Notefish makes for easier Web research

Mark Gibbs' Web site tips, plus network applications news headlines

When you're cruising around the Web in either research mode or in idle follow-your-nose mode, you will come across content that you want to keep a note of. Over the last few years I have used various tools for this purpose including Microsoft OneNote, which is OK but a little eccentric for my tastes, and Net Snippets, so far the Web research tool that I've stuck with the longest.

The problem with client-side research tools is that you not only can't access your notes when you're not at your computer but you also can't easily share research content with other people without sending files around by FTP or e-mail, or uploading to a Web site.

A new service that addresses these issues very effectively is called Notefish.

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When you're cruising around the Web in either research mode or in idle follow-your-nose mode, you will come across content that you want to keep a note of. Over the last few years I have used various tools for this purpose including Microsoft OneNote, which is OK but a little eccentric for my tastes, and Net Snippets, so far the Web research tool that I've stuck with the longest.

The problem with client-side research tools is that you not only can't access your notes when you're not at your computer but you also can't easily share research content with other people without sending files around by FTP or e-mail, or uploading to a Web site.

A new service that addresses these issues very effectively is called Notefish.

Notefish provides registered users with a private Web page that lists their projects. Click on a project and all of the items saved in that project are displayed.

You can add a simple text note to a project from the project page but rich content requires installing a browser extension (available for both IE and Firefox). You can then select text and images on a Web page and right click to bring up the context menu. Two entries will now be available: "Notefish: Copy ..." and "Notefish: Copy to ...". The first choice copies the content to the current default project while the other choice allows you to first select, via a pop-up window, which project the content should be added to.

Items in projects can be deleted, repositioned on the project page and edited. This last feature is not yet WYSIWYG editing and raw HTML for rich content can be daunting even for experts.

You can share projects and set an expiration date after which sharing stops. You can also optionally set a password to restrict access. Sharing is currently view-only - a useful future feature would be to allow multiperson editing of projects.

For more information on how Notefish works see its FAQ.

Notefish is free and intends to remain that way with the bills being paid through contexturally relevant advertising which is very interesting given that the content in a project is very closely tied to a user's interest so I suspect that the advertising should garner a higher click-through rate.

Notefish is not only a useful tool but you can see how the servcie could be enhanced to provide even greater value. Definitely a Web application to watch.

Read more about software in Network World's Software section.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.