Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

So I've got the Open Apple Bookmark key in Safari, but what if I use Firefox?

As those of us using a Mac are ahead of the game already, many of us are using the open-source (read: Free) web browser Firefox. As I explained in my last column regarding the Open Apple "D" to bookmark a web site in Safari, I like doing things as simply as possible. Thoreau's mandate of "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify" is especially true in the world of I.T., but alas, is often not meant to be. But enough about gates, windows and other hardware construction.

Firefox wants you to be able to access your bookmarks quickly and easily, preferably without taking your hands from the keyboard, as if your hands are on the keyboard, you're probably doing something important (your erstwhile author notwithstanding). To access your bookmarks in Firefox, they included a logical command sequence (if 2 buttons can be called a sequence--a "duo-quence, perhaps?)--Open Apple button and "B." That has the effect of opening up a side bar with all your bookmarks right there. But that's not even the cool part--it also opens up a search field with the input focus already there (in other words, just open and type). Searching in this toolbar is like searching for music in iTunes--with each letter typed, it dynamically searches your bookmarks for the most likely matches and brings them to the fore. Instead of scrolling through Freya-knows how many bookmarks looking for that "something I bookmarked a week ago that had to do with dwarf goats and maple syrup," you can just type in goats, and there it is! Easy! Constructive laziness triumphs again!!! [Britt Godwin]