8. Synchronizing Browser Bookmarks

We all use bookmarks to make our web browsing experience easier, but it can be kind of a pain to be working on one device, and realize that you bookmarked a particular site on another device. Relax; iCloud has you covered. It can synchronize browser bookmarks across four different browsers: Safari for Mac and Windows, Safari for iOS, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for Windows.

With bookmark synchronization, any changes you make to your bookmarks on one device are pushed to your other devices, and the bookmark set up on each device is merged. You can choose to turn on bookmark synchronization between a subset of your devices, or all of them.

In this chapter, you’ll see how to turn on bookmark synchronization and learn a little about the best ways to manage bookmarks. As a bonus, I’ll point you to some useful bookmarklets, which are little, handy JavaScript programs masquerading as everyday bookmarks.

About Bookmark Management

If you’re anything like me, you have a huge selection of bookmarks that you’ve created over the years, on different computers and different devices, and the thought of having iCloud merge them all together onto all of your devices is a bit daunting. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to do a little preparation before you turn on browser synchronization.

• Do some spring cleaning. If possible, get all your devices in one place. This is a good time to compare and review bookmarks on your devices and get rid of duplicates and outdated bookmarks. Your goal is to keep only the bookmarks that are still useful. If you bookmarked a particular page that has an article on it that you want to read, go ahead and read it, or save it to one of the read-later services, such as Instapaper (www.instapaper.com) or Readability (www.readability.com). After you’ve dealt with the article, delete the bookmark.

• Decide which devices you want to synchronize. After thinking about it a little, I realized that I had no real interest in synchronizing all of the bookmarks on my desktop and laptop computers with each other, much less with my mobile devices. I tend to use the desktop in my office for different purposes than the laptop, and I use Safari on my iOS devices (my iPad and my iPhone) in similar ways, but differently than how I use bookmarks with my Macs. So I decided to merge and synchronize my bookmarks only between my mobile devices, leaving the feature turned off on my Macs and on my Windows machine.

Configuring Bookmark Syncing with iCloud

Once you’ve cleaned up your bookmarks and decided which devices you want to synchronize, turning bookmark synchronization on is easy. Just follow these steps:

To enable bookmark synchronization on a Mac or Windows machine

1. (Mac) Choose System Preferences, then click the iCloud icon.

The iCloud preferences appear .

On a Mac, you turn on Bookmarks synchronization from the iCloud preference pane.

or

(Windows) Choose Start Menu > Control Panel, click the Network and Internet section, then click iCloud.

The iCloud control panel appears .

On Windows, you use the iCloud control panel.

2. Click the checkbox next to Bookmarks.

iCloud asks if you’re sure you want to merge bookmarks .

As usual, iCloud warns you before you do something that might change data across many devices.

3. Click Merge.

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Tip

On Windows, there is an Options button in the control panel; clicking this allows you to choose if you want to merge your bookmarks from Internet Explorer, or Safari for Windows .

On Windows, you can choose whether you want to use iCloud bookmarks with Internet Explorer or Safari for Windows.

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To enable bookmark synchronization on an iOS device

1. Tap Settings, then iCloud.

The iCloud settings appear .

You turn Bookmarks synchronization on in the iCloud settings on iOS.

2. Slide the Bookmarks switch to On.

Your device warns you that you’re about to merge your bookmarks with iCloud .

On a mobile device, you get the same warning that your data will be merged.

3. Click Merge.

After the merge is complete, the same bookmarks will appear on all enabled devices. Changes made on one device will be replicated on the other devices on your iCloud account.

Useful Bookmarklets for iOS

Bookmarklets are bookmarks (or favorites, if you prefer Internet Explorer’s terminology) that contain a small JavaScript program, rather than a URL. When you tap the bookmarklet, it executes the JavaScript program.

I like to use bookmarklets on my iOS devices because they can often substitute for a feature that most desktop browsers (including Safari for the Mac) have and mobile Safari does not: browser extensions. For example, on the desktop I have browser extensions installed that clip web content to my snippet manager of choice, Evernote (from the company of the same name; www.evernote.com), and re-style pages that are designed in such a way that I find them difficult to read (what is it with designers who like little white type on dark backgrounds?).

In this section, I’m going to point you to three bookmarklets that you’ll be able to download from the book’s website at www.peachpit.com/icloudvqs, and show you how to install them into your iCloud-enabled browsers. There are, of course, many more bookmarklets available.

• Unicode Symbols gives you a new browser window or tab that allows you to copy and paste useful symbols that are not possible to type from the iOS keyboard.

• Black Text makes the background of a web page white and the text on the page black. I use it to make overly designed pages more legible.

• Clip to Evernote brings up a window that allows you to send the current selection to the free Evernote clipping service.

Safari for Mac and iPad have a Bookmarks Bar that allow easy access to frequently used bookmarks. With their smaller screen real estate, the iPhone and iPod touch lack the Bookmarks Bar.

Something you should know about installing bookmarklets: it’s way easier to do it on the Mac or PC, then synchronize it with your mobile device via iCloud. On a computer, all you need to do is drag a link containing the bookmarklet to the Bookmarks Bar, then name the bookmarklet. On an iOS device, it’s a complicated procedure, which I’ve detailed below on an iPad. Follow it carefully, and here’s hoping that Apple makes it easier to add bookmarklets in the future.

To add a bookmarklet on an iOS device

1. In Safari on your mobile device, go to the book’s web page at www.peachpit.com/icloudvqs.

2. On the page, the JavaScript code for each bookmarklet is in a text box . Tap inside a text box, pause for a second, then tap again. In the Edit popover, tap Select All , then tap Copy .

In order to use a Bookmarklet on iOS, you’ll need to copy the code in this text box.

Tapping twice brings up the Edit popover so you can tap Select All.

After the selection, the Edit popover changes to show you the Copy option.

3. In the toolbar, tap the Actions button , then tap Add Bookmark from the resulting popover .

You need to add a bookmark from the Actions button.

4. In the Add Bookmark popover , change Untitled to the name of the bookmarklet you are creating.

Change the default Untitled name to the name of the bookmarklet you are creating.

The address for the bookmark below the name shows the URL of the Peachpit page. We’ll change that in a moment; it can’t be changed yet.

5. Below the URL, choose the location where you want the bookmarklet (I usually use the Bookmarks Bar), then tap Save.

6. Tap the Bookmarks button in the toolbar, and locate the newly created bookmark. Tap Edit .

After finding the bookmark you just created, tap Edit.

The screen changes to the edit mode .

Tap the name of the bookmark to edit it.

7. Tap the bookmark name (make sure not to tap the “Delete” or “Move” controls) to select it for editing.

The popover changes to Edit Bookmark, with the Peachpit URL.

8. Tap the URL, then tap the X “Clear-contents” control, tap again in the Address line to invoke the Edit popover, then tap Paste .

You need to clear the placeholder URL so you can paste in the JavaScript code, then tap the Paste control.

The JavaScript code you copied in Step 2 is pasted in the Address line.

9. Tap outside the Edit Bookmark popover to save your changes. The new bookmarklet appears in the Bookmarks Bar on the iPad, or wherever else you put it in your Bookmarks.

The new bookmarklet appears in the Bookmarks Bar on the iPad.

10. To run the bookmarklet, tap it in the Bookmarks Bar, or choose it from your Bookmarks.

For the Unicode Symbols bookmarklet, the symbols appear in a new tab ; you can copy a symbol from the window and paste it wherever you need it.

For the Unicode Symbols example, copy the symbol you want from the page, then paste it into any other application.