The monks waited. It mattered not at all to them that the knowledge they saved was useless, that much of it was not really knowledge now, was as inscrutable to the monks in some instances as it would be to an illiterate wild boy from the hills; this knowledge was empty of content, its subject matter long since gone.

Walter M. Miller, Jr.
A Canticle for Leibowitz

The monks of the Blessed Order of Leibowitz maintain an abbey in the southwest desert, Their patron, the Beatus Leibowitz, was a post deluge memorizer of books, a ‘booklegger’. He was killed by mob of ‘simpletons’ for preserving the technological knowledge that produced the deluge. The monks of his order search for signs of his relics, including the rare drawings known as ‘blueprints’. The documents they copy and reverently place in their library are fragments of technical drawings, pages from instruction manuals, and other fragments of the books destroyed in the deluge or later by the simpletons. For many of us, our “Bookmarks” or “Favorites” in our web browser are in a similar state, “empty of content, their subject matter long gone.”

Apparently, some of you were paying very close attention to last issue’s column. I have heard that “Sent Mail” folders have been slimming like the featured guests on the Jerry Springer “I Lost 200 Pounds and Found My Feet” show. We move in this instalment from the tyranny of mass (masses of E-mails you won’t need) in your mail program to the bane of your browser: your Favorites or Bookmarks Menu, depending on what flavor of web browser you use.

I’ll use Internet Explorer 4.6 for the Macintosh as a starting point, The same principles apply no matter the browser you use. Open your browser by dragging a text file to it or by opening a web page that you have already saved to disk. If you are lost at this point, you can also open your Web browser and cancel the connection routine. By using these one of these three methods you will not be online, i.e. connected to the phone network and running up your phone bill.

I open Internet Explorer and on the menu bar one of the menu titles is “Bookmarks”. A good starting place. I choose the menu and the image on the left appears. We are used to “Bookmarking” a site or “Adding a Page to Favorites”. Now we are going to organize these favorites.

If I select “Organize Favorites” or press Command + J, a listing of the bookmarked pages appears. I can click on the globe icon and drag the bookmarked site up or down. I can create folders, dividers, and place sites that are related inside areas delimited by dividers or placed in a folder.
Web sites that are placed in the “Toolbar Favorites” folder will appear oat the top of the web pages in the “Toolbar” area. Sites you visit frequently such as the AMIS Mailroom or AMIS Latest News will then be just one click away from wherever you are.

If you wish to change the name that appears in the “Favorites” menu, you have to apply a little counter-intuitive strategy. With the “Organize Favorites” window open, look under the “File” menu and choose “Get Info”. The text can then be edited so “Search Result” can be changed to “Stravinsky - Finland” or whatever is appropriate.

Make all the changes you wish, then close the windows. Chose “Favorites” from the menu and your changes should appear.
You can now take command of your online “library” and bring order from chaos!

Rick Hein can be contacted at [email protected]