A few days ago, I received an email off Eric Goldstein, from Clipmarks, informing me of a few changes to Clipmarks.
I’m a fan of Clipmarks, which is a site which basically allows you to take clippings of text and pictures of websites through browser extensions. The service is somewhat similar to Google Notebook and Diigo, both of which were released [well] after Clipmarks. Clipmarks has various social functions, such as the ability to share, describe, tag, comment and pop clippings.
Popping is an interesting feature, which functions a bit like a digg on Digg. If a user pops a clipping, it gets sent back to the top of the page. Each new clipping is also automatically sent to the top. This is a useful way for interesting clips to get more readers.
Moving on to the updates; the site has been redesigned, with a modified navigational structure and a lighter colour scheme. The site does still seem a little bloated, however, I find it less bloated than it was before. I like the way things have been merged into inobtrusive menues, and though the site has retained a 3 column layout, it has been streamlined.
A few more minor changes have been made, and they are listed below:
- Only clips that are under 2,000 characters can be popped to the top of the Clip Exchange. We believe in the power of “clip-size portions” of information because they allow people to consume interesting information about more topics in less time. We hope you find that this change makes the site much more enjoyable and productive.
- By default, comments will no longer shoot clips back to the top of the Clip Exchange. The way to get a clip to the top of the Exchange is by popping it. If you want to keep up with the latest comments you can change your sorting option at the bottom of the Exchange to include latest comments.
- You can now access your favorite clippers and tags directly from the right side of the header.
- Check out the new clip-scroll at the bottom of the Clip Exchange. No more pages!!
I think the first one is good, not only because of the provided reason, but also due to copyright law. Clipmarks has faced much criticism over the fact it, in effect, allowed users to copy the entirity of content from a webpage, therefore breaching copyright law. Though lengthy clips may still be made, it is good that only small ones can be popped, as it will discourage people from copying the entirity of a website. However, if this was made compulsory for all clips, though it may reduce the quality of the site, would allow it be more legal: by claiming fair use.
If you wish to read more about Clipmarks, you could read the reviews I wrote here and at Lifehacker, or alternatively read Brian Benzinger’s article.
Joe, thank you for your continued coverage and support of clipmarks. Glad you like the progress we’ve made on the design. The 2,000 character limit is definitely something we’re continuing to explore. I always intend to allow people to clip whatever they want. But by disabling popping for clips over a certain size, we are not enabling them to remain prominently displayed for long. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see us experiment with a few different approaches, but small clips is something we want to promote for out of respect for copyright and also because we think that in the aggregate they create a better experience for visitors to the site.
Will be in touch soon as new things become available. I hope to continue to see you on the site.
Thanks again!
eric
I don’t like either design. Goooooogle Notebook
[...] Clipmarks has been redesigned… again. [...]