Fix for the missing favicons on the Dashboard

Customers reported that suddenly the favicons of quite a few websites got disappeared on the Dashboard and the default globe icons were displayed instead. Bookmark Ninja uses a Google service to obtain the favicons of the website. After investigating the issue it turned out that Google has made some changes in the API of the service. We have made the necessary adjustments in the code, the favicons are back in today's update.

Updating the UI component library - the next big project

The UI component library in Bookmark Ninja is 6 years old, it's time to update it to the latest version that has been released in 2021. The update of the UI component library affects both the desktop and mobile UI. Updating the library for the mobile UI is the more complicated task, it requires to rewrite about the 80% of the mobile UI code. The work that has to be done on the desktop UI is less, it affects about the 10% of the code.

What will be the benefits of having an updated UI component library?

It's necessary to update the UI component library in order to keep up with the improvements of the browsers and to minimize the possible incompatibilities.

Also the new UI library includes a lot of improvements and bug fixes that will provide a better user experience:

• The rendering of the UI components is faster.
• Additional UI components are available that we can use in future developments of Bookmark Ninja.
• The new UI component library provides a solution for the "blank page flash at page load" Chrome issue.

What will the new UI look like?

The UI in the desktop browsers will look like the current UI, there won't be noticeable differences, the big change is under the hood. In mobile browsers the UI will be a little bit different. The mobile UI components will be updated in order to be more consistent with the desktop UI, but the mobile specific layouts will be kept. Also the mobile UI will have a nicer, cleaner look than the current one.

When will the new UI library be available in Bookmark Ninja?

Based on the current estimates the integration of the new UI component library will take 2-3 months. The target date is end of February 2022.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Google Chrome issue

In the latest Chrome update (version 96.0.4664.45) on Windows when full page reload happens a blank page shows up for a moment very frequently. Previous Chrome versions didn't have this issue, full page reload happened smoothly without seeing a blank page.

Unfortunately this Chrome issue affects Bookmark Ninja, too. When you switch between the Tabs on the Dashboard or select/deselect the tags on the My Bookmarks page you will see a blank page for a moment before the page is refreshed.

Other browsers work fine. Even Chrome on Mac is ok.

I've reported the issue to Google. Let's hope they will fix it in the next Chrome build.

Improvements in today's update

Improvement #1

From now a page loading progress indicator (a spinning circle) is displayed when a full page reload happens on the My Bookmarks page. Full page reload happens when you change the type of the bookmarks (Catalog/Dashboard/All), change the Tab/Category (if Dashboard is selected), change the order of the bookmarks/tags, select/deselect tags or start a search.

Improvement #2

"Date Updated" has been renamed to "Date Modified" in the bookmark order selection list box on the My Bookmarks page.

Improvement #3

During the import process until now the "Date Modified" values of the bookmarks were set to the date of the import date. From now "Date Modified" is set to the "Date Added" value read from the bookmark file. Of course if any "Date Modified" information is available in the bookmark file (which is very rare) then that value will be set. If neither "Date Added" and nor "Date Modified" is available in the bookmark file then the date of import will be set for both.

Improvement #4

Changed some colors in dark mode to improve readability.

Improvements and bug fixes in today's update

Improvement #1
From now the Tab and Category selection list boxes are not displayed on the My Bookmarks page when "All" or "Catalog" is selected. Until now the list boxes have only been disabled. The Tab and Category selection list boxes are displayed only when "Dashboard" is selected.

Improvement #2
From now "None" is displayed under "Available tags" and "Selected tags" when the tag list is empty.

Improvement #3

The order of the tags under "Selected tags" on the My Bookmarks page have been changed from alphabetical order to the order of the tags have been selected.

Improvement #4

The "Add folder names as tags" checkbox has been removed on the Import page. From now the folder names are always added to the bookmarks as tags during the import process.

Improvement #5

After import is finished “The basics of organizing your imported bookmarks" dialog box is displayed with a few tips.

Improvement #6

Improved the loading speed of the My Bookmarks page when it is invoked by selecting the "My Bookmarks" menu.

Bug fix #1

After moving or deleting multiple selected bookmarks on the My Bookmarks page, if all the bookmarks were selected in the list, the number of selected bookmarks and the number of total bookmarks were not updated in the top left corner.

Bug fix #2

When bookmark files with long file names were uploaded or error messages were displayed on the Import page, the layout of the page sometimes broke.

New feature: Tag order by number of occurrences

Until now the tags under "Available tags" on the My Bookmarks page have been ordered alphabetically. From now you can order the tags by number of their occurrences, too. A Tag order selection list box has been added to the My Bookmarks page where you can select the order of the tags: "Occurrences: high → low" or "A→Z".

The "order by number of occurrences" can be especially useful when you organize your imported bookmarks. The folder names from your old bookmark manager or browser are converted to tags during the import process. Having the tags ordered by number of occurrences makes sure that the top level folder names appear at the beginning of the tag list so it's easier to find the folder names and browse the folders by selecting/deselecting the tags.

The "order by number of occurrences" also gives you a statistical overview about the usage of your tags.

The new "Tag order" selection list box on the My Bookmarks page is available on mobile, too:

Introducing the Bookmark Ninja Referral Program

Recommend Bookmark Ninja to your friends, family, colleagues by sharing your referral link and get FREE months of subscription as a reward.

How does it work?

Every time a purchase is made through your referral link you get 1 free month of subscription as a reward. There's no limit on how many referrals you can make and how many free months of subscription you can get.

For example if you make 3 referrals then it means a 25% discount from your next year's Bookmark Ninja cost. Can you make 12 referrals? Then you can use Bookmark Ninja free of charge for a year!

Users who sign up for the free trial through your referral link will get a 10% discount from their first year's subscription. Make sure to mention this to encourage signing up when you share the link.

Where can I find my referral link?

You can find your referral link on the Referral Program page. To open the Referral Program page click on https://www.bookmarkninja.com/referralprogram or select "User/Referral Program" in the main menu of Bookmark Ninja (on mobile devices tap on the menu icon then select "Referral Program").

On the Referral Program page you can also track the statistics of your referrals.

Who can participate in the Referral Program?

The Referral Program is available for customers who have a valid or expired subscription. Users who are in the trial period can't make referrals.