PageMark Manual

Marking & Notes Apps

PageMark is split into two core bits of functionality that for the purposes of this document will be called apps:

The Marking App

This is the bit of PageMark that allows you to make highlights and notes inside a web page. Marks are numbered and may be quickly scrolled to by clicking the browser button in the upper right.

Marking Modes

There are two ways to mark page text: Standard marking and Block marking.

Making Notes

Hover over a numbered mark and click the ✚ that appears to add a note. Replace the default "Note" text with your own. Multi-line notes are allowed; markup is not.

Deleting Marks

Click a numbered mark to remove it and its notes.

Scrolling

You can quickly scroll through your marks by either clicking the browser button (one-way scrolling) or by using keyboard shortcuts for two-way scrolling:

Saving Marks

What good is making notes if you can't save them for later? You can save your marks and notes to file via Firefox's Tools menu:

Due to constraints imposed by the browser's file API, the save location defaults to your Downloads directory or a sub-directory. Thus, your files will be saved with the ".mark" extension in a sub-directory named for the marked website:

Notes App

Use the Notes app for revisiting your saved PageMarks, adding or editing existing notes, or even creating brand new marks for general note-taking.

The Notes app is launched via the Firefox Tools menu:

The formatting of marks and notes is a bit different in the Notes app than in the Marks app, but conceptually they are quite similar. Each PageMark you've saved comprises two basic parts: The highlight and the note(s). Highlight text appears at the top of its own (blue-gray) box with any notes you've made attached in their own (dark-gray) boxes underneath.

Types of Marks

There are two types of marks: Those that are saved to file from the Marking app, or what we will call Site marks, and those that users create from scratch in the Notes app, or what we will call Custom marks. You can tell which is which by looking at the top of the mark. Site marks are orange on top, while Custom marks are blue.

The main difference between these two types of marks is that highlight text in Custom (blue) marks can be edited while such text in Site (orange) marks can not. This is due to the constraint that Site mark highlights contain markup, which would make them more difficult for users to edit, while Custom mark highlights are just plain text and are therefore much easier to work with.

Mark Operations

Editing Highlights and Notes

To edit any blue highlight simply click in the text area and make your changes. As you know, orange highlight text may not be edited.

Editing notes works the same way, and any note may be edited. Simply click inside the dark-gray note box and make your changes.

Notes may be added to any mark. Just click anywhere in the box containing the pen icon and add your text in the resulting field. Click the ✚ button to attach the note.

Adding Tags and Ratings

If you create a lot of marks, you will appreciate the ability to keep your marks organized with tags and ratings. Click the ✚Tag button in the mark container (just below the highlight text) to add tags to a mark. Tags may be added in bulk if separated by commas.

Star ratings allow even more sorting and filtering options. Hover over the current star rating and assign a rating from 1-5 stars. Zero out the rating by clicking the same star twice.

Minimizing Notes

As your notes increase in number and in length you may find their size unwieldy to work around. Minimize all a note's marks with the Min/Max notes button (eye icon). Minimized notes will shrink to a line-height of 1 and change color to a dark blue. Click on a single minimized note to temporarily maximize it for editing.

Deleting Marks and Notes

Marks and notes may be deleted by clicking the ✖ in the upper right corner of their respective boxes. Deleting a note will leave other notes and the mark to which it was attached intact. Deleting a mark will delete both the highlight and all its associated notes. In both cases you will be asked to confirm the operation.

Adding New Marks

Use the ✚ (add new Mark) button in the lower right of the screen to add a new Custom mark. Click the button and a text input will appear. The input has a blue top to remind you that you are creating an editable Custom mark. Input your mark text and click the "Add as Mark" button to add it to your document.

Save Your Work. No Really!

This is very important. Files must be saved explicitly with the Save button for any changes to be preserved. Due to constraints of the file API, autosaving is not possible. Frequent use of the save button is not only encouraged, I recommend you consider it mandatory :)

Views/Screens

There are two basic views (screen configs) that you will see in the Notes app:

Launch View

When you first launch the Notes app you are presented with three file-related operations via three different controls:

File View

Once a new file has been started or an existing file has been opened, the Save button is added to the 'File Bubble' next to the other file related buttons, and a bunch of new goodies appear. Before we move on, remember to use that Save button. Use it with wild abandon. It is the friend you never knew you needed.

Meta Bubble

Just below the File Bubble you will see the Meta Bubble, where info about your file lives. If you are looking at a file exported from the Marking app, this bubble will show you the full site name, the title of the page where you placed your PageMarks, and a link back to that page.

Filter Bubble

Next up is the Filter Bubble. Everything in this bubble is used to narrow the set of marks showing to those that meet specific criteria. Filter options include two buttons related to display order, one button to show or hide marks based on whether they have notes, and one button that toggles tag view logic:

To the right of the filter buttons is the main tags display. Adding a new tag to any PageMark will also add the tag to the main tags display. Once a tag is added to the main display it can be selected and used to filter visible marks. Multiple tags can be selected at once, and depending on the Tag-logic setting you will see either any mark with at least one selected tag (union logic) or only those marks that include all selected tags (intersect logic).

Tags may be deleted either per mark, in that mark's tag box, or globally in the main tags display. Deleting a tag globally will ask you for confirmation before removing it from all marks.

Wrapping Up

Well, that about does it. By now, you should have a good understanding of how this thing works and how it might be useful in your day-to-day. I look forward to adding features as time permits and will update the this document with any noteworthy additions.

Epilogue

In its earliest form, PageMark was a simple place-marking add-on. It allowed users to mark out key bits of a website and quickly return to those marks with a click of a button. These days it is useful not just in the reading context, but also in the note-taking context. The Notes app is designed to be useful in your daily reading and perhaps even in an educational or research context. I've designed something that I find useful, that I like to use, and I hope you do too.