Web Tools

This is probably a good a time to begin familiarising myself with a few key productivity tools that will really help with my future studies. In particular I'm interested in categorising and filing URLs and clipping parts or all of a webpage. I want to be able to 'tag' my bookmarks for searching and it would be ideal to have all of this information residing on my desktop as well as online or 'in the cloud'. As I began testing the first few, I came to the realisation that a lot of productivity tools come in different shapes and sizes. Some of them didn't work or weren't made for my PC and others did too little for my own needs. And to be a little more selfish about this, I'm not at all keen in spending more than 5 demanding minutes learning how to use a tool. Below I've listed two of the required and one that I found along the way...

Bookmark Buddy

The software was quick and easy to download and install - it's file size was small enough for low broadband speeds and the automated setup was a fairly clear process. Bookmark Buddy is ideal for just about anyone to start using right from the get go... but it only works on a Windows PC, pity Mac and Linux owners can't use it. I'm guessing the software writer would have provided a version for different OS platforms if he/she could because other OS represent a significant number of people. After fiddling with Bookmark Buddy for a while I tried to find ways that I might begin to use it for my own needs. Using the example bookmarks and categories, I decided it would be too much work to customise, the software is pretty good but it requires too much thinking on my part to become a useful tool for daily use. So I'm not sure if I would use this yet as I'd like to use a browser based action to 'clip' website content etc. I'm not sold on using it because it isn't 'easily everywhere' like the web based Diigo or Delicious services. The final nail in the coffin was the trial period of 30 days. If I loved this software, I would be forced to pay for it or start again with something else - actually the positive thing about this tool is you can export your bookmarks after the trial period so that's great. The try before you buy scenario seems to be standard across the web but I find the purchase price a little steep when Diigo and Delicious are free and open to everyone regardless of the OS in use. The alternatives are web based such as the services I mentioned, Diigo etc. I think if one seriously needed to bookmark and organise their content links, Bookmark Buddy would prove too restrictive.

WebCopier

I found this software quick and easy to download and run. The 15 day trial is probably long enough to get a good feel for it's use but after a quick swizz on the website I got the impression this tool would have some difficulty copying all sites. I tried downloading from the Curtin student Blackboard (requires login) but it didn't work after I input my login details. I'm a bit wary about typing login information into software but from my previous attempts to ftp files to Curtin aka FortKnox I felt the uni was already safe from my feeble software tests. I would need to look for some answers as to why but saw how old and empty the forum was, support information needed reading and I'm already bailing. So I decided to try copying my blog instead. I set WebCopier to download just 50 files and other limits for bandwidth, filesize etc Unfortunately the process locked up, my computer screen froze and I couldn't wait past 5mins. REBOOT.

The reason for this frozen screen could have been caused by one or all of: my Internet connection, my computer resources, my blogger.com site, the unknown. Websites have too many different technologies and bits I don't understand (until it's too late) so I'm not keen on WebCopier at all. A reboot is a slap in the face for me, no thanks.

It's a worry, the software is quite easy to download and run but it requires much reading and study of its detail to make it work. Beginners might find this a nightmare.

EverNote

Clipping software is a great idea for Internet users who want more than a bookmark. OneNote is Microsofts king of clipping links and content but OneNote is limited to PCs and is pricey for the average user.

I really think that EverNote is a good alternative to OneNote - it's free as long as you don't use more than 40MB of storage for files. This might be a problem sooner rather than later I think, as I soon came close to that limit within days of frequent use. It's actually a great program to use, all the good things - it's a small program, easy to run, easy to figure out how to use etc. I'm using EverNote now to prepare for posting to my blog. I also use it more than MS Word because it's a quick program to load and run and I can do most things to my content. If the makers of EverNote continue to upgrade the program I will probably pay the $5USD per month to use it. That's like a coffee and cake at Cibo - I can give up that luxury quite easily!

Diigo

I had an old account at Delicious that I hadn't used for ages. But lately I have been swayed towards Diigo based on my own and fellow students experiences while testing Diigo out. I also came across a great page called 7 Reasons Diigo Tastes Better Than Delicious, and that tipped me in favour of Diigo. It is still early days for me in Diigo but the service passed my short attention span window of 5 minutes and that's always a good thing for users!I've installed the Digolet on Chrome and the Diigo Toolbar on Firefox. I don't use IE unless it's absolutely necessary so I did not bother to put Diigo on that browser. If you're used to bookmarking, tags and sticky note applications then Diigo is dead simple. The chat function seems a bit pointless but I can see it being a useful thing in collaborative work with other students.