Accumulating bookmarks or favourite links goes hand in hand with web surfing and a typical user may have anywhere from 10 to 100 different links indexed by their web browser. But sometimes looking for the link to your favourite web site in your bookmark file can be a chore, especially if you have to wade through a glut of poorly sorted site listings (see figure 1). While Netscape Communicator doesnÆt accommodate for sorting of its bookmarks Internet Explorer allows you to at least sort the bookmarks in your Favorites listing by name just by right-clicking on any bookmark and selecting æSort by nameÆ. Fortunately though, both browsers allow you to easily organise your bookmarks into groups or folders to make Internet navigation a clearer and more efficient task.

Netscape Communicator 4.75: to manage your bookmark file in Netscape the first thing you need to do is click on Bookmarks and then Edit Bookmarks. A new window will pop up displaying all your bookmarks as well as some already existing folders. From here you can drag these bookmarks to a different more accessible position in your list or you can create a folder to group links from a particular genre together. For example, to create a new folder for all the sports web sites in your list simply right-click and create a new folder and name it appropriately. ItÆs then just a matter of dragging all the relevant links into this folder.

The right-click menu also allows you to delete bookmarks, view bookmark properties and it also allows you to also create new bookmarks from scratch.

If you have a few favourite sites that you visit numerous times a day everyday, a news site for example, then you can place these bookmarks in your æPersonal Toolbar FolderÆ for instantaneous access (see figure 2). Simply drag any bookmarks you want instant access to to this folder, or you can directly drag bookmarks from the Edit Bookmarks windows onto the toolbar. DonÆt place too many bookmarks in this folder though as you will quickly run out of room. It is also a good idea to give bookmarks in this folder a single word name as this will allow you to fit more on. To rename a bookmark, select it, view its properties and type in a new name in the name filed. You can also delete the bookmarks Netscape has placed in this folder by default to accommodate more of your own.

Internet Explorer 5.5: to manage your bookmarks in IE the first thing you need to do is click on Favorites and then Organize Favorites. A new window will pop with four management buttons on the left and your bookmark listing on the right. This window is very cramped when you first bring it up so it might be a good idea to re-size it by dragging down the corners (see figure 3). From here, you can drag bookmarks to different positions on your list and you can create groups by clicking on the æCreate folderÆ button, naming it and dragging applicable links to it.

Much like NetscapeÆs Personal Toolbar Folder, if you have a select number of web sites that you visit regularly you can just drag them to the æLinksÆ folder. It might be a good idea to delete or move the default bookmarks in this folder, if they are of no use to you of course, so that you have more room for your own links. Unlike Netscape though, once you run out of on-screen space the Links toolbar will start displaying a little double-arrow icon, which, when pressed will list the links that are hidden from view.

Tip: to get more website viewing area out of your web browser, change your navigation buttons from images to text or visa versa. In Netscape go to Edit, Preferences, Appearance and select ?Text Only? from ?Show toolbars as?. In Internet Explorer 5.5 go to View, Toolbars, Customize, and select ?Small icons? from ?Icon options? and ?No text labels? from ?Text options?. Internet Explorer also allows for greater customisation of its toolbar locations and sizes ? simply place the mouse over the vertical line to then left of the toolbars name (Links, for example) until the cursor becomes double-arrowed, and then drag and re-size to your hearts content.

-By Elias Plastiras