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You know what would be really cool...

C

Classic

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 9, 2001
211
0
I've found that I've gotten into the habit of trying all sorts of different browsers. Depending on my mood, I'll use OmniWeb, IE, Netscape, Mozilla, etc...

It's really good to test out work on multiple browsers, but can be a pain in the a$$ on a daily use basis.

For example, let's say I use IE most of the time, and my bookmarks are all nicely orgainzed in IE. Now, let's say I'm browsing in OmniWeb, and I come across a new site that I really like and want to bookmark. I can easily do this in OmniWeb, but of course, that bookmark won't show up in IE.

So, here's what I'm suggesting. Would it be possible to use a "Service" within OS X that would allow the user to have one master bookmark or favorites list that all other browers referenced? Sort of like the master dictionary that multiple programs can reference for custom spellings.

Then, you could browse on different programs, and not have to worry about exporting and importing updated bookmarks. Or even more useful would be to have that master list meticulously organized on a server so that multiple people in your office could add as needed, like an online library of useful links updated in realtime with the click of a "Add Page to Bookmarks".

What do you guys think?
 
this is similiar to an idea i had awhile ago. been looking for someone with some cocoa skills.

there is an app called iChoose that lets you put your links in a menubar item.

i was thinking if that app could read your bookmarks files then you would have access to them wherever you are in the system. problem now is you have to add each link manually. but if it could read bookmarks from ie, omni, mozilla, chimera i think they would have all their bases covered.

doesnt seem like it would be hard to make a menubar application that would read bookmarks files. just cant find a developer interested.
 
I'm not saying it's a bad idea...but I wouldn't do it...

why would u want to have different settings for multiple browsers?

wouldn't it make more sense to have 1 browser do everything for u?
 
Originally posted by eyelikeart
I'm not saying it's a bad idea...but I wouldn't do it...

why would u want to have different settings for multiple browsers?

wouldn't it make more sense to have 1 browser do everything for u?
Click to expand...

i don't think he means different settings for multiple browsers, but rather, the same bookmarks for multiple browsers. well, at least that's what i'd want.

you see, i like navigator (chimera) despite its current bugginess..... but, there are times when i HAVE to use ie or i guess omniweb might work. so, i'd like to have that type of a bookmark system such that i could use whatever i have open at the time.

for instance, i can't really download files reliably in chimera, whereas in ie most things work, it's just a boring slow browser...

word up? word.
 
its actually very convienent to be able to access your bookmarks from outside your browser. whenever i want to go somewhere i just got o my menubar and click the icon and go to the bookmark i want.

if the application was configured to read bookmarks files dynamically from various browsers (or just the one browser you use) then it would be as simple as locating that file once and then you have a bookmarks menubar item.

try out icontrol and i think you will find how nice it is having your most used links around. if i could just have them all in there it would be great

heres a picture of my menubar:
 

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One Browser do all....

Eye, that would definately be a good idea... If only it were possible. Do you only use one browser, and are you happy with it? aren't you curious to see what the experience of antialiased text in OmniWeb is like, or how IE and Mozilla differ?

Do you develop web content?

If so, doesn't it have to be tested on multiple browsers?

Rather than having to stick to one browser to do everything, wouldn't it be better to use the best broser at any given time for your browsing needs?

I'm not saying that you need multiple settings for each browser. I'm saying that there should be a file in your user library that is a list of all your organized bookmarks. Then, if the browsers are told to look there for your favorites link, you can edit that list and all your browsers will update simultaneously, in real time. Each browser is already being told to look at a particular file for your bookmarks, so why not make that file the same for each browser?

Then, if for some reason, you have to reinstall your browser because it gets screwed up in an update, you haven't lost your favorites.
 
i just want to mention that i do use only one browser (mozilla). and have never had a single need for another browser. but i do like to explore, just because i love checking out new software. so i take a peek at chimera and omniweb when they have new updates, but neither can stand on its own yet.

i just think it would be nice to have an app that would read bookmarks from any and all your browsers and display them in a menubar item. not what classic is talking there, but i think a menubar item could be made very quickly that would do what i describe, where having the actual browser change its behavior is unlikley for most and impossible for some (in the case of ie).
 
Re: One Browser do all....

Originally posted by Classic
Do you develop web content?

If so, doesn't it have to be tested on multiple browsers?
Click to expand...

A good point, but really the only two heavyweights of the Browser Wars are IE (80-90%) and Netscape (10-20%). And only about 3-5% of all those surfers are on a Macintosh, and only a percentage of that using MacOS X! So really, if we test our site designs in IE and Netscape, that's all we really need, as that accounts for around 95-97% of the people who surf our sites.

Those figures are based upon my web sites' traffic, so they may very by 10% or so (or more, such as the traffic to MacRumors, for obvious reasons :p )
 
three cheers for hemingray and sloppy web design!

any competent designer will test on various browsers computers and operating systems.

also mac centric websites will get very different stats than those you mention. the latest poll around here showed ie having less than 50%.
 
Here's a question: Do all browsers use a standard format for bookmark files?

They should just save out to an HTML file...

Here's another question: A menu item like you're proposing would only go out to the default system browser, and not to the one currently open, right? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose?
 
I use different web browsers all the time as well. What I do is let Mozilla handle my "master" bookmarks file, which I export to all my other browsers. When I come across a site I want to bookmark in another browser, I just bookmark it from within that browser, and periodically I drag all my new bookmarks from my various browsers to Mozilla and re-export the Mozilla bookmarks file again. This can be a kludge, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to write an AppleScript or something to automate at least part of the process. That iControl thing looks neat, and I will have to try that sometime.

