Synchronizing Bookmarks: The Why
I use regularly three different computers. On each computer I have at least two or three web browsers, like Firefox, Chrome, and IE (or Safari, on the Mac). So, when I find a super cool web site I want to remember later, I can never be exactly sure how well I can find it later, at least when I want to. The hassle of trying to remember on which computer/browser combination I bookmarked something is sometimes just too much. Or then I know where it is, but I am on the wrong computer.
The different "bookmark sets" were also structured differently, without a unified structure. This resulted in me searching for links in one looooong list, also when I knew this was the right place.
I wanted a change, and what I wanted was the following:
- The same bookmarks in each computer and each browser browser within each computer
- A unified folder structure for the bookmarks
One solution to this problem is of course to use a proper social bookmarking service, like Digg, or Delicious. The idea with these services is that instead of saving the bookmarks on your computer, you save them in the web. These social bookmarking sites are small communities, where you can also recommend links to others, and become an active part of the link exchanging community. Tagging links with relevant key words is also a feature in common on this kind of sites.
Delicious (www.delicious.com), for example, furthermore offers extensions for different browsers, making it more available, and smooth to use in everyday life. You can import your current bookmarks to the service, but the browser's own bookmarks do not cease to exist. In stead, you continue with two different places where to store your links.
As I am a simple man, I did not like that idea. I only wanted to bookmark links on the browser.
The Solution
After a short study, I found the following service:
Xmarks, the browser bookmark synchronization service!
The solution I found, was Xmarks. You will actually have to join the Xmarks community, as this service is also in its fundament a social bookmarking service. However, it is more tightly structured around the browser bookmarks, which is why I chose it.
I have now installed this extension on every browser I use, on all three different computers. Luckily, installation was fast. During installation the Xmarks service asks if you want to activate "smarter search" and "site info". I choose not to.
After each installation, the service always unified all the bookmark sets into one common pool, so that after all the installations I ended up with a huge collection of bookmarks, with all the bookmarks of every browser, and synchronized across every browser. I then used one of the Chromes to reorganize them into folders, in which I grouped the bookmarks in. Chrome seemed to have the most fluid reorganization feature, according to me.
A few synchronizations later, I had the same structure, and links, on every browser.
One of the Firefoxes kept on giving some error message that there was a difference in the amount of bookmarks on that browser and the internet database, but that was solved by clearing the Firefox's own links, and by importing the whole set from the database to the browser again (there exists a button for this operation, which found in the settings: Advanced->Manual overwrite->Force overwrite of local data). A fox is always a fox.
I am now a happy internet user with only one set of bookmark links. By using Xmarks, I do not have to be overly social either, if I don't want to. After all, not every link is for sharing, like my Chuck Norris Facts link, which is only for me! 
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