What is bookmark?

Bookmark list is a personal list of favorite Web addresses, organized in a single list. All Web browsers allow users to create bookmarks so users can return to their favorite Web sites. Also bookmark known as hotlists.

Users find localities of interest, create bookmarks to return to them, and conceptualize their use of bookmarks through metaphors. This behavior leads to the development of a personal information space based on the bookmarks collected.

Users revisit groups of related Web pages and there is a 58% probability that the next page visited is one the user has already encountered. For example, a variety of local navigation patterns will emerge while a user visits Web pages in a cluster of relevant documents. We define a Web locality as a group of pages having a thematic organization, structural cues, and links representing explicit semantic relations.

WWW bookmarks, hotlists, favorites, or personal URLs are used by over 84% of Web users they routinely have difficulty using bookmarks.

A user's bookmark archive is a personal information space with five principles paralleling those of a complex information space. As a user's bookmark archive grows, it can begin to exhibit the properties of a complex information space. Users are continually challenged with maintaining an effective personal Web information space. Our future research will apply these results to the design of more usable Web browsers and bookmark management tools.