AmbitiousLemon: What is the name of that weather thing in your menubar?

Alex
 
Originally posted by Rower_CPU
Here's a question: Do all browsers use a standard format for bookmark files?

They should just save out to an HTML file...
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about IE, but Mozilla, iCab, and OmniWeb all use HTML. BUT, they each use different HTML formats. Mozilla stores a lot of things within the HTML file like date last accessed, date created, and some other things, which I know iCab and OmniWeb don't. I've found that you can export Mozilla bookmarks to other browsers, but you can't (I don't think) export bookmarks from other browsers to Mozilla. iCab and OmniWeb will re-format them and delete all the data they see as extraneous. Or something like that. It's complicated. :)

Alex
 
Rower_CPU: since browsers save the bookmarks to a file (html, xml whatever) another application is free to read that file. just as you have your browser pointed that file another application could be directed to that files. so when you launch the application you could use a preference to locate the various bookmarks files you wish to mirror. you could probably set how often the application checks its list with the original bookmarks files as well.

since every browser makes its bookmarks file in a different way you would have to program accordingly, but ive seen people whip up an apple script to convert one to another in a few minutes so i doubt being able to read the various files would be a problem. also when selecting the bookmarks file you could specify what browser it belongs to and in that way make sure your menubar app imports it in the proper way.

alex_ant: the weather menubar item is called weather pop. all the items from left to right are: menulator, pthpasteboard, pthvolume, dock switcher delta, ichoose, weatherpop, pthclock
 
I'd love the central universal shared bookmarks idea , and would not mind the same for cookies and helper apps as well, but sometimes I use separate browsers because I do NOT want that same set up for every site I visit. And sometimes that helps me find some sites better. I might use one browser for secure shopping, another for web boards, another to reject all pop ups, et cetera. This also helps the browsers themselves become more distinctive in flavor... they are changed by the usage patterns I have with each.

I always figure all the desktop URL business, and the little @ sign Jack-in-the-box in the OS X dock were ways of dealing with making bookmarks more universally available, but I don't use those provided paradigms very much.
 
before I re-partitioned, I had IE, Mozilla and Chimera but now I only got IE...I'll be downloading the Mozilla soon and will get Chimera ~v0.5 when it should be pretty good...but I don't see the need for the central bookmarks...it could be useful, but I generally remember the URLs for site i like or the browser I used to go to them...so I wouldn't have much use for it...
 
I think it would be best to have an app that would fetch all your bookmarks or favorites anywhere on your drive , cookies and helper apps, for use in another browser if you wish, that also provided some means of automatically checking for dead links. And I believe there are several apps with functionality approaching this, at least in regard to helping sort bookmarks. But sorting bookmarks works better from within the browser itself than it used to.
 
Ok I understand your want to have settings that would be universal to all browsers...

But I still don't see the need to have multiple broswers though. I use IE 5.1 all the time. I've tried Chimera, for example, and it works fine. But to me, the more programs I have on my computer, the more cluttered the drive space becomes. The way I see it, if I have 5 different programs that all give me the same end result, I'm not going to keep all 5 just for the sake of saying "Today I feel like using ***** instead of *******."

It would make more sense in a case such as having both Illustrator & Freehand together. They both can produce the same files, but each does something the other cannot. I don't see the advantage here...
 
i think some of you are obsessed with the multiple browsers aspect. although i have all the osx browsers on my main computer (the others only have mozilla) i only use mozilla.

but if you havent used a bookmark program before either just a folder in your dock or something like ichoose then i think you are seriously missing out.

since the dock and the menubar are things that are accessible no matter what app you are in you are always a single click away from all your sites.

the way i would use such an app is just to have it mirror my mozilla bookmarks since i dont even use any other browser for more than taking a peek.

it save a lot of time. so much in fact that i usually dont us ethe back button i just close the window and open the site again from bookmarks.

its also nice to be in adium chatting think of a link you want to send someone to and be able to go to the site immediatly rather tha having to first click on the browser dock item.

it sounds minor but everyone i know who started using either links in a link folder in their dock or started using ichoose was amazed at how great it was. and the next obvious step is not to have to enter the links manually, but to just have an app that reads the appropriate bookmarks file.
 
it would just get to be too much to deal with...

I've always found it's best to be as minimal as possible when it comes to installing programs on computers...

when the system folder starts getting junked up with multiple prefs for too many programs...it starts crapping out on u...

no thanks...I'll stick to what works and leave it at that ;)
 
i guess we just have two different philosophies. i assume nothing is perfect. try everytthing out. trash almost everything. and keep the stuff that makes life easier.

you try nothing and assume everything is already good enough.
 
Originally posted by AmbitiousLemon
you try nothing and assume everything is already good enough.
Click to expand...

well entirely true...I've just seen what happens to a computer when u install too much cr@p...

I'm willing to try just about anything...but I'm kinda anal when it comes to my computers... ;)
 
It might make a interesting survey, how many of those reading this, that are regularly using more than one browser, are doing so as consumers only. That is, you are not currently creating HTML and checking it out in multiple browsers, but are just using multiple browsers for surfing only?

::Raises hand::

Okay how may of you out there are regularly creating HTML, but only checking it with one particular browser only?
 
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