Software Review Column continued:

HOW IT WORKS
Figure 1 shows the various Powermarks screens; this figure is taken from the Kaylon Technologies Web site:
Figure 1: Powermarks screens

1. The fastest search you will ever use; search 20,000 bookmarks in the blink of an eye.
    Why bother with complicated hierarchies if you can find anything instantly?
2. Add bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Netscape and Opera
3. Shortcut macros to speed up common searches and quickly visit your favorite sites.
4. The bookmark list instantly changes to reflect the current search.
5. Totally customizable column heading display exactly what you want.
6. The keyword dictionary makes searching and browsing bookmarks almost effortless.
7. Attach as much or as little information to a bookmark as you desire.
8. Fetch command will automatically connect to a web site and retrieve the name, description and keywords of a URL.
9. Powermarks includes powerful and automated status checking to determine if a page has changed or is no longer accessible.

You can search for bookmarks by entering a keyword or an exact string, such as "technical writing." Bookmarks can be added in any of three ways:

• Manually by selecting Add from the Bookmark drop-down menu
• By selecting FastAdd from the Bookmark drop-down menu when you are at a site you want to bookmark
• Using the toolbar buttons corresponding to these commands

Powermarks contains a powerful importing and exporting tool; bookmarks can be exported in a variety of formats, including RTF, ASCII, and HTML formatted for printing so that the URLs are visible. It also includes an import wizard that walks users through the process of converting bookmarks from proprietary formats into Powermarks.

One of the features I particularly like is the Automatic Notification feature. This feature looks at each bookmark in your collection, and notifies you if the page has changed, or the server is not found, etc.

Kaylon has included on its Web site ratings and endorsements from sources too numerous to list here. Among these, however, are: 5 stars from many shareware reviewers, including Shareware Junkies and Tucows, CNET's Editor's Choice Award, who claimed it is "the ultimate browser bookmark organizer." Doug Englebreit ("the inventor of the mouse") even declared "I have used it for over a year and found it the least complicated device for organizing bookmarks."

Support
The Kaylon Web site has a very thorough description of Powermarks, including product FAQs and an online User Guide "with lots of pictures for those who do not read manuals." I have contacted Kaylon with a how-to question, and a tech support representative responded within 24 hours, just as their Web site claimed ¾ not bad for a small company like this.

SUMMARY
Powermarks is a small, fast, and very reliable tool for bookmark management. It organizes bookmarks in a flat, non-hierarchical format, and uses keywords directly from Web sites to enable users to find sites based on the keyword they input. This results in an efficient tool so that users surf faster and save time on the Web. Powermarks contains a flexible and powerful import/export tool. Registered users can have their own free online account (completely private) for online bookmark storage, which they can backup and sync with their offline bookmark library. It is also an easy and efficient way to publish read-only bookmark collections -- perfect for libraries and intranets. In short, Powermarks is the Swiss Army knife of bookmark managers.

Powermarks 3.5 has many more features not included here; for more information on Powermarks, see the Kaylon Technologies site at www.kaylon.com/power.html.

Kevin Cox is Assistant Editor for The Willamette Galley. He can be reached
knccomm@yahoo.com.