Yesterday, Mark Bernstein—the developer of Tinderbox and editor of Winterfest—posted on X about his new article, Is the golden age of Indie software over?
After reading it, I replied on X:
“@eastgate I’ve hooked this page to the WinterFest page using Hookmark, which also automatically bookmarks both pages in Hookmark — for ease of future reference.”
Mark then replied:
“@LucCogZest That is cool! Could you explain that in a thread, so more bystanders could follow?”
So I did.
I’m reproducing that explanation here for two reasons. First, many people no longer use X. Second, this exchange provides a compact, real-world example of how Hookmark can function as a bookmarking app—though one that works quite differently from conventional bookmark managers.
Here’s what I wrote:
My pleasure. I wanted to be able to refer to this page later, so on that page I invoked Hookmark (⌃H) and used its
Copy Link(⌘C)command.Then I went to the Winterfest page which you conveniently linked to at the end of your post. On that page I invoked Hookmark (⌃H) and did
Hook to Copied Link(⌘V). This 1) bidirectionally linked (“hooked”) both pages together (meaning in the context of one, I can see a link to the other); 2) adds bookmarks in Hookmark for this page.Why did I hook the pages together? Because I knew I’d later want to refer to this web page. Because I might not be able to remember information about the title of the page, I used the hook command. I can now access your successfulsoftware.net document from the Winterfest doc to which it applies. I.e., to get back to the linked document I just need to go to the Winterfest page, which I can easily do (our app is listed there).
But because of point (2) I can search for “bernstein x.com” in Hookmark’s bookmark window and find it in the list.
For more information on using Hookmark for bookmarking purposes see https://hookproductivity.com/help/general/features/bookmark-manager/
It takes a few minutes to wrap one’s head around Hookmark but once one does, it’s as easy to use as a launcher (Alfred, Raycast, LaunchBar)– in fact, its UI looks a bit like a launcher.
BTW, I went the extra mile and “hooked” (bidirectionally linked) this x.com thread to your successfulsoftware document. That way if I want to post about it in x.com, I can easily get from the document to the thread on X.
Why this matters
Traditional bookmarks rely on future-you remembering titles, folders, or search terms. Hookmark works differently. It lets you connect resources directly, in context, at the moment you know they belong together.
In this case, I didn’t just save a page “somewhere.” I linked it to the Winterfest page where it was relevant. Later, I can return to that context effortlessly—and from there, jump straight to the article, or even back to the X thread discussing it.
This is what we mean by contextual, bidirectional linking. Each link strengthens your ability to get back to what matters, even when memory fails or search comes up short.
Hookmark does include a bookmark window and search, and those work exactly as you’d expect. But the real payoff comes when bookmarks are reinforced by meaningful links between the things you already use.
That small exchange on X neatly captured the idea—and I’m grateful to Mark for prompting the explanation.