I Switched to Raindrop

Hello! Let's talk about bookmark managing. For some it's just something they don't need (my friend just using browser history), and for some others is must have. I've seen really big collections from websites to tweets or comments. My collection is mostly made from web pages.

History

Let's look little back to history how I storing my bookmarks.

Bookmarks in browsers

As you can see I used to use bookmarks in browser as many of you (us). All you need is choose your favorite browser (all of them) that allows you to start saving bookmarks to it's memory.

There are some things I like:

• You don't need to install another software to start bookmarking
• Some browser has also mobile version that allows you to synchronize bookmarks to your mobile phone

Thing that are not ideal:

• Problem with bookmark sync when you use multiple browsers.
• You need to backup manually - Oh, how many times I lost my bookmarks because I forget to backup.

Ok, I backing up my computer periodically but browsers are not that thing that I want to backup. I ofthen changing browsers (I have installed all most common) as developer and sysadmin (many our customrers using different browsers so I need to be in image).

Read it later apps

Ny next stage was when I found informations about "Read it later" applications. My first application was Pocket. Pocket has web and mobile applications for bot (iOS and Android) - this was my main reason why I started using it. You can also add bookmarklet to you browser (Firefox has it by default) and you can start adding bookmarks by single click.

My next application I used was Instapaper. If I'm correct Instapaper was first but it was missing android application (I did not have iphone that time) so I used Pocket as I mentioned above. Instapaper has more clean UI than Pocket which I like more.

Thigs I like

• Nice UI
• Mobile apps
• You can share page to your friends
• When you find something interesting you can higlight it for easier navigation later.

Things that are not ideal

• Categorizing based on tags or very simple folders. You cannot create nested folder
• They are read it later apps

I need to explain later one. Both Pocket and Instapaper can be used to create bookmarks but both of them have UI that more reminds news pages. They are primarly read it later apps than bookmark pages. The more bookmars you will have the harder orientation will be there.

Bookmarking services

My current stage is that I switched to bookmarking service. I tried self-hosted service caled Linkding It has nice and clean UI. Bookmarks are categorized by tags then on side you will see tag-cloud similar to one that you can be seen on some blogs. The more bookmars is store in certain tag the biger text it have.

Linkding as also bookmarklet for your browser, however its lack of mobile apps. For some this is not an dealbreaker but I prefer services that have mobile apps. Self-hosting is nice - you own your own data, but it is not an "run and forget" and you need to back up all services on your own, you need to deal with bugs, and coruptions in databases and so on. So I gave up on selfhosted bookmarking service. If you want you can try it on your server (I know some who like it and using it for longer time, it's just not for me)

Few weeks ago I found Raindrop. It has all from above, categorizing by tags and folders - they are called collections (even nested foders if you have paid version). UI is perfect for me. You can change how you want to see your bookmarks. You can have just titles or mansonry (like Pinterest), from all application I mentioned is this one I like much. You can also have collection of pictures that you uploaded to it.

Raindrop has also mobile application, and bookmarklet but what is more it as desktop application as well (Windows, MacOS, Linux). This one is trully multiplatform application.

When we want talk in terms of sharing, you can share collection as link for those you want to show them or you can make it public. Yes, each user of raindrop have it's own webpage raindrop.io\<username> where you can show your bookmarks to your friend or just random people on internet. Colections can also be customized with colors or icons, and if you don't like given ones you can upload your own.

I think I finally find service which has everythig I want. Until now I didn't find anything that bother me or I don't like. If I do, I will write it here for sure.

Conclusion

So what's this mean? Do I stopping using read it later application and browser based bookmarks? Not exactly. It just change their purpose. I still have some bookmarks in browsers - they are short terms like like sopping list (I bookmarking goods that I planing to buy or choosing between them).

And what about Pocket or Instapaper? I continue using it but not as bookmark service. I put there posts that I found interesting but didn't had time to read them. I think that was main purpose of it.

How do You managing your bookmarks or do you don't managing them at all? If you want send me your public collection, my is here raindrop.io/maymeow