How to Save Your Spot When Reading Online Fiction

I've mentioned before the problem with using bookmarks when reading blog fiction. The term "bookmark" is the terminology we use to refer to the concept of "saving" a webpage for later. I believe the Netscape coined the term for their original web browser - and it is something I may never forgive them for doing.

Even though we use the same word to describe saving our spots in books and on the internet, we use those "bookmarks" very differently. When I use a bookmark in the physical world, I am saving my place only until I get back. When I return to the book, I remove my bookmark, read and continue reading from where I was. The old "bookmarked" spot no longer exists. In cyberspace when we "bookmark" something we are usually saving it either permanently or at least "until further notice". We use our bookmark to jump back to a spot, but we do not remove the bookmark.

So why is this a problem? It's a problem because now I don't have the vocabulary to describe a "real" cyber bookmark. That is, a temporary bookmark that is erased when I open it. Well, for now I'm just going to refer to it as "temporary bookmarks". Now that my mini rant is done I come to the point of my article. I have found 2 bookmarking services that work like temporary bookmarks instead of permanent bookmarks.

The first service is a firefox add-on called "taboo". The idea behind "taboo" is that not only does it bookmark a page, but it saves any text you've entered into the page as well as how far down the screen your scrollbar is. It also takes a visual snapshot so that when you look at all of your "taboos" you see a nice preview of the page you saved. The service add 2 buttons to your browser. One is a button that will bookmark or "taboo" your spot. If you click it on a webpage that already has a saved taboo a little box pops up that allows to either change the name or description of the taboo and to move the taboo to the current spot on the webpage or you can just remove it. This makes removing a taboo very simple. Load a page, click taboo, click "remove". All of this without using any menu options.

The second button, as you may have guessed shows you all of your "taboos". If you click the button it will open up a firefox tab that shows all the thumbnails of the taboos you've saved. It lists them in the order that they were saved so you can see your latest bookmark -err... taboo- of each website you've visited if you have more than one taboo. Another quicker option is a little arrow next to the "show taboo" button will show a little popup of your latest taboos so you can quickly go back to a page you were reading.

Another bookmarking option I found was called dogear. This service is a little harder to describe. It places less emphasis on the time you saved a page than taboo does. However, the service works with all web browsers because all the information is saved on their webserver.

Here's how it works, when you want to start using it, you click a bookmark called "dogearit". What that does is create a frame at the top of your browser and the rest of the webpage in a frame below it. Then, when you want to "dog-ear" a page, you highlight the text you want to come back to and then left click it. That create's your dog ear. If you highlight other text on the page and then left-click it, it will move the dogear to that text.

To retrieve your dogears you have another bookmark. That takes you to a webpage(assuming you're logged in) that lists all of your "dog-eared" web pages. Then you can click them like any other hyperlink and you'll goto that webpage, scroll to where you left it, and the dogear frame will be at the top of the page.

So, which of these services works best? Hands down "taboo" is a lot better. I use it to read the archives of blog fiction and it works out great. The dogearit service is too slow. When the frame is on the page, it seems to almost quintuple my page load times. Unlike taboo, it is not as easy to remove a dogear you no longer want. Plus it seems I'm always getting logged out of the service so I waste time trying to log back in.

There are a couple things that dogear does better than taboo. First of all, any browser can use it. So if you use Internet Explorer, Safari, or Chrome dogear is pretty much your only option. The second thing is how the services handles saving your spot in a page. Taboo only remembers how far down the page you scrolled. That means if the page changes by adding content to the top, your scrollbar will not be in the same place. Dogear remembers by keeping track of the text you highlighted. Dogear will take you to that portion of the page regardless of where it is. So, if dogear ever solves the speed issue, it might become as good, if not better, than the taboo firefox add-on. Until the speed issue is resolved, however, I would recommend using firefox and taboo if you're looking to use temporary in-page bookmarks.

While taboo and dogearit solves a couple of the problems with reading online fiction it does not resolve them all. For instance, if you're not reading in a chronological order (which is definately a possiblity with blog or any online fiction) you can't keep track of what you have and haven't read. It does however, solve 2 big problems. It allows you to do an in-page save - this is especially helpful if you're reading multiple blog posts on a single archive page(i.e. all August posts). Also you can remove a temporary bookmark easily so you don't have 3 dozen bookmarks on the same webpage.

Mobile Friendly Websites

About a month ago I talked about the need for an alternative to a laptop that can be used to read blog fiction sites. One thing that I started using is my cell phone. It's something that I always have and is usually in an area that offers "mobile" internet access. What's neat about it is that if I find some down time I can always whip it out read the latest posts from my favorite sites. That's the advantage to using a cell phone to read blog fiction.

