Delicious

Delicious Home Page

Delicious is an Internet tool created by Joshua Schachter in 2003. When Yahoo! became involved in Joshua's project in 2006, Delicious was revamped. This tool allows users to "bookmark" their favorite websites (a.k.a. "Favorites") so they are able to access them from any computer with an Internet connection. There are many ways to access the Internet: Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc. All of these tools have some way for users to save websites they access often or that interest them. The frustrating part of the previous method is that you can only access the "favorites" from your own personal computer, unless you remember them off the top of your head. With this tool, the user does not have to rely on their memory to access their "favorites"; they are accessible from any computer with Internet. This is the main reason I would suggest this to people for their personal use.

Delicious has potential to be used in both the corporate and educational world. In the corporate world, Internet is one of the main ways to communicate. Users can write and send e-mails, have conference calls, research and compare results, and have video conferences using Skype. With Delicious, companies would be able to share resources and have them accessible from anywhere. Those in the corporate world have to travel sometimes for business meetings, conferences, or to other offices. With Delicious, the company would be able to post frequently used resources and access them on the road.

//How to Get Started// The first step in using the website is creating a free account, which can be linked to a Yahoo! account or by creating a Delicious account. At this point, the program is ready to set-up and use. By clicking on the button "Settings" in the upper right hand corner, the user is able to personalize the program to fit their needs. Delicious does a great job of walking the user through importing their favorites onto the program and learning how to use the program. If someone uses this program faithfully and adds new websites regularly, they will not have to research their favorite websites again especially if something happens to their computer; all of this information will be accessible through their Delicious account.

//Features and Specials// Users are able to import their favorites into the program and also find new favorites with an interesting feature called "Random." With this feature users can click the button and be brought to one of the many recently added pages from other users. This feature can bring you to ANY website recently added. Security settings can probably be added so children are not brought to inappropriate sites. I think this is a great tool for someone who spends a lot of time on the computer. By pressing the "Random" button, they may learn something new or find information they never knew was available on the Internet. Delicious is also a way for people to social network, although that idea may seem far-fetched. A user can post their "bookmarks" and can chose to make them public or private. When "bookmarks" are public, any user can see them and add them to their own "bookmarks." The tool also displays the most popular or recently posted sites. So, if a teacher were to use this tool they would know what other teachers have been researching and their favorite websites.

When users create new "bookmarks", they can chose "tags" to be associated with their sites. So if I were to create a bookmark for a Mac 'n Cheese recipe I could use the tags "cheese", "pasta", "kid food", "recipe", "cook", "bake", or "yummy." This means I could search for these tags within my bookmarks and any bookmark with these tags would be returned. This is one way Delicious allows users to organize their sites. When users are first setting up their accounts, they have the option of adding a Delicious tab to their browser. This makes it easier to add websites to "bookmarks" and then personalize each post.The user can create folders to organize their sites as well. When searching for "tags", users can chose to search through all of their sites or in a certain folder. I would certainly used this feature with recipes I find online. "Tags" would be helpful to personalize "bookmarks" and make it easier to find information.It is really hard to organize "favorites" in Internet Explorer, other than with folders.

//What can Delicious be used for?// - Organizing websites to share with students, parents, other professionals, and personal use. - Connect information on topics discussed in class with information from the Internet. - Create a page for students to work on a project/report together. Each student could be assigned one section of a topic and work in groups to finalize their work. - Create a page for parents to share resources, upcoming events, or important information.

//Advantages// -Users are able to save their favorite websites and have their "bookmarks" available from any computer. This is great for anyone who uses multiple computers a day, travels often, or have older computers. -Sharing great websites with other users and finding new websites from other users. If "bookmarks" are made public, they can be shared with any user. The option to find new websites is great because the Internet is constantly changing. There is always something new to find online. -Organize "bookmarks" using tags. This is one way to personalize your "bookmarks" so they are easily searchable. Recipes can be found easily by ingredients, meal type, or event. Resources can be found easily by company, age level, topic, or class.

//Disadvantages// -If users have already developed their "Favorites" tab in Internet Explorer, it can be tedious to add them to Delicious. When I was first setting up my account, it was difficult to import my "Favorites" onto the Delicious tool. But, when I tried to add individual websites since I started using the tool, it was a lot easier. -Have to update "bookmarks" frequently unless Delicious tab is added to web browser. This could become tedious for users who find a great website but only have the time to save it quickly.

Sarah Hatfield