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For some time, WebLynx supported importing links from various web browsers through browser extensions or add-ons that could be installed from the browser vendor's app store.

Since then, the number of web browsers has grown, users have become increasingly cautious about installing software on their devices, and the administrative overhead associated with maintaining extensions in browser app stores has increased significantly.

In short, maintaining the browser extensions was requiring more resources than we were prepared to commit.

Uh-oh - what did we do?

We added a Bookmark Panel

For many years, WebLynx has supported importing links from a variety of web browsers through the Import window. The underlying technology needed to transfer bookmarks from browsers into WebLynx was already in place.

All that remained was to make the process more accessible and convenient. After some consideration, we decided to introduce a side panel that automatically consolidates bookmarks from all supported browsers into a single view. From there, links can be added to WebLynx with just a click.

So that's exactly what we did.

We Removed Browser Integration

The old method of clicking the WebLynx icon in your web browser is no longer available. We have removed the functionality from WebLynx and withdrawn the browser add-ons from the various app stores.

We did consider removing the Landing Zone (LZ) panel as well. However, after reviewing how it was being used, we recognized that it remains a valuable tool for collecting links and moving them between WebLynx files.

As a result, the Landing Zone has been retained, while browser integration has been replaced by the new side panel approach.

The Trade-off

We have replaced an unsustainable maintenance burden, based on browser extensions that did not always work reliably, with a clearly defined and controllable task: maintaining and testing browser integrations directly within WebLynx.

This is something we can manage effectively, resulting in a more reliable solution and a better experience for everyone.

Signing Off

Any improvements to the workflow or new browsers to support please let us know.