
They were a deliberate feature in this sense: I invented the javascript: URL along with JavaScript in 1995, and intended that javascript: URLs could be used as any other kind of URL, including being bookmark-able. Brendan Eich, the inventor of JavaScript, explained bookmarklets as follows: Web developer Steve Kangas got the idea from the Netscape JavaScript Guide, and coined the term bookmarklets in 1998.

Bookmarklets are typically installed by navigating to a web page that links to a JavaScript URI, right-clicking the link, and clicking the bookmark option. As such, they can be simple "one-click" tools which add functionality to the browser. Bookmarklets have access to the current page, which they may inspect and change. Bookmarklets are possible because the JavaScript URI scheme allows JavaScript programs to be stored as URIs, which can be stored in bookmarks. The term is a portmanteau of the words bookmark and applet. Bookmarklets īookmarklets are JavaScript programs stored as bookmarks. Browsers have varying abilities to import and export bookmarks to favorites, and vice versa. Each file contains the original URL and Microsoft-specific metadata. Bookmark names must be unique within a folder. Internet Explorer's "Favorites" (also "Internet Shortcuts") are stored as individual files named with the original link name, and the filename extension ".URL", for example "Home Page.URL" collected in a directory named "Favorites" which may have subdirectories. Editing this file outside its native browser requires editing HTML.įirefox 3 stores bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences in a transactionally secure database format ( SQLite).

This approach permits publication and printing of a categorized and indented catalog, and works across platforms. Netscape-derived browsers store bookmarks in the single HTML-coded file bookmarks.html. The list storage method varies, depending on the browser, its version, and the operating system on which it runs. An alternative to the bookmarks menu, it is similar to sidebars found in Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari.Įach browser has a built-in tool for managing the list of bookmarks. The bookmarks sidebar in Mozilla Firefox 3.0. " Bookmarklets" are JavaScript programs stored as bookmarks that can be clicked to perform a function. Mozilla Firefox introduced live bookmarks in 2004, which resemble standard bookmarks but contain a list of links to recent articles supplied by a news site or weblog, which is regularly updated via RSS feeds however, Mozilla removed this feature in 2018. Newer browsers have expanded the "bookmark" feature to include variations on the concept of saving links.

Web-based bookmarking services let users save bookmarks on a remote web server, accessible from anywhere. With the advent of social bookmarking, shared bookmarks have become a means for users sharing similar interests to pool web resources, or to store their bookmarks in such a way that they are not tied to one specific computer or browser. In addition to bookmarking methods within most browsers, many external applications offer bookmark management.īookmarks have been incorporated in browsers since the ViolaCello, another early browser, also had bookmarking features. Bookmarks are normally accessed through a menu in the user's web browser, and folders are commonly used for organization. Bookmarks are called favorites or Internet shortcuts in Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, and by virtue of that browser's large market share, these terms have been synonymous with bookmark since the First Browser War. All modern web browsers include bookmark features. In the context of the World Wide Web, a bookmark is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that is stored for later retrieval in any of various storage formats. For other uses, see Favorites (disambiguation).