However, there are also disadvantages. Text is really small on a cell phone. Depending on your location and service, "Mobile internet" isn't necessarily available. The biggest problem is the small screen can really screw up the layout of a blog. It is that last disadvantage that brings me to the point of this post.

Using my phone, the EnV VX9900 from LG,, I went through the entire blog fiction list and rated how easy each site is to use on my cell phone. I have 3 categories.

1. Navigable: This is the most favorable rating. This means that not only can you read the latest posts, but you can easily navigate through old posts or even start back at the beginning and read the whole thing on your phone.
2. Readable: This is a "satisfactory" rating. It's easy to read the latest posts. Good for catching up on a blog that you haven't read for a bit. However, it's not easy or maybe not even possible to navigate to older posts. Therefore you can only catch up with the sites you're already reading.
3. Unusable: The worse rating. There are 2 ways that a blog fiction site can get on this list. The first way is if the text is hard or impossible to get to and read. An example would be sifting through 200 lines of links and ads before getting to any content. The other way to end up on this list is if a blog is "readable", but is no longer updating. If a blog is finished and you can only read the latest posts than really, it's not going to be very readable at all.
   

Obviously, not everyone's phone is going to be like mine. That means this list isn't the final say. It's only a survey of these sites according to what my phone can view. I would love to know how some of these sites look on other people's phones.

One other thing before I get to the results. If you're a blog fiction author and your blog is on the "unusable" list, don't over react. Don't start optimizing your site for cell phone traffic yet. Especially not if it's going to harm the layout and functionality of site for normal visitors. Right now, I consider this list for readers who might be stuck somewhere boring (an opening music act, nephew's T-Ball game, or niece's dance recital) and need some entertainment. Know that your entertainment could be only a cell phone away. I'll be issuing updates to this list as needed.

Navigable
Action Figure Diary*
Yanni's Block
The Adventures of Daniel Walters
Curly Gibson

Readable
Anonymous Lawyer
Captain's Log
Undead Man Blogging
The Professional Pet
Peep This Diary
Mexican Year
Renal Failure
Fate's Acquittal
Space Haggis
Giant Girl Rampages
Charlotte
Fake Steve Ballmer
Death's Blog

Unusable
Ten-Sided
Wilf's World
Atyllah The Hen
Confessions of a Blogger
Transplanted Life
Lord Likely
Fleet Commander
Diary of a Killer
Up and Onward: Confessions of a Super Hero
The Cranky Product Manager
Horton's Folly
The User Pool
Under Odysseus
The Star Islanders
The Darth Side
Blog Paige

*Action Figure Diary was easy to read and navigate. However, the comic pictures were condensed to a point where I couldn't make it out. I suspect that not everyone will have that problem with their phone.

Laptop alternatives

Well, the honeymoon is over. I'm back to work and now, and back to blogging. I'm catching up on all the active blogs like Wilf's, big melly, and fate's acquittal, etc. etc. All of which I was already behind on before I'd even left. It was nice to see that the forums were used somewhat while I was gone. Gotta build a community after all. I have to admit as much fun as the wedding and honeymoon were, I missed blogging somewhat. (didn't miss work one iota, however)

I did some reading while I was gone. I read the first half of the first book of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Novels. It is awesome and I can't believe that I ever posed as a scifi fan before reading it - Highly recommended. I also finished a novel that I'd started a while ago, Jack McDevit's Odyssey which is the penultimate novel in his Academy series of books. I don't think I'll be picking up any of the prequels or sequels - not recommended.

While reading blog fiction is fun, it's nice to once in a while take a break and read some dead tree published books. Betsy Friedrich mentioned the same thing in the conclusion of her thesis(pdf). After reading all that text on a screen it was a welcomed diversion to open up a book and read it on her bed. Reading all that text on screen can get wearing. Here are some other advantages books have over reading online with a laptop.

A book is more portable than a laptop
A book doesn't require a recharge
A book can go places a laptop cannot, like a beach or direct sunlight.
If on a flight, I can read a book during takeoff or landing. I'd get thrown off the flight if I left my laptop on.
A book is easier to hold than a laptop

I think one thing that might be holding back online fiction and blog fiction is a device to read it that's better than a laptop. Sure, if you want to leave comments and such, a laptop is more suitable, but if you're laying out on the beach, or sitting in bed, a laptop is not easy or convenient. While impressed with the leaps Amazon's Kindle has made, I'm not fully convinced that that is the device that people would use to read blog fiction - not when it's charging you monthly fees to read something you can get for free on your laptop. (although, I must admit that it's features could usher in the era of e-books)

A more suitable device for reading online fiction is something that is needed. Spending a week reading books instead of laptops has made this need obvious. I'll be searching the internet and watching the news reports. I'd also be interested in hearing some of your thoughts on laptop alternatives.

It's good to be back!