Google Bookmarks, and One Amazing Thing you can Do with It

Google has been keeping a little secret for quite a while, and they’ve been doing a good job of it. Sure, some blogs have linked to it, but Google has done an amazing job of keeping it quiet. There are no links anywhere on Google.com that lead to it. What-so-ever. (with the exception of search results; duh).

What am I talking about? Google Bookmarks, of course.

Navigate to Google Bookmarks, or www.google.com/bookmarks/ if you’d like. If you are logged into Google, then you will be able to see the screen.

The design is fairly simple, and doesn’t take too much getting used to. It’s a usable alternative to Del.icio.us, but I’ve got a better way to use it. (More on that later.)

With simple colors and small graphics, adding a bookmark is one click of a bookmarklet, plugin, or the “Add Bookmark” link on the sidebar.

So for my ultimate Super Bookmark Way that I have just learned from my computer crazed uncle, follow the steps below:

1. Get some Bookmarks: Go to Google Bookmarks and get a few bookmarks, ones you would use often. Do not, under any circumstances, import your entire collection of Del.icio.us bookmarks, for example.

2. Tag ’em Nested: Tag them nested. For example, if you had Phosphor as your favorite game, you would tag it Games and then FPS, for example. The nested separator defaults to “>”. So, our previous example would be Games>FPS. You can even do Games>Action>Highly Rated>FPS>Online if you want…

3. Install the Plugin: (for Firefox only) Install the plugin here.

4. Add the Button: Right-click a blank spot on the menu bar. Click Customize…. Drag the “Gmarks Toolbar” button onto it, but don’t worry: it’s not a bookmark. Upon first use, it will turn into a little folder.

5. Try it Out: Click on it.

Let me know how you like the system, and thanks, Backbuffer, for the idea.