Taking Notes in Your Browser Is Easier Than You Think

I employ two different options to take notes in my browser window when I’m doing legal research on my laptop. (When I’m at the iMac desktop, I have a dual monitor display, so that’s a bit easier.) One is called Zotero. It’s a plug-in for Firefox that pops up a lower window within your browser window. You can organize your notes via topic, collect and mange your cites, copy and paste - it’s free and it’s awesome. I highly recommend it. (And if you’re not using Firefox, you should. ‘Nuff said.)

The other option is Google Notebooks. This is web-based app that allows you to save your notes in individual notebooks. It features a rich text WYSIWYG editor and allows for links. The main difference (besides the RTE) is that Google Notebooks is web-based; Zotero, as a plug in for your browser, is computer-based. So if you use more than one computer, and need to be able to compare your notes between the two, give Google Notebooks a try. Otherwise, Zotero is a bit more robust, I think. It isn’t that Google Notebooks lacks functionality, at all - it’s just not as richly featured, I think, as Zotero.

There are other options, too - I’ll try to sum those up for you guys in future posts!

Technorati Tags: notetaking, webbased notetaking tools, browser plug-ins

Powered by ScribeFire.