Weird Idea - Context-Based Bookmark "Dashboard"

So I’ve been trying to get some things organized as far as web browsing / social / etc., especially to address the issue of having a number of browser tabs that wind up being open - sometimes intermixed with other stuff and (therefore) harder to shut down automagically - and this is what I’ve stumbled upon.

Sharing because it was such a mind-blowingly easy solution once I got it sorted out, I could’ve kicked myself for not realizing it earlier.

I just created a plain old HTML file in my iCloud Drive folder. In that file I put a list of all my social sites that I like to visit, and a number of other groups of bookmarks that I like to visit on a recurring basis. MPU Forums is in there, for example.

All of these sites are coded as just plain, vanilla hyperlinks in HTML, with a target of “_blank” - so they open in a new browser tab. When I call my web browser I can pass that local file as a parameter, and presto - my left tab is whatever customized bookmark list I want.

Now I realize this requires some basic knowledge of HTML to do, but (a) many of the people on this forum already have that, and (b) it’s not hard to acquire a free WYSIWYG editor if you don’t. :slight_smile:

Now adding Coherence Pro (in Setapp) and Quitter (Marco Arment), I can have a Coherence app called “Social” that opens a page on my local Mac (NOT possible in Coherence Pro’s GUI setup interface, but possible via editing the app’s config manually), and target that Coherence app with Quitter to shut it down after half an hour of inactivity.

So I pop open my “social and forums” app, open up any of the sites I want to look at, and if I get a call or something that takes me away from it I don’t wind up forgetting about (and thus leaving open) a dozen high-load social tabs in the background gobbling energy / RAM / etc.

It also lets me isolate a few different “workspaces”, each with their own custom tab lists, history, etc.

It seems like a good solution to me. Haven’t played with it on iOS, but I do most of my work on the Mac first, so it works well for me. :slight_smile:

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You could do the same thing with Quitter and a different, ‘real’ web browser, no hacking needed. Just create folders of like items in your alt-browser’s bookmark bar (and put other most-visited sites there). With folder can open links individually or open them all with a right-click on the folder. Easy peasy, and it gives you all sorts or extra functionality with browser extensions.

I could, but Coherence allows me to use all the Chrome extensions too - and avoids me having to keep installing alternate browsers if I have alternate workspace ideas. :slight_smile:

I also like having absolute control over where things end up on the screen. So I could embed whatever I want in the page, add descriptions, notes, etc. I can’t do that in a bookmark dropdown.

So you’re just replicating a 1990s-style html homepage, yes? If it’s online you could just use a free tier of Netvibes (I still have an old account there, untouched for years) or Protopage or Start.me without having to do (or have anyone learn) html. I don’t think of your idea as weird, it’s just a throwback that requires writing html and using a paid browser-app, which seems a bit much given free, easy alternatives. But if it works for you, that’s great.