Web Link Tools_Mandy Walker Jennings

I must admit, I have never used a web link type website before. I have always been one of those people that seem to have a list of favorites that is ten pages long. As you would expect, every once in a while I have to search to see what some of them are. Unless I give them a specific name when saving the link, they rarely give any indication of what the page is actually about.

 

My first experience with a web link tool was a frustrating one. I signed up for Furl.net first. I do a lot of my school work at work during lunch breaks and free moments, so anything that I need for class is added to my work computer. Not this time- it didn’t work. I could not get the furl button to download onto the computer. Even after adding the link to my favorites, it just wouldn’t connect to the website. I decided that this was one time I was just going to have to work from home. Upon trying it here, I had just as much trouble as I did at work. I never could get the button added to the toolbar. I am not a computer engineer, but I normally do pretty well with technology. For some reason, this one baffled me. I ended up having to add the entire Furl toolbar to my toolbar to get it to work. Once I got it downloaded, it seemed to work fine. I have added a few pages and have viewed them as a saved link. I like the idea of being able to make notes to accompany the website. I often conduct research and print off the articles that I find. This works fine for writing the paper, but is often a problem when writing a source page. In doing it this way, I also have to re-read articles that I have already read to refresh my memory about what they were about. When using multiple articles/websites during research, having the little quick notes would be very helpful.

 

I also decided to give del.icio.us a try. I must say, this time went much smoother that the previous try. I actually like this web tool better. There are only two buttons necessary to operate the page, the tag to add and the del.icio.us button to access the page. Since you are also allowed to make quick notes for these links, this website seems to fit my needs more.

 

In the case of web link tools, I must say that I may be a little influenced by the trouble with downloading the necessary tools to use the website. However, I will be using both web link tools and will try to remember to keep an open mind before deciding which one really is best for future use and possible use in a classroom.