New Feature: 4 and 5 column Dashboard layout

From now other than the default 3 column layout you can also set 4 and 5 column layouts for the Dashboard.

To change the number of columns:

1. Select “Settings” in the main menu.
2. Under the “Dashboard settings” section change the “Layout - number of columns” by clicking on one of the radio buttons.

If you increase the number of columns a dialog box will come up where you have to choose one of the following options:

“I will move the categories manually to the new columns”
The arrangements of the categories in the current columns will be unchanged. The extra column(s) will be added on each tab and will be empty. You have to move the categories manually to the new column(s). Rearranging the categories manually is easier if you collapse all the categories first.

“Let Bookmark Ninja move and arrange categories (in alphabetical order) across all the columns on all tabs”
The new column(s) will be added to each tab and all the categories will be automatically arranged (in alphabetical order) across all the columns on all tabs.

If you decrease the number of columns and you don’t have any category in the columns that will be removed then the number of columns will be simply changed. If there is any category in any of the column(s) that will be removed then the below dialog box will come and you will have 2 options:

Option 1: Click on Cancel then rearrange the categories on the Dashboard by moving them manually from the columns to be deleted to the remaining columns. Make sure that all the column(s) that will be deleted will be empty. Rearranging the categories manually is easier if you collapse all the categories first.

Option 2: Check the “Let Bookmark Ninja move and arrange categories (in alphabetical order) across all the columns on all tabs” checkbox then click on the “Apply” button.

Please note that when you change the number of columns, the new layout will be applied on the shared tabs, too.

Tip of the day: Recommended Dashboard settings

If you have a large number of bookmarks on a tab the browser will need more time to render the page. What a "large number" is depends on the browser you use and what hardware configuration your computer has.

Here are some tips that will significantly speed up the Dashboard, both the loading time and the speed of the different bookmark operations.

#1 Turn off the bookmark drag and drop

By default bookmark drag and drop is turned on. To turn it off:

1. Select "Settings" in the main menu
2. Under "Dashboard settings" uncheck the "Enable bookmark drag and drop" checkbox

It is recommended to keep it turned off and to turn it on only for the time when you rearrange your bookmarks on the Dashboard.

#2 Keep the categories collapsed that have many bookmarks

The bookmarks of collapsed categories are not rendered when the Dashboard loads. The bookmarks of these categories will be rendered only when you expand a category. So keeping the categories collapsed that have many bookmarks will speed up the page loading.

#3 Turn off the favicons

We use a Google service to display the favicons of the bookmarked pages. If you have a large number of bookmarks on a tab, the loading of the favicons may impact the overall page loading speed.

To turn off the favicons:

1. Select "Settings" in the main menu
2. Under "Dashboard settings" uncheck the "Show favicons of bookmarks" checkbox

If favicons are turned on, after the Dashboard has been loaded you may see the "Waiting for www.google.com..." text in the browser's bottom status bar for awhile. This means that Google hasn't sent all of the favicons yet. This doesn't affect the operation of Bookmark Ninja, the Dashboard is already fully functional when the favicons are still being loaded.

Performance Improvement on the Dashboard

Today we rolled out the biggest update that we have ever had since the launch of Bookmark Ninja. The update significantly improves the Dashboard performance. The improvements have been made in the following 3 areas:

(1) The entire Dashboard code has been re-architected, some of the code have been rewritten from scratch. From now the tabs will load much faster and all the operations on the Dashboard (move, edit, add, duplicate, drag and drop etc.) will be faster, too.

(2) A new switch has been added to the Settings page under the Dashboard section: “Enable drag and drop”. By default the switch is turned on. If you turn it off the bookmark drag and drop will be disabled, but the loading speed of the Dashboard (and the operations on the Dashboard) will be significantly faster, especially if you have a large number of bookmarks on a tab.

(3) From now the bookmarks of the collapsed categories are not rendered when the Dashboard loads. The content of a collapsed category will be rendered only when you expand the category. This new feature can be useful if you have categories with a large number of bookmarks. Keeping these categories collapsed will increase the page loading speed.