Filed under: Software, Productivity, Tips and tricks, Internet Tools, Mods
Synchronizer brings some .Mac to Firefox
I'm a Safari man at heart, partly because syncing bookmarks between a few Macs with my .Mac account takes a big headache out of my daily computing. However, since I still need to work in Firefox for a few things, I've been on the hunt for a tool or extension to bring this same bookmark syncing goodness to Firefox.Fortunately, my quest has ended in success with the Bookmarks Synchronizer. This slick little Firefox extension enables bookmark syncing via any good 'ol fashioned FTP/WebDAV server, and for the past couple of days it's been working like a charm. You can set the extension to sync at the startup and/or shutdown of Firefox, which also works really well with one minor catch: quitting Firefox causes this extension to kick into syncing action, which effectively stops Firefox from actually quitting so the sync can finish. Once a small progress window disappears, signalling a successful upload, you can then truly quit Firefox.
I'm using Firefox 1.07 and the extension works just fine. The Mozilla download page makes no mention as to whether Bookmarks Synchronizer works with the 1.5 beta, so you're on your own there. But if you've been looking for a way to cut down on computer-induced headaches and an easier way of keeping all those bookmarks n-sync, (hah!) I definitely recommend downloading Bookmarks Synchronizer.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anna said 10:44PM on 11-06-2005
I've been using this plug-in for sometime. It's working out quite well. There are lots of web site supporting xbel. My personal favorite is http://www.bookkit.com - online bookmark management tool. It has a lot of features and works supports xbel.
Reply
LD said 3:50PM on 10-18-2005
I personally use Chipmarks - http://www.chipmark.com/
It's cross-browser, cross-platform, and web accessible. And I don't have to have my own FTP server to use it.
Reply
adn said 4:48PM on 10-18-2005
I have used this extension some time ago and although it works fine, I very much prefer my actual del.icio.us account + the Foxylicious extension... bliss! ;)
Reply
David Chartier said 3:15PM on 11-02-2005
I took a look at Chipmark LD and it looks like it only works with Firefox and IE. It sounds like it's a service not much unlike del.icio.us or Yahoo's MyWeb 2.0, which use bookmarklets that are a little more cross browser/platform friendly. Any chance you have any compare/contrast thoughts between these services?
Reply
LD said 4:46PM on 10-18-2005
Their browser plugins work for IE and Firefox. They are open source as well so theoretically someone could write a plugin for some other browser. It works great in Firefox because, at least on my PC, I can hide the Bookmarks menu entirely and replace it with Chipmarks. That doesn't work on a Mac, but it will display the Chipmarks menu alongside the Bookmarks. In IE it works like a toolbar add-in. Not as slick as Firefox, but that's because OSS is better than M$.
You can also access the bookmarks online with any modern browser (I am assuming, I haven't tried Opera or Safari for this) just by logging into your account on their website.
del.icio.us as I understand it is only web-based and does not have any browser plugins. Yahoo's service is similar and doesn't actually integrate intot he browser, but makes a web portal (as I understand it, I haven't tried it).
I think the Chipmark thing could really take off if they open up their server end and allow people to create their own servers and enhance things by allowing web portals.
Chipmark does have some minor community bookmarking features, though they are fairly bad right now.
Reply
adn said 4:58PM on 10-18-2005
> del.icio.us as I understand it is only web-based and
> does not have any browser plugins.
Well, the extension you need for Firefox is Foxylicious. And then you have a cross platform solution (OS X AND Linux AND Windows) for your bookmarks.
Reply
LD said 5:59PM on 10-18-2005
Yeah, looks at least somewhat similar to Foxylicious, though Chipmarks don't show up in your Bookmarks folder itself but at their own, seperate menu.
Reply
Faheem said 9:04AM on 10-19-2005
Bookmarks synchronizer is great, but it doesn't work with FireFox 1.5 beta (yet). Now my desktop and laptop are out of sync again, and I'm really tempted to uninstall 1.5 just so I can use the synchronizer again.
Reply
Cassian said 6:51PM on 10-18-2005
I've been using this extension for ages, and it's brilliant! I use FF on two Win XP machines, an iMac and an iBook, and this is by far the best way to sync bookmarks via a server I trust (my own).
The version linked above DOES NOT work in FF1.5 (at least the beta flavours), but a beta version of a 1.5 compatible version can be found at http://torisugari.spymac.com/
Reply
Kevin Derby said 11:38PM on 10-18-2005
Try the "Abstract Mouse" bookmark. I found it to be better than the Bookmarks Synchronizer, and you don't need your own server.
http://www.abstractmouse.com
Reply