Talk:Foxmarks: Suggestions for Improvements
From Foxmarks Wiki
Export to and import from XBEL file
Would be great to have an option to automatically export bookmarks to a local XBEL file. XBEL format seems to be pretty standard, no? There are a tool called SyncBookmarks [1] which allows to sync bookmarks among many types of browsers and with XBEL as well. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Firefox 3+. By allowing Foxmarks to sync with local XBEL and combining it with SyncBookamrks, virtually any browser's bookmark could be synchronized.
Vlad
Auto Detect Duplicated Bookmarks
Would be great to have an option to automatically detect if we already have bookmarked a site... If we had we should receive an warning asking if we want to duplicate it. This would as well free some space in the server
How about a more verbose sync option? I use foxmarks to keep my bookmarks in sync between multiple computers - even ones I'm using at the same time! Without version control or confirmation of deletions, this means I risk losing bookmarks if I edit both machines at the same time. I'd really like to be able to set foxmarks to be more verbose, with perhaps an extra confirmation screen on sync that pops up and shows me a delta before it gets committed to the server. Then, if I see something suspicious (like 2 URLs being added and one being deleted), when I really only want to add URLs, I can tell it not to delete things. Sound reasonable? Of course, version control with rollback and diff would negate the need for this :-) --Bigbro 19:23, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
- Actually, there are other Firefox add-ons already that do this, and interoperate well with Foxmarks, so we have no immediate plans to include this feature. We'll keep it in mind, though! -- it seems to be a popular feature request. --Foxworth 17:31, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
Download without overwriting
I really like foxmarks, thanks for a good extension! It's just one thing though, I share computor with my family, something I belive many other do and would have use for this update. When I syncronize, of course I want my bookmarks on the computor, but I don't want to overwrite my brothers bookmarks, nor do I want their bookmarks on my syncfile on the server. Make an option only to add the server bookmarks to the computor and FoxMarks will be Complete.
Thanks for this great function!
-Helge, Sweden
- I think this might be achieved better by just creating a new Firefox profile for each user on the computer--that way you can have the Foxmarks extension working for every person who uses the computer, and no one's bookmarks intermingle at all. --Foxworth 22:19, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
I'd like to have some opposite thing: sometimes I need the same bookmark to appear in more than one folder, because it is relevant to both. Currently I have to open "Organize Bookmark", copy and paste, because Foxmarks allows only move existing bookmark, not to copy it.
Vlad
Favicon synchronization
I also use my tool bar as a quicklaunch, many of my links are just icons with no name... i'd like to see foxmarks include the icons in the sync. (dont get me wrong, Foxmarks is great, the just my only wish. :) )
-graham
Yeah, synchronising favicons is the last needed feature of this great extension.
Martin
- This feature is present in the beta release; check out this blog entry for more details. How's THAT for anticipating your needs? Or, perhaps, responding to your requests; I'm not sure when your comments were added. :) --Foxworth 20:00, 2 November 2007 (UTC)
Partial Synchronization with Rating & Commenting
I would love to be able to share one bookmark folder with 50+ people in my office, share another with my home computer, and a third with friends and family and be able to have everyone who is sharing those bookmarks be able to rate and comment on them in a way that is easily viewable in Firefox. Not sure if this would be a Foxmarks or Firefox function but it would be VERY helpful.
Multi-row bookmarks
I think it'd be great if there were an option to allow the bookmarks to take up several rows rather than just one. Thanks, I love the application! --RobertC 11:44, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
iGoogle
I use iGoogle as my homepage, and the google gadget for foxmarks REALLY needs some attention. The "enhanced bookmarks" gadget works great for the normal iGoogle, but because it is not from a "trusted source" it can't be used with the google apps version of iGoogle. The foxmarks gadget DOES work in that case, but it has a weird layout, you have to login everytime you use it, and it has no favicons. If this is fixed I would see foxmarks everytime I open a browser....
Dead Links en sorting on date
It would be nice if there was a posebility to scan for dead links: give the times it's dead in red and when it thereafter lives in green (When its always OK dont tell me anuthing) So I can deside to delet or investigate if a shorter link still lives.
I have a lot of bookmarks When I put a new bookmark to it, I have a problem in finding it back I have them sorted nethly in subdirs, sometimes two or three layers deep Mu idea is that if a date is attached at every bookmark that it first entered, that there is a posibility to sort them on date. Than its more easy to find something back again.
Promotion!
Hey, this is a GREAT product!!! One of the most useful tools I use.
I do the Sync daily. Work, desktop, laptop, etc.
