3x3Links Blog

Emergency Update: Embedded version needs update

2012-01-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry.

I just got to know that the recent changes broke the 3x3Links embedded version. A hotfix solved the issue but introduced also a new mobile 3x3Links version which was in the queue.

If you have embedded 3x3Links into your website, please go to

Options -> Personal Links -> Embedded

and copy and paste the new source code into your website.

The large amount of 3x3Links changes and bugs is due to a migration to the jQuery Javascript library. Since 3x3Links has so many features (Mobile, Embedded, Chrome Extension, all the tweaks and options), it was not possible for me to test all possible use-cases.
JQuery a great foundation for future features and improvements in the current functionality.

Thanks a lot for your understanding and your feedback.
Wish you a year full of fun, fast web navigation and less stress!
Federico of 3x3Links.

PS: If you are on Google Plus, please connect to the 3x3Links page and post some ideas for future features.

3x3Links - Charges under new Google App Engine pricing

2011-11-06T02:41:00.000-08:00

Update
3x3Links is now running constantly at $150 per year. If you want to help me covering this amount, please consider a one-time 3x3Dollar donation.

~~Bad news.~~
3x3Links is hosted on the Google App Engine.
The Google App Engine will increase it's prices to a more professional (read: expensive) level.
~~The hosting costs for 3x3Links will increase from several cents per day to approx. $2 per day, or $700 per year.~~ UPDATE: Hosting costs have peeked at $150 yearly due to the recent redesign.
3x3Links is designed as a free product accepting donations to handle the old, much lower fees (approx. $30 each year).

For trying to keep 3x3Links free, I will apply the following changes:

Removing of all not required images
Reducing the 3x3Links start page - stopping all promotion for 3x3Links
Disabling the logo server for the Speed Dial Folder Android App
Optimizations in the code
Asking more visible for donations.

Details of the new hosting costs

Must. Make. Things. Simple.

2011-09-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

I started to make the 3x3Links Options menu easier some weeks ago and finally managed it to publish the changes today. Actually, I did not add any features, but removed even some. Don't worry, you won't miss those.

If you have further suggestions how to simplify things even more in the options menu, let me know via info@3x3links.com or comment below.

Expect more changes in the upcoming months in my quest to make things simple.

3x3Links embedded into your website

2011-02-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

You can now easily embed your 3x3Page into your personal website. Go to Options -> Personal Links and find the HTML code in the Embedded section below.

The code has some restrictions, but feel free to contact me if something really bugs you.

Kudos to Anne for the request.

Two years 3x3Links - Bonus features

2010-11-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Here we are now,
2 years,
4,917 pages,
6,981 logos &
116,263 links later. Not bad at all for a hobby, which 3x3Links is for me.

Seven users decided so far to donate $9 to 3x3Links, and they got some bonus features unlocked:

A CSS editor and Private Logos.

Private Logos allow you to upload any image you like to your private logo pool and assign those to any folder or link you like.
CSS is good for altering the Look&Feel of your page: change colors, fonts, effects and size of the dials. No problem with a little bit help of CSS.

99 Logo Challenge
Starting today, there is another possibility to unlock the CSS editor and Private Logos: Help other users by uploading missing logos. Once you uploaded 99 logos and got those approved, the features will be directly unlocked. Go to Options -> Missing Logos to upload all your missing logos, and afterwards globally missing logos.

Skins
You are a designer and would like to create a customer 3x3 theme/skin to share? Contact me at info@3x3links and send me a mock-up of your theme idea. You might get an invite to make it real.

Bad news
I will be moving to a new flat this month and will not be able to develop new features. Feel free to send me feature requests. I will collect those and implement to most requested feature next.

Have a nice day,
Federico of 3x3Links

PS: I invite you to post as a comment to this post how long you are using 3x3Links already.

Collaboration: Invite a guest to edit your 3x3Page

2010-10-17T02:57:00.000-07:00

Example: Sharing a 3x3Page with your department

You have created a 3x3Page with the most important web-links for your daily work. You share the page with your colleagues and they do really find it helpful, but they also would like to add their web-links. No problem anymore!

Select any of your 3x3Pages
Go to Options » Collaboration^New!
Enter the E-Mail addresses of your colleagues
Save changes

Your colleagues will now see your page in their "My Pages" menu in the upper left of the page.
It is possible for them to edit, create and delete links and folders. The options menu is not available while working with a shared 3x3Links page. Only the owner may edit the options of a shared page.

Changes made by guests will be displayed in the Collaboration menu as a brief change history.

As always, I'm open for feedback how to improve this feature further. Send me use-cases along your ideas via the contact form or as comment below. This feature was originally suggested by the New York City Department of Education.

Back to work: A roadmap

2010-09-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

As you might know, 3x3Links is developed by one lonely developer, who recently returned from his summer break. For that time, I aligned with my lovely girlfriend that I would not code for 3x3Links to have more time for more important things (like her for example)!

Well, actually I just aligned not to "code for 3x3Links"...

I wisely used some free time to create a tool which would help me to bring order to my current projects and focus on the most important tasks while not loosing track of other ideas floating in my mind.

I invite you, dear 3x3Links users, to take a look at the future development of 3x3Links and to be the first to take a peak look at my new little tool called TaskEater. Inside TaskEater I created a TaskSpace with all tasks related to 3x3Links. I tagged the TaskSpace as #public, so you can view it without signing in.

The 3x3Links Roadmap

Using it for about two months, TaskEater completely replaced my post-it notes and other to-do lists. I have TaskSpaces for my regular job, 3x3Links and even TaskEater itself.

But back to 3x3Links: I need only to add one more feature to TaskEater, design two websites for a customer and I'm back working on the next 3x3Links feature. Expect it to arrive in a month.

PS: A new version of SDF is on it's way, but you probably already saw this on the roadmap...

Summer Break and Offline Copy

2010-06-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

First the sad news: I will pause further feature development on 3x3Links for the next two months. There will be only bug fixes if required. You may still suggest features!

One final feature before I go sunbathing: On the bottom of the "Personal Links" page you'll find a link to an offline version of your 3x3Links page. Save this file and you'll receive a single HTML file you can copy wherever you want to: Your USB drive, your intranet server or on your hard drive as a simple backup if 3x3Links should go offline due to the massive traffic spike once Techcrunch decides to write about it. :)

Donors received also another feature, but more on this in the next post.

HTML5 support and recent updates

2010-06-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

Starting today, 3x3Links will begin rolling out a neat new HTML5 feature