Ask HN: Do you still bookmark websites?
91 comments
·August 16, 2025zrobotics
This is probably a bit unorthodox, but I use tab session manager [0] for firefox. I started using it mainly to be able to save an open window to return to a project, and it ended up replacing my bookmarks. My issue with bookmarks was always the friction of managing them, but for whatever reason it fits my mental model to organize by open windows.
It's really nice to open up a window or group of windows related to a project that I haven't touched in a few months and it just be one click. Plus, if I open up new tabs those also get saved for the next time. It also works for easily pulling up my regular work session so I don't need to manually open up the 8 or so tabs I always need in a workday. Something toaybe check out if you already organize open windows by task or project.
dendrite9
Interesting, I may need to try this out. I tend to have a similar approach but it sometimes results in keeping tabs open for along time, or dealing with a restore previous session everytime I start up.
I keep bookmarks for specific things, sometimes ephemerally and sometimes to keep the link for reasearch, etc. Every so often I make a pass through a bunch of bookmarks and delete the ones that have rotted. Or try to point to an archive mirror if available. That process does a decent job getting rid of the junk. I do need to work on isolating my personal from my work reading when at home. I use different windows but I should be using different profiles or something.
kylecazar
I currently am in the bad habit of bookmarking websites and never, ever viewing my bookmarks.
vladsanchez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku
;) It's like hoarding... I hoard links and knowledge, but rarely go back to them. I think I need therapy.
saaspirant
I had amassed a lot of bookmarks. I finally got around deleting them and felt "free"
I have learnt to let go
soupfordummies
I hit Ctrl+Shift+D on dozens of tabs multiple times a day.
Browser search does work pretty good tho for something like pulling that specific article I saw on the New Yorker last week or the new pizza restaurant I came across last month.
hombre_fatal
The one time I ever looked at my bookmarks was when I was on a long flight bored of my laptop with no internet, then I realized I had used an extension that cached my bookmark content so I read a bunch of articles, blog posts, and HN comment threads.
Never touched them again.
pixelmonkey
I sometimes describe Instapaper as "/dev/null for web content". I reflexively share to Instapaper not to read it later, but to absolve guilt for not reading it at all. It is one of my weirdest web habits, on reflection.
OTOH, back when del.icio.us was good, I used it for roughly the same purpose.
These days, I still send links to Instapaper when they are essays or articles. I send links to Raindrop.io when they are anything else, basically anything the Instapaper text extractor would fail on. Things like repos, interactive charts/graphs, photographs, videos, etc.
I still think it is behaving roughly as /dev/null. I do sometimes think that, at least nowadays, you can ask an LLM to visit your bookmarked links and do some semantic search over them. But I guess the best use case is just saving it for later/never rather than wasting time on it now.
al_borland
I tried to use various LLMs to go through my Instapaper stuff. It was probably 6-12 months ago and it didn't like any of my attempts.
However, I did still find one-off AI summaries to be very helpful in getting through the backlog to get me down to 0. I now stay at 0. If there is a long article I don't feel like reading, but want to know more than the headline, I will use the AI summary in my browser. That's usually good enough to absolve the guilt, without creating more guilt by adding something to the reading list.
nbbaier
> I do sometimes think that, at least nowadays, you can ask an LLM to visit your bookmarked links and do some semantic search over them. But I guess the best use case is just saving it for later/never rather than wasting time on it now.
I've been meaning to build something like this
indus
I like the idea -- to extend yours -- all the bookmarks and pages visited (or pages dwelled on for more than a minute) get full-texted and filed to a local LLM. And you can query directly, and it has the context.
xnx
> I sometimes describe Instapaper as "/dev/null for web content"
Ha! I used Read It Later in a similar way. I thought of it as "Read It Never".
SoftTalker
By the time you go back to read it, the link will be broken.
yukieliot
Yeah, I bookmark stuff, but just in my browser. No apps or extensions — keeping it simple.
1gn15
I use my browser's native bookmarks because I didn't even realize the others existed, lol
indus
That is a good inspiration to chase. Keep it simple.
vivzkestrel
Anyone knows an extension for firefox that creates a slideshow out of your bookmarks and changes the link every 2 seconds? would be real nice to have something like this on an empty new tab
jamesrr39
I still bookmark websites. Just in the standard browser, not in Pocket, etc.
I found searching for and finding bookmarks a pain, so made a Chrome extension to natural language search with lunr.js. It works nicely and I open-sourced it.
Extension: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/bookmark-search/fcj...
aagha
Do you know if it works in FF?
jamesrr39
Most likely not in it's current state as it uses the `chrome.bookmarks.getTree()` API.
However the Chrome-specific stuff is in this file: https://github.com/jamesrr39/chrome-bookmark-search/blob/mas... , and creating an equivalent for this should be enough to support firefox.
I am open to pull requests!
ranger207
I only bookmark references, not articles, and just use my browser's bookmarks. At most when for example planning a vacation or big purchase I'll make a folder and bookmark a bunch of relevant stuff, then delete the folder afterwards. If I see an article I want to read I'll just open it in another tab and read it. If I don't finish all my articles that day I can leave them open for a while, and then when I come back to it I often find that I don't actually care to read it as much as I thought, so I'll skim it or just close it unread
mcdrake
I tried using Instapaper and Raindrop to save links, but found that I never went back and read them. Now I use Chrome's built-in reading list and don't read those either!
arthurdd
I still use traditional browser-based bookmarking, and sync with my Firefox account. I don't see the need to share my bookmarks.
al_borland
There are plenty of options still out there (raindrop.io, Instapaper, Safari’s reading list, etc). No need to vibe code your own, unless you want to.
For read-it-later type bookmarking, like Pocket, I gave up. I never actually go back to read things later.
For “social” bookmarking, like delicious, I never really understood it, but I think sites like Reddit ended up filling that niche. My mental framework was always an evolution of forums, not bookmarking.
For most things, I can do a search and get to something faster than going to my bookmaker.
I use my standard browser bookmarks for my own little sites and things I go to multiple times every day. Then I have some others tucked away for cool sites that I think would be hard to find again. I then forget these exist and never visit, but when I remember they exist every 18 months or so, I go through them and they’re cool.
mavilia
Self hosting Karakeep[0] for this. I think next step is to carve out time on Sunday morning to go through things and put them in lists of read vs unread.
mthoms
Thanks for sharing this. I'm keen to check it out.
I recently tried LinkWarden and Linkding - neither of which I was particularly fond of.
ya1sec
I use are.na to store links in appropriate channels. I have their chrome extension mapped to a keyboard shortcut on my desktop. On mobile I use a separate shortcut. I save links many times throughout the day, trying to curate content that I think is useful or interesting. I’m building several tools derived from this practice.
My are.na bookmarks: https://www.are.na/ya-1sec/bookmarks-1ntdk32bur0
An app i made that surfaces a random page harvested from a few interesting channels: https://moonjump.app/
Many bookmarking tools were created, and then most got sucked into the tech's "how do I make more money cycle?" and died.
My favorite was delicious, and then Pocket. Even Google had a bookmarking extension.
Is saving links no longer considered fashionable?
Yes, AI, but how does it go back to my favorite that I need to either read or revisit?
Should I vibe code one?