I had a few minutes to poke around this morning (I am a developer with limited time to play *sigh*) and discovered I can just to to foxcloud.com and get my bookmarks on-line! How I missed that functionality baffles me.
Suggestions: Get the word out about on-line usage! Big bold letters, whatever it takes. Again, how I missed this option escapaes me! But I love it!!!
Rick Sample SAP Workflow / Java developer Graybar, Inc.
Sorting Bookmarks
It seems a simple request but ..... For some reason Firefox does not sort bookmarks, not even an option. Is it possible to put this feature into Foxmarks - that is sort bookmarks alphabetically. Add a new bookmark and the bookmark list is auto resorted and the new entry appears in alphabteical order? Keep up the great work. David
- Firefox does support sorting of bookmarks. In the bookmarks menu, right-click and select "Sort by Name". --Todd 20:47, 17 December 2006 (EST)
Yes, but what a pain it is to do - one section at a time, and the section closes after each sort. It would be really useful if Foxmarks could sort the whole tree automatically, and without any user intervention, as it synchronizes.
Bob
It's my biggest concern as well. Currently, I try to remember to to click on Firefox bookmarks menu, go to the folder to which I just added a new bookmark and then right-click on this folder and hit "Sort by Name". What a pain! Previously I was using Bookmark Sync and Sort add-on which has advanced sorting capabilities. Check how it is done there! Unfortunately Bookmark Sync and Sort does not work with Firefox 3+.
Vlad
Overwrite Feature
What do you think of additional feature that will let Force Download Override feature (maybe a checkbox next to the manual override button) that is as option run everytime I login to my local foxmark. Together with this feature an option that will save a copy of the existing local bookmark to the local harddrive as backup, so that when a foxmark user logs out from a public computer, foxmark can copy local backup back to the previous bookmark.
JoDat
Slave Clients
Allow the option to make certain clients dumb; Have them automatically download on start-up and remove the ability to upload. In essence, making them slave clients. I wish to be able to use this in a school setting, and I would like the ability to push bookmarks onto students' computers, without them being able to upload bookmarks.
Bookmark folders expanding
I would really like to be able to expand all bookmark folders at one time. I browse my bookmarks like I'm browsing books at the library but for some reason my manual expansion of bookmark folders never holds. So I want to expand all at one click, or nearly so. Any ideas?
I think you guys are onto something with this product. I look forward to seeing how it evolves.
I have a few suggestions.
1. How about adding the ability to link to your bookmarks via an RSS link? This way if I am traveling (without a computer) I can go to my google home page and get to all my links. Think this feature would help put you guys over the top. Might not be a bad idea to also build a google gadget too.
2. How about improving the password so it supports strong passwords (such as 212@roswell)? This improves security a bit.
3. How about having a nifty import feature for those migrating from Safari or Opera? This way people can switch to your product without great deals of work.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
Foxmarks API
Hey
How about creating a foxmarks API so that I, as a web designer, could access my bookmarks from inside my own site CMS?
Greetings
artikboy
Security Warning
I'm using Foxmarks for the first time. In the Setup Wizard, on the Create New Account page, please add an indication of the security level of the username/password to be entered. Usually the browser indicates this information by providing a user the create new account page via an http or https page, but I had to go digging to find out that the username/password I enter here will be sent in plaintext whenever I use Foxmarks. An indication that this is the case would be nice so folks like me who care don't have to go digging, and also so that people who don't care might realize they'll be sending their bank password out in plaintext.
greets, kthxbye
foxmarks vs facebook?
I'd like to be able to display some of my foxmarks on my facebook page. facebook has "applications" that you can add, and i'm assuming i would be able to add a "foxmarks-view" app. anywho, :)
- there is a facebook app which displays rss feeds that you could use as you can generate rss feeds from foxmarks --Pierro78 21:59, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
Sharing
It would be fantastic if people had the option to share their bookmarks anonymously and they could be compiled in a database. If you categorized the database people could browse through topics(most popular, highest rated).
People could also have the option to post their bookmarks in a blog sort of format. They could show their bookmarks, comment on them and people could download some or all of them.
