Creating Portable Bookmarks

Very often we find websites that we want to use over and over again. You can save the location of the site, so when you want to access the information again, all you have to do is choose it from a menu.

Learning to save and organize bookmarks is one of the most valuable skills you will learn when using the Web. Bookmark files are especially essential to teachers because they constitute lessons their students will be doing. In a public area like a lab, personal bookmark files must be portable so that you can move them from one computer to another as you accomplish your work. Bookmarks only have value if they are available.

To create an annotated Bookmark List that is portable, do the following:

1) Set up your bookmark folder.

• Open Netscape 6 (or Netscape 7.1) from the application menu (Colored Apple>Applications>Netscape)
• Now that Netscape is open and active, create a blank bookmark file on your computer by clicking Bookmark-Manage Bookmarks on the browser menu.
• You may have to "clean out" the edit bookmark window by selecting all entries and deleting them (don't forget to use your shift key to collect all entries).
• Create a new folder (click the New Folder on the menu bar and type in the name) called SH_bookmark (for Scavenger Hunt booksmarks).
• Close the window. You are now ready to do your scavenger hunt and create a bookmark for every site you visit.

2) Collect your bookmarks.

• When you have a page displayed in the browser that you would like to bookmark, Click on "Bookmarks" from the menu bar and choose the folder you have created. Netscape will add a bookmark into the folder for the page you want to keep.

3) Annotate your bookmarks.

• Click Bookmarks>Manage Bookmarks on the browser menu. The edit window will open and you will see your bookmarks listed.
• Click on one of the bookmarks to select it.
• Click the Properties button to open the description of the bookmark. The description window opens and you should see the name of the bookmark and the URL. In the Comments box (or description box for the older version), type your annotation (a description of what the site is and why it is valuable to you.)
• Click OK.

4) Save your bookmark file to a floppy or zip.

• Click Bookmarks>Manage Bookmarks on the browser menu. The edit window will open and you will see your bookmarks listed.
• Organize your bookmarks into at least 2 folders by clicking New Folder to create the folders. Name them Search Engines, Lesson Plans, and whatever else you see appropriate.
• Move the appropriate bookmarks into each folder by dragging and dropping the bookmark on top of the folder. To see the bookmarks, you may have to click the triangle at the left of the folder.
• Click File>Export Bookmarks and name the file SH_Bookmarks and be sure to "Save in:" a location on your zip.
• Your file can now be transported to another computer and opened in Netscape 6 and used again. To open a bookmark file you have saved on your zip:
  • Bookmark>Manage Bookmarks (Edit Bookmarks) and chose File>Import Bookmarks (or Open Bookmarks file in the older version) from the menu. Browse to your zip and Select TLR_Bookmarks from your floppy/zip.