Symbaloo

Symbaloo is a different way to organize your web resources (or bookmarks).

I have been searching for another way to organize and share my bookmarks. Like I said in another post, I have over 1,000 sites bookmarked. However, the piece that I left out is --this may be a surprise-- I can't always find what I want. I know that I have a resource, but can't find it again. I have tried to do a good job to "tagging" the sites so that I can easily search by a given "tag". I have also started making "lists" to gather specific resources together. I have created "groups" and shared with specific classes.

Something about Symbaloo EDU appealed to me. Those of you that know me know that I am a sucker for anything FREE! This certainly falls into that category. I like pictures and that is a plus here. If you want pictures from your favorite actual site you have to be creative. Symbaloo will provide generic icons that you can put with each resource. In my opinion, it is helpful to have picture from the site. To do this I used my trusty "print screen" and Paint program. Here is a look at the science list that I compiled for my class.



Once you sign up for an account, you can add to the tabs that are already there for you. There are some great resources that are programed into this. Like the above example, I added a "science" tab. Once you have the tab created you add to each square. Symbaloo gives you the option for it to find resources for you or to upload your own. I chose to add my own. You can also upload your Delicious bookmarks. If you choose that option and have a lot of resources, be prepared to do some reorganization. (Or at least I suspect that you will need to).

Putting you own resources in yourself....you arrow over a square and click on it.

Then the following will appear:

I chose "click here to create your own title". You are then able to paste in the URL (website address). It will then generate the title (which may need to be changed...I had several that were not quite what I wanted). You also have the option to not have a title. Then you choose either the icon, or upload your own picture.

The trickiest part of using this site is getting it shared. I am not always a fan of sharing things with the whole world and that is the only way that I could share and the site give me a link. Once you again to share with the public you also also shown how you can share via email, Facebook, Twitter, and Hyves (whatever that last one is). The other trick is that you have multiple tabs and you have to be on the tab that you want to share. I found that one out the hard way, thinking that it shared everything when you choose to share. But no!

So, far I like the layout, organization and the visual appeal. I am not sure if the time that it took is worth it or not. I am also not sure if in the end it will help me find what I am looking for. However, it is a fun way to share resources with others.