Sharing with tags (like del.icio.us)
Yes it would be fantastic if we could use the "tags" available in FF3 to categorize bookmarks and share them, like del.icio.us or others services do ... --Pierro78 22:01, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
Sharing with specific foxmark users
Foxmark sharing options are really great so far (web page, rss, widget). However, I would really like to see a fourth one. It would be awesome to simply be able to specify a list of Foxmark users, who I want to sync a specific folder with. This would be perfect for project management. (Although this would allow my sharing partners to delete bookmarks they have access to, I still think its a great feature that would reduce communication effort in a project.)
v2.0.x: selecting HTTPS or plain HTTP
I use foxmarks with my own WebDAV server: lightttpd webdav. I can't switch the whole site to SSL (a requirement of lighttpd: you can enable SSL on lighttpd for the whole site only). since foxmarks v2.0.30, https in on by default and the configuration for security is greyed: enforced to https for password authentication. Can you give back the option of using plain http (unsecured) for both login and download, like in v1? would be great. Thanks, Philou
- When using your own server, you fill in the URL field with your own server's URL; at that point selecting the HTTP or HTTPS options becomes pointless since it's the http:// or https:// in your URL that determines whether SSL is used or not. Is it not working for you if you use http:// in your URL? --Foxworth 17:50, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Specify folders + sharing !
Imagine the future of FoxMarks : you have some bookmark folders named Corporate, Workgroup, sport club, Personnal and Local.
- Corporate and Workgroup are synced against a corporate server and only appear on corporate machines.
- Corporate gives the same bookmarks for all employees and is read-only (or download-only).
- Workgroup gives the same bookmarks for all working teammates and is read-write for the whole team.
- Sport club is hosted on a public server, read-write for the club members but these links are also publicly read-only, from FoxMarks.com web pages, with and RSS feed, and eventually a small javascript that can be used on the club's website.
- Personnal bookmarks are pure private and work the way FoxMarks is currently handeling them.
- Local ones are just not synced.
- PC Specific This would be particularly interesting for bookmarks shown in the toolbar. I think these are the ones one most likely want to be different in different PCs (home, work, etc). They would by synched with the server but not with every PC but with selected one(s).
Confirm deletions?
How about a 'confirm massive delete ' setting, or at least a kb/mb notice? I once lost all my bookmarks and when ill-advisedly using my sync proggie (dont remember which one!) I "synced" zero bookmarks, spreading the deletion upline to the server (assuming it didn't cause it in the first place!) I would like a dialog box (you are uploading/downloading 'zero bookmarks' or 'you are reducing your bookmarks by 90 % ' or the like, "Are You Sure?" Of course, Foxmarks' manual settings are a great help if one suspects/discovered calamity, but what if you didn't? - bgold2005
- Actually, this feature exists in both versions 1 and 2; it kicks off if the number of bookmarks is drastically reduced between synchronizations, and asks for confirmation before the synchronization completes. If you can synchronize zero bookmarks without receiving the warning, we'd be interested in seeing that repro case. --Foxworth 22:40, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
Firefox web browser: Good idea, lousy implementation
Deal with the disappearing bookmarks bug. It. Is. Extremely. Frustrating. Irresponsible programming like this does not deserve to be out in the open...
- Every time I've ever seen this problem, it's the Firefox web browser causing it, not the Foxmarks extension. Foxmarks does its best to prevent the Firefox behavior from synchronizing across multiple machines, but it's a nefarious bug. More details about the problem can be found on the Mozilla website here: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_Bookmarks#Bookmarks_missing_after_restarting -- you might consider offering your feedback to them to get the behavior's alteration prioritized (though it's possible the problem might fade away with the coming Firefox 3 release) --Foxworth 18:58, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
URL Verification
Being old-school I understand RTFM. Having done so (I believe) I have not found any "verify validity of URL" suggestion. That's what I am suggesting. --Walts 21:08, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
Open an online compose email window on email address click
This is more a "other product" suggestion. Enable something to let me click on an email address (blah@yahoo.ca) and cause it to open a compose window in my selected online email program (Yahoo, Google, whatever). Maybe allow for mulitple email addresses - Yahoo for personal, Outlook desktop for business.MDF
Synchronize at startup
Hello. I think it could be useful if Foxmarks synchronizes bookmarks at Firefox startup.
It could be done only if your last change to remote bookmarks was performed by an internet connection with a different IP. Or alternatively, only if the last synchronization was performed by X hours.
--Lucas Malor 16:35, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
Synchronize FireFox Password File
I really like your bookmark synchronization product, and I've now spread it across all of the computers I work on, but one item I'd really like to see in the future is "Password File" synchronization. I hate having to maintain separate password files for all of my accounts across different computers and since Firefox handles the encryption, users don't need to worry about unknown parties viewing their private data.
--binarynomad 21:39, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
Add my vote (#4) for Password synchronization.
--rpertusio 03 April 2008
Some additional stats
IMHO it would be cool if Foxmarks shows some stats about how many (new) bookmarks were added/deleted after a sync.
