Internet bookmarks are helpful in accessing favorite sites quickly, but what happens when you are not at your personal computer and you need to log onto a specific site? Clickmarks.com was created to solve this dilemma.
Clickmarks.com offers Internet users the opportunity to register their personal bookmarks in a secure online setting which can be accessed from any PC world-wide. They guarantee privacy and the ability to share your favorite bookmarks with friends and family.
Clickmarks.com essentially hopes to enhance the use of online bookmarks as Microsoft's hotmail.com has revolutionized e-mail. Hotmail.com was the first Web-based e-mail service available.
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Clickmarks.com puts "the service and information that you want, where you want, and because your bookmarks are out on the Web, Clickmarks.com can make them more functional and active," Jim Allison, a 1998 University alumnus and Clickmarks.com's Business Development Manager said.
Clickmarks.com is unique in that it concentrates solely on bookmark storage, and while other competitors "offer online bookmarks as only one of their features (along with address books, calendars, email, etc.) they lack any significant depth in their applications," Allison said.
While at the University, Allison used different computers not only in his dorm room, but at Clemons Library, friends' houses, his parents' home and when he studied abroad. From his multi-computer experience, he found that he needed to access his bookmarks and couldn't at times.
Upon graduation he felt the pressing need for an online bookmarking service and planned to start one, but then learned of Clickmarks.com in Silicon Valley and joined them in early 1999.
"Every one of us is looking for tools and resources that make our life easier, more efficient and save time, Clickmarks.com does exactly that," Allison said.
To aid site users, Clickmarks.com features a drag and drop interface as well as a "clickbar" - an optional toolbar to help users quickly add bookmarks to their personal collections.
The drag and drop interface allows users to sort their bookmarks in the order they are primarily used, rather than chronollogically, as their PC stores them.
Although the site does a good job of being user friendly, it does not automatically add already stored to one's personal computer. Clickmarks.com saves the bookmarks which come with Web browsers, such as Netscape and Internet Explorer. However, any personal bookmarks have to be manually added following the program's installation, which can be a time-consuming task.
Other drawbacks include a cluttered interface. The main page is text heavy with a bright blue background that makes it difficult to read and manuever around the site.
"It's just too much information thrown at you all at once," first-year College student Suzanne Platt said.
As a startup company, Clickmarks.com is still trying to gain a more extensive user base. It also has plans to renovate the site to make it more appealing to the eye and easier to navigate.
According to Allison, a new site design will be introduced in mid-March with "a new look, enhanced usability, and some added features."
Clickmarks.com is also in the midst of joining with new partners not only in the United States, but internationally. They are currently partnered with Fortunecity.com, iVillage.com, Women.com and Thecollegeclub.com among others, in addition to a partnership with the multilingual e-mail site Everymail.com.
The largest funding base for Clickmarks.com comes from the sale of banner advertisements to Web-based companies. Clickmarks.com also may generate funds by adding an advertiser's link to a user's bookmark account - a feature that some Web users may not like.
Although the site has a few glitches, Clickmarks.com can save time for bookmark-loving Internet users. On the other hand, for those who do not use the bookmark feature on their PC, it may just be another site on the Web.
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