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If you are unaware of what exactly Del.icio.us is, allow us to shed some light on the subject. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website which allows users to store an unlimited amount of bookmarks on an online server. This server is accessible from any browser at any time. Additionally you have the ability to label each bookmark with a descriptive tag. These tags are searchable by you or anyone else in the Del.icio.us community, making it easy to find vast resources of information on almost any topic with minimal effort.

There are a number of reasons you may want to use Del.icio.us in combination with your BlackBerry. In this article I will discuss two of them. With a little thought however, I am sure you will be able to come up with many more.

Setting up your Del.icio.us account

The first step to combining the power of Del.icio.us and the power of your BlackBerry is to create a Del.icio.us account. To do this, simply navigate to the Del.icio.us website via your PC or Mac and click on the register link in the top right corner of your browser. Follow the on screen instructions as they guide you towards your account creation and set up of your preferences.

Once you have your account created, move around a little within the site to familiarize yourself with the sites interface and functionality (posting your new links to a bookmarks list, tagging, searching etc.).

Utilizing Del.icio.us via your BlackBerry

One of the best uses for Del.icio.us on your BlackBerry is to bookmark articles that you find which are not formatted for a mobile device. I am sure that while browsing various news sources you have come across these types of links. While it is not always easy to read this content from your BlackBerry, given its screen size, that does not mean that the article is not worthy of a read. Del.icio.us is a great tool to help you keep track of these articles/news sources and come back to them for reading on your desktop.

One specific strategy for tracking articles which are not formatted for your BlackBerry is as follows:

1. Add the desired news item to your Del.icio.us bookmarks
2. Tag your new Del.icio.us bookmark with a special tag named “Desktop“
3. Subscribe to the Del.icio.us RSS feed for you specific “Desktop” tag
4. Track your “Desktop” tag RSS feed content using your favorite RSS reader

Using the method described above, you can easily access all of the items you have tagged as “Desktop” and read them at your leisure. You will never forget a great link again!

Posting a Del.icio.us link from your BlackBerry

Posting a link to Del.icio.us from your BlackBerry is an easy process. All you have to do is complete the following steps described here:

1. Locate the web page you would like to bookmark for viewing on your desktop at a later date.
2. Click the trackwheel/trackball to bring up the menu and select “Page Address“.
3. In the dialog box that appears, you will see the URL and title of the website - use the trackball/trackwheel and scroll down to the “Copy Address” option.(this will copy the URL to your BlackBerry clipboard)
4. Navigate to Del.icio.us/post in your BlackBerry browser and log in if your are not already logged in. (It is a good idea to bookmark this URL for future use.)
5. Scroll to the URL field and click the trackwheel/trackball to bring up the menu and choose “Paste” from the available options.
6. Click the “Save” button and fill in the appropriate information on the next page that is displayed.
7. Add the Desktop tag to your new bookmark as well as any other relevant tags you may want associated with it.
8. Click the “Save” button and you will see that your link has been added to your set of Del.icio.us bookmarks.

Managing your BlackBerry bookmarks via your desktop

It is quite common place for an individual to have a few hundred bookmarks saved on their desktop machine. This is not advisable for your BlackBerry. Instead, on your BlackBerry you will ideally have only a handful of bookmarks set up for quick navigation and easy access to important sites. Using Del.icio.us can help you manage those bookmarks in a straightforward and efficient manner.

Here is one specific strategy for maintaining a streamlined set of bookmarks on your BlackBerry with minimal effort:

1. Set up a new list of bookmarks on Del.icio.us, or add a new tag to existing bookmarks. This tag should be something along the lines of “MyBlackBerry” or “MyHandheld”.
2. Once your tags have been added, on your desktop navigate to the following URL http://del.icio.us/html/user/MyBlackBerry/?extended=body&tags=no&rssbutton=no (”user” represents your Del.icio.us username and “MyBlackBerry” represents the special tag you have created.)
3. Bookmark this URL in your Del.icio.us account.
4. Navigate to http://del.icio.us/html/user (where user is your Del.icio.us username.)
5. Locate the bookmark which was set up in step 2 and bookmark it on your BlackBerry device.

There you go, an easy to implement list of bookmarks which is maintained entirely on the Del.icio.us servers and accessible through a single bookmark located on your BlackBerry device. Utilizing this method will save you quite a bit of time (It is so much easier to type on your full sized keyboard while entering your bookmark information). This method also reduces clutter and streamlines the process of finding the correct bookmark on your BlackBerry Handheld Device.

Final thoughts

Combining the power of Del.icio.us with your BlackBerry is a no brainer. Once you have made yourself comfortable with the interface and functionality of the service, give the above examples a shot. I am sure you will find them to be of great benefit.

Another thing I am sure of is that there are many more inovative uses for Del.icio.us in combination with the BlackBerry that have not been discussed in this guide. We here at BBGeeks.com would love to know how our readers are using Del.icio.us to enhance their productivity. If you have any suggestions for your fellow BBGeeks, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

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