Restore tabs
There's a similar extension like Foxmarks, available from Google - though, I prefer using Foxmarks, of course! ;) But I'd really like to have that feature from Google: restoring previously saved tabs, because it would allow people to e.g. close their Firefox opened on their working PC and reopen that tab-session on their PC at home.
Manage Groups
Would be awesome, if Foxmarks you make an implementation like Linkwad project... but more improved... with session restore (to automatically open the groups users was browsing before Firefox was closed) and opening and being able to create and manage groups locally before making them public on a server.
History
I saw the 'article' page already had a request for synchronizing history, but let me add to that. I never used to care much about history, but there are two reasons this is useful. First, I use RSS. As I go from machine to machine history synchronization shows me what I have already read. I had been using Google Synch for this, but its not clear if they are going to update to FF 3.0. Secondly, I'm not sure where the new "Awesome" bar pulls its suggestions, but if it is history, then it would be great to have it synced between machines.
Security - Encrypted storage on Foxmarks server
I'd like to store sensitive bookmarks in Foxmarks. Unfortunately, I can't rely on an unknown quantity to keep my data safe, as much as I like your product. Could you change the system so that it encrypts the bookmarks before storing them in your database? The encryption key should be based on my username and password so that it cannot be derived or stolen without extreme effort by the attacker. Until this and https support are done, I cannot use Foxmarks.
reinstate Add-Bookmark BUTTON
the javascript button I used for years is now officially not working anymore. This simple code allowed me to add a button to Ephiphany Browser (in Gnome) and automatically add a bookmark without going to the slow my.foxmarks to manually add a site. If this is reinstated again, with codes to work with every type of browser, it would solve all issues of ppl wanting a separate plugin for their choice browsers... the code was this: javascript:location.href='http://my.foxmarks.com/bookmarks/add?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&name='+encodeURIComponent(document.title) and it brought up a login screen to foxmarks (which would be bypassed after the first time logging in, for a certain length of time), then a simple add-bkmark page where you could choose the folder (and change the name or address if wanted). Please bring this code back to life!!!!
Importing / Exporting Bookmarks
I really enjoy Foxmarks, but have two problems:
1. Importing Bookmarks from another account
============================================================
05-28-08 I inadvertently created two accounts in Foxmarks, one when Foxmarks first started up, and another one later on (was out of town working on my laptop, and didn't wait to recover my old account password (yeah, I know, dumb)... so I started another one.
So now I have two accounts with important bookmarks in both.. what to do? It would be great to be able to have some way to combine the two accounts, even if it is in a roundabout way (see below).
2. Importing bookmarks from another bookmark managers / browsers / eras
========================================================================================
05-28-08 While IE allows you to export and import your bookmarks, Foxmarks for Firefox 3 only allows you to import from delicious... ??? I exported my old bookmarks and bookmarks from other Foxmarks accounts (see #1 above), but cannot import them into my main Foxmarks account. Why is such a basic function missing? And what do I do with all the bookmarks I've accumulated over the years, before Foxmarks was born?
Thanks for your great product, folks.
Request Synchronize for saved password, cookie, history
It will be great if foxmarks has these features. Please add it.
OpenID
hey, just started using Foxmarks and I like it. When logging into my account online, I thought that it would be nice to be able to do that with OpenID. So why don't implement it. And while doing it, it could also be done to this wiki. thanks for foxmarks Simon
Way of removing duplicates?
Hello! It would be quite useful if foxmarks had a way of removing duplicates as I have some how managed to end up with three different copies of all my bookmarks, Thanks Pot-noodle 09:59, 14 June 2008 (UTC) Bold text
Synchronize only this option
Perhaps covered, didn't see it. Having the option to "Sync only this" would be nice. So, you select the bookmarks you want to sync, then choose the option "Sync only this", and only those items are synced, nothing else, no matter what changes have be done, only the selected items are synced.
- See http://blog.foxmarks.com/?p=131 for details on the beta test of this feature. --Foxworth 18:27, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
I have this installed. I'm not talking about profiles, rather syncing only what one chooses. So, if I update say 10 bookmarks, why sync everything when I can sync only those 10? Or perhaps I create/update 10 bookmarks, but only want to sync 2 of those? Using the profiles is an all or nothing or you have to update the profile just for the sync event.
- Ah yes, you're right, I misunderstood. That would be vastly more complicated, though the Foxmarks extension *does* only send the changes to the Foxmarks server when synchronizing currently. --Foxworth 00:06, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
More Sync Capabilities
I love Foxmarks! I use it at work and at home on my personal network! I wish I had the know how because I would devote all my time to doing the following but since I do not I am requesting that you guys do it for us....
