My Bookmarks), then, from the Item menu, select Insert Folder.... In the Name box, enter a topic name for this new folder. Then click and drag your bookmarks into this folder. Repeat for all topics and bookmarks. To create subdirectories, click on the parent folder and follow the same steps as before.

4. Sort URLs: Drag and drop folders and URLs to put them in a logical order. You can move groups of URLs by selecting (SHIFT-CLICK or CTRL-CLICK) those you want to move into the same folder.

5. Insert Separator: Another tool to organize your sites is the separator. This creates a hard line often used on web pages. Use this if you don’t want to create a (sub)directory, but still want to separate items.The line also appears when you view your bookmarks from the Netscape Navigator main menu.

6. Properties: Often when you save URLs on the fly, you are in a hurry and just save "as is." The names may start with Welcome to XYZ Company… or The wonderful world of wacky search engines.... If the names for your bookmarks aren't very clear, you can easily change them. Select a bookmark, then choose Properties from the Item menu. Here you can enter a new name for the bookmark.
   • Give the link a meaningful name (.i.e. Search Engines - Wacky ones); keep the name short
   • You can also add brief comments in the Description section of Properties. Use this section to add more details such as why this link is so exciting, signing on details, restrictions or general information. For example a link to a bookseller or publisher might say... "Contact Library staff to order material"

Tip: when all done, you must Open the bookmark.htm file or you will be adding subsequent URLs to another file (potential to lose links!)

The basic homepage - how to make it yours
What we have done so far is set up an HTML page without realizing it. Instead of using the default Netscape or other internet provider homepage which may take forever to download, set the options make this your default home page.

You have many options at this point, but we will keep this relatively simple.... The following will give you a homepage that is updated every time you add another URL to your bookmarks.

1. Move your ...netscape\bookmark.htm file to a temporary or backup directory
2. Move or copy your newly organized list of URLs to the default directory for the bookmark.htm file (i.e. for Windows 95 .../program files/netscape/navigator/)
3. Rename that file bookmark.htm
4. From Netscape’s menu bar, select Options, General Preferences. Under Appearances tab, at Browser starts with... click on Homepage location and overwrite the reference with the complete path for your bookmark file beginning with file:/// (i.e file:///c:/program files/netscape/navigator/bookmark.htm). The simple way to find the path is to Open the File from Netscape Navigator, copy the URL, then go to Options and paste that URL in the Homepage Location line

Using IE? And don’t know HTML? Use IE to organize your sites, convert them to a Netscape bookmark file, and then set your options in IE to make this page your home page.

IV. Sharing - how to let others access your bookmark page
Your besturls.htm is now a basic HTML page. If your company has a network, talk to your Systems Department about making this page available to other employees. It can be copied as a simple file. Employees can add it to their bookmarks or use it as their home page just like you might. Again, they don’t have to use Netscape. This page does not have to run off an internet server, but it can.