About Shortmarks

Shortmarks (Shortcuts + Bookmarks) was created by Dan Hersam and is a service to speed up your browsing experience by using bookmark shortcuts and custom searches. Each web browser handles these a little differently, making it difficult for bookmark syncing services to make them work seamlessly across different browsers.

Shortmarks takes an alternative approach, storing your custom searches online so they're available from anywhere, even mobile devices or your friend's computer. Shortmarks allows you to use a single keyword for both a shortcut and custom search, lets you search for a single phrase on multiple sites and makes searching a breeze.

History

In October 2010 I created the first PHP script that eventually turned into Shortmarks. I was frustrated at not being able to access custom searches or keyword bookmarks between browsers, and had to SSH in to the server to edit my bookmarks with Vim. Over time I built a front end to manage the bookmarks and moved them into MySQL instead of a text file. The idea for Shortmarks was inspired by Yubnub, but instead of everyone having access to the same set of searches, I wanted each user to have their own personal set.

I love having access to all my custom searches without having to sync, update extensions or even change the browser settings if I'm on a friend's computer. Every change is immediately available from any browser I use. It's made it much easier to switch between browsers and made it more worthwhile to spend the time up front to make a useful set of custom searches.