The Mosaic browser (1993) had full text history search.
We then got a bookmark system that was every bit as terrible as a web directory.
It stayed that way. The delicious search revenue made organizing websites uninteresting. That obscure website you enjoyed a decade ago but don't even remember, they had lots of traffic like you. No point updating or keeping it online. You can't have rss in Firefox but here is a Facebook like button in your address bar in stead.
I've tried to maintain the bookmark menu but I rarely use it since everything is dead. Why aren't browsers storing a text version of the bookmark? Did people in 1993 have more resources than us? Should I be afraid it grows to a few GB over the decades?
A good few dead websites have a backup some place but there is no automation to find it. If you had a string of text from a page you might be able to search for it. If the page found is highly similar we might automate the process to have alternative location for bookmarks with a nice warning dialog.
I just discovered <a href="https://hister.org/" rel="nofollow">https://hister.org/ (I think from a link here on hacker news) ... it solves the full text history search really really well.
- Local go server to index everything into sqlite or postgres
- browser extension to send the DOM for indexing.
- This happens after each page is finished rendering, so client side rendering doesn't break, and it doesn't require fetching the url a second time on the back-end.
- Filter rules to control what gets indexed (basic url regex patterns, nothing too fancy)
- Text-based query interface for terminal dwellers like me.
- Local file indexing that actually works well so that you can search your history and your documents in one place.
- Custom extractors for understanding specific sites and file formats.
It's really great, just about perfect for my needs.
I tried it after seeing that link here and it's been really useful. I happened to find myself in the type of situation where I'd need such a system after a couple days and it managed to keep the (volatile) info I wanted. Good stuff!
econ · · focus · HN ↗
We then got a bookmark system that was every bit as terrible as a web directory.
It stayed that way. The delicious search revenue made organizing websites uninteresting. That obscure website you enjoyed a decade ago but don't even remember, they had lots of traffic like you. No point updating or keeping it online. You can't have rss in Firefox but here is a Facebook like button in your address bar in stead.
I've tried to maintain the bookmark menu but I rarely use it since everything is dead. Why aren't browsers storing a text version of the bookmark? Did people in 1993 have more resources than us? Should I be afraid it grows to a few GB over the decades?
A good few dead websites have a backup some place but there is no automation to find it. If you had a string of text from a page you might be able to search for it. If the page found is highly similar we might automate the process to have alternative location for bookmarks with a nice warning dialog.
20after4 · · focus · HN ↗
falsaberN1 · · focus · HN ↗
touristtam · · focus · HN ↗