Having met and then married the woman of my dreams via Internet
dating, I'm a strong believer in the power of computers to
bring actual humans together in the actual world. I'm a little
late to the party with the whole 'open-source browser with
built-in social bookmarking' thing, but now I'm a zealous
convert. As the smug UNIX programmer says in the Dilbert comic:
"Here's a nickel, kid, go buy yourself a better computer."
Let me explain. The program you're using to read this very
page is a web browser, most likely Internet Explorer or Safari.
Web browsers are among the many computer applications you
use every day that don't draw much attention to themselves.
It's worth investing some attention in your browser experience,
though, because it could probably be a lot easier than it
currently is. Safari is better than Internet Explorer because
of its tabbed pages and its nifty bookmarks bar. Firefox is
better than Safari because of its better-designed tabbed pages
and the seamless integration of social bookmarks into an even
niftier bookmarks bar. Also, for civil libertarians like me
who care about such things, Firefox was written as a volunteer
effort by various computer geeks, and isn't owned by anyone.
The other browsers come free of charge too, but their hidden
cost is their advertising presence in your consciousness.
My single favorite feature of Firefox is its history menu.
If you click it, you'll see an option for Recently Closed
Tabs. This is invaluable for space cadets like me who close
a browser window and fifteen seconds later remember why I
opened it in the first place. Software should always be so
forgiving of my nervous system's shortcomings.
Del.icio.us by itself is so wonderful that I'm willing to
overlook the annoying clever punctuation in their name, and
together with Firefox I feel like I've suddenly been transported
ten years into the future. All the best tools feel like toys,
and social bookmarking is no exception. Join the geeky party
while it's still so remarkably free of spam.
Get Firefox
here. Once you set it up, reduce your eyestrain thus:
find Preferences in the menus, choose Content, and down where
it says Default Font: Times, click Advanced. Set your minimum
type size to 14 and click Okay. Much better.