Disappointed with Bookmarks management in OS X and Safari.

[glapher]

Hey guys,

I am looking for some safari extension or standalone program that will let me do the simplest thing with my bookmarks but I can't find it, and I wonder how no one has come up with it yet. I want an environment where I can add images to my bookmark folders, and have an intuitive simple graphical layout that I can browse them in. I can't believe no one has come up with this, it's such a pain to browse through your bookmarks with the miniscule fonts in safari, or in any other browser for that matter.

There has to be a way to visualise these (a rudimentary way would be opera's speed dial that safari stole), so you can quickly scan the folders for a book icon or a music icon and then scan the webpages quickly without reading them.

I really wonder is anyone on a daily basis able to look through their bookmarks and casually scan them for anything that might catch their interest, or is it, like myself, a repository of sites that no one much browses through, I would wager the latter.

There really need to be a paradigm shift so one can be able to more easily browse their bookmarks. As is I have tons of sites that are interesting, hidden within one subfolder of another subfolder that I keep forgetting about and can't browse. Even tags would be welcome (I know they are there in other browsers than safari) but they are not the crux of the issue.

And heads up appreciated.

 

[jbarley]

I'm very happy with the way Safari uses "Cover-Flow" in its "Show all BookMarks"
Cover-Flow allows me to scan through all my BookMarks very quickly.

 

[DeltaMac]

You can also use Top Sites, with up to 24 pages showing. You can lock specific pages into Top Sites, if you want to. That gives you a quick over-view of up to 24 pages, displaying the actual web page, and showing immediately if they have been updated since you last viewed. More useful than simple icons for a bookmark, I think.

 

[glapher]

thanks guys. Well I have so many folders and subfolders that I don't think these options will cut it. At least if I could find a hack to add icons to the folders on the bookmarks menu. That said cover flow and speed dial are to some extent helpful, but mostly for frequently visited sites or history items.

 

[Curiosity]

If you use the bookmark menu with Safari, its font will be whatever size you set up for the Finder's font size. It is a shame that the preference settings do not allow one to change the font size for the bookmark list that is accessed from the bookmark toolbar, however.

 

[glapher]

If you use the bookmark menu with Safari, its font will be whatever size you set up for the Finder's font size. It is a shame that the preference settings do not allow one to change the font size for the bookmark list that is accessed from the bookmark toolbar, however.

That is a damn shame, I really can't fathom how people read the bookmarks in the toolbar with such a small size... I can't read them on macbook pro, let alone on my 24" imac, I can't imagine how it's like on a 27" imac, and I really can't think how this has gone amiss seeing as apple is focused a lot on accessibility.

Also, let me just say in response, that you cannot change even the finder font size menu text, you can change folder and file text size, and that's that. Another damn accessibility shame.

 

[512ke]

High screen rez makes a computer nearly useless. 1/4" high icons? ridiculous. 1680x1050 seems to be a good compromise on a 22" monitor. aT least for my old eyes.
Try option scroll wheel, its the system wide means to magnify. About a 6ft wide virtual screen if you want to go that far LOL. Likewise its easy to specify much larger type size without magnifying the screen in Safari or Firefox. Command & +
how big do you need? If you cant see that large magnification you need a screen reader.

 

[DeltaMac]

...
Try option scroll wheel, its the system wide means to magnify. About a 6ft wide virtual screen if you want to go that far LOL. Likewise its easy to specify much larger type size without magnifying the screen in Safari or Firefox. Command & +
...

Default for scroll-magnify, is Control-scroll, not option-scroll.

Larger font size on a web page (the Command-+) only affects the web page, and does not affect menus or tabs in any way.

 

[glapher]

os magnification distorts letters and images.

Apple is way behind in this respect, let's be frank about it, we all like and enjoy apple machines, but resolution independence should have been there a long time ago. Big ommision. You should be able to increase font sizes universally with one click. Besides there are plenty of os x features, such as bookmarks list and menus that are not customizable. It's lamentable that os x has the same fonts for a 13" macbook as those on a 27" screen. End of story.

 

[glapher]

ditto, still the same issue, and still not viable alternatives/extensions. Such as same, makes using bookmarks hard. A pity because I am sure we all envisage better bookmark management, more innovative, from apple than merely a few folders housing bookmarks, in small font and boring blue folder icons indistinguishable from one another...