For those of you that started your journey as a tech-savvy teacher in the 1990s, you may remember the popularity and necessity of bookmarks in your Internet browser of choice. Before Google, search engines were notoriously unreliable and difficult to use. If you found a gem on the Internet, either by search or by clicking through a digital rabbit hole, you often bookmarked it out of simple necessity; otherwise, you may never find it again!
Bookmarks have transformed over time. Bookmarking become social, and has ultimately become something that follows you from computer to computer as you sign into your Chrome or Firefox browser.
As I spend the large majority of my day working with a browser as part of my day job, I understand the importance of setting up all of my digital tools to help me quickly and efficiently work through my tasks each day. As of late, I have rediscovered bookmarks as a strategy for getting getting one-click access to the dozens of websites I use regularly as part of my toolset.
You are probably used to organizing bookmarks in folders, which allows for easy organization:
However, I have discovered a clean and easy way to simply place the website’s icon (known as a “favicon“) in my bookmark bar. In the Chrome and Firebox browser, it is as simple as removing the name of a website when bookmarking it:
The result is a simple icon in your bookmark bar that functional AND beautiful!
This is my personal Chrome browser, which gives me one-click access to the tools I use the most (click on the image to see it at full size!):
My most used tools are on the left and others are in folders on the right.
I can’t stress enough: setting up your workspace, whether it is your physical workspace or digital workspace, is absolutely critical to be an efficient tech-savvy teacher or learner.
What tips would you give others on tool setup? Hit us up on Twitter and we’ll share your tips!