Sometimes computers die and data is lost. When this happens one finds themselves reinstalling and redownloading a ton of stuff including Firefox and any/all extensions. But here is the kicker....how do you remember all the settings, extensions, and add-ons that you had? If you are like me, you have more than you can commit to memory!
I am requesting that Foxmarks rise up and become a leader in this synching age and program the ability to save online and synch up add-ons, extensions, and browser settings! This combined with the bookmark synching might actually persuade Firefox to include your program in all new Firefox downloads!!!!! :)
I can only imagine the difficulty level in synching up add-ons and extensions! In the mean time maybe you could provide a tool that saves the names of our add-ons and extensions with links to re-download them! That would be an awesome alternative until you can perfect the auto sync feature for them!!!!
Again, I have no background in programming but would think that synching browser settings might be a bit easier.
If you don't have the manpower then teach me the programming and I will do it for you for free!!!! Thanks for an awesome program guys! Keep up the good work!
Make bookmarks available offline
It would be great to have a "make bookmark available offline" option build-in! I've been missing this option ever since the beginning of Firefox. Scrapbook add-on goes into that direction but it is not integrated with Firefox bookmarks.
- Interesting--do you mean something like allow you to visit the bookmarked page when you're not connected to the internet? I suppose this could be done with caching of the pages while you *are* connected to the internet, but for people with 4,000+ bookmarks, that might not work so well. --Foxworth 00:33, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
-- yes, cashing sounds good. That means you could watch your bookmarked pages offline, i.e. when you don't have an internet connection, or the page has been removed from the internet. Is there already a way to do this (nice and easy within Firefox Bookmarks)? I guess this option would not be synchronized with Foxmarks but that's ok, doesn't have to. Might be best implemented as a separate add-on? PS: doesn't have to cash all bookmarks. In IE it lets you "make available offline" a page when you bookmark it.
hidden bookmarks you don't want to store local
(feel free to delete or ignore this suggestion, i realize it can be dangerous subject for some) besides my normal links i would love to have a safe place to store my more private "(xxx)" favs.
these links are never stored in my systems and i delete my history after visiting them so that i can be fairly sure that nobody can accidentally click on them. i realize that i can lock my pc at all times and always have guests use a separate account when they visit and want access to the computer,but i thinks its allot of hazzle to just hide some stuff.
i was hoping for a feature that allows some bookmarks/folders to be marked as hidden. foxmark will always skips these bookmarks when syncing.
when a user wants to visit his hidden link he/she can click a button/use a short key to download the hidden bookmarks after manually entering a password. after the user is finished(firefox exit - manual command) foxmarks can delete the local bookmarks(and maybe even the history).
- This sounds like something solved by our Bookmark Profiles feature. See our blog entry for more details: http://blog.foxmarks.com/?p=160 --Foxworth 16:29, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
-- i tried that but its not solution for me, the point is that i dont like these bookmarks stored on any local computer and only want to download them when i want to and after use delete them. i could do that by switches the profiles of the machine in on to the hidden sites and then after im done with them back to the original profile and remove the downloaded links but its not very practical.
- Why not remove the folder(s) in question from all profiles, then when you need to access them, just visit http://my.foxmarks.com/? That would suffice, wouldn't it? --Foxworth 23:33, 24 July 2008 (UTC)
Edit profiles dialog size for ASUS users
I noticed when editing profiles on my ASUS 900 (1024x600 resolution) that it is a bit of a trick (hide status, toolbars, etc.) to get the Save and Close button to be visible for the click. Perhaps a dynamic resize, or ability to resize would be great.... Thanks
Converting Folders to Tags
It would be nice if Foxmarks were able to convert folders to tags (ala Delicious) so that I don't have to use separate services to achieve this. (I hate delicious). Personally, I think that Firefox should be doing this, but I don't see that plugin anywhere in the works.
http:// login.foxmarks.com/pda ??
Foxmarks is great, I use it constantly when I'm at home, at work, and when I'm at uni I use http://login.foxmarks.com/ all the time to find and manage my links. One thing that’s missing for me however - and I don’t imagine would be too difficult to create/implement - is a version of this same website for mobile based browsers. Naturally there is no way to get the actual program working on a mobile without a lot of trouble, but if the existing website could be scaled down for easy use with the 320x480 resolution that is typical these type of browsers, it could really broaden foxmarks's functionality, accessibility, and usefulness.
- You mean like http://mobile.foxmarks.com/ ? --Foxworth 19:58, 8 September 2008 (UTC)
