Basics4Mac - Saving Space On Your Bookmarks Bar

Making the most of limited space

Short names and special characters in names
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This tip is an extension of an older tip Saving Space On Your Bookmarks Bar with a couple more ideas on how to make the most of the space on your Bookmarks Bar.

If you aren't familiar with adding items to your Bookmarks Bar, start here: Adding Items to the Bookmarks Bar. The original tip on saving space on the Bookmarks Bar (referenced above) discusses making folders and tab groups. If you aren't familiar with these concepts, I suggest reading the original tip first.

The first idea to save space is mentioned briefly in the original tip, but deserves more attention: Use short names for the items on your Bookmarks Bar. On mine, I've abbreviated "Basics4Mac" to "B4M" and "Yahoo! Mail" to "Y! Mail" among others. Every character you save with an abbreviation is space for more bookmarks.

To rename a bookmark on the Bookmarks Bar, simply right-click on the item and choose "Edit Name."

Another way to save space is to use symbols to replace names. In my Bookmarks Bar, I have replaced "Apple" with "" and my "Daily Read" with "ⓘ".

Symbols like these are located on the "Character Viewer" (Snow Leopard) or "Character Palette" (earlier versions of Mac OS X.) Getting to the Character Viewer/Palette takes a bit of work but opens a whole world of symbols you may never have known were available.

The method for showing the Character Viewer/Palette varies somewhat between versions of Mac OS X, but this site walks you through it pretty well. (At this writing, some of the screen shots are missing, but you can still follow the instructions without them.)

The Character Viewer/Palette has hundreds of different symbols of all types. You might have to poke around some with the various options to find one you like, but you surely will.

To use a symbol from the Character Viewer/Palette right-click the name of your Bookmarks Bar item and choose "Edit Name." Then double click the symbol you have chosen in the Character Viewer/Palette and it will be inserted in the name field.