michaelmistretta.com

How many social networks are you a part of? Five? Ten? I find myself constantly dreading signing up for new social networks, because they are another “thing” that I will have to update. No matter how cool or awesome they may be, each new network is going to require more of your time. That’s how I felt about Del.icio.us - the leading site for online social bookmarks. Don’t get me wrong, I use bookmarks all the time. But the thought of having to go to Del.icio.us to add each bookmark was too cumbersome, and as a result, I stopped using Del.icio.us altogether.

Then along came Pukka - the app that makes adding bookmarks to Del.icio.us so simple and seamless that you don’t even have to think about it. Pukka functions as a desktop interface to Del.icio.us. Simply opening Pukka will allow you to enter in a URL, name for the bookmark, tags, and even an optional description. A simple tap of the return key, and your bookmark will be added to Del.icio.us in the background. Still, I thought, it’s not easy enough to add bookmarks to Del.icio.us. Then, I discovered the Pukka bookmarklet.

Hidden deep within the Pukka menus, is a simple command called, “Install Bookmarklet”. Clicking on that will automatically open your default browser to an HTML page. You can then drag the Pukka bookmarklet to the Bookmarks Bar of your browser. This bookmarklet is a javascript, that when clicked will open up Pukka with the URL and the name of the current site already entered into the fields provided. All you are required to do is click the bookmarklet on the page you wish to bookmark, enter in a few tags and click submit. You can then set Pukka to automatically hide itself, and quit when it’s finished publishing.

Finally, there is a way to publish to Del.icio.us that is as integrated into the Mac OS as browser bookmarks. Finally, I can use Del.icio.us as it truly was meant to be used, and not even think twice about it. Once you begin to use Del.icio.us regularly, you are able to take full advantage of having all of your bookmarks online. For example, I added five of my recent bookmarks to the side of my site. Now, if there is something I want to share with the world, it just takes a click of the Pukka bookmarklet.

Pukka also has some other cool features that add to the experience and the seamless nature of the application. It integrates with Growl to let you know when a bookmark has been posted, and also allows you to post to multiple Del.icio.us accounts from one window. But one of the coolest features of Pukka that really shows it’s integration with Del.icio.us, is the Dock menu. When you right click on the Pukka dock icon, you can view all of the tags in your Del.icio.us account, and all the bookmarks that use those tags.

Pukka is not just another app. It can totally revolutionize the way you use bookmarks, by making it simple and seamless to add links to Del.icio.us. Your Del.icio.us bookmarks are placed into an RSS feed, and from there the sky’s the limit. You can have your friends to subscribe to it, or integrate it into your twitter, your facebook or even your website. Pukka really makes it easy to share your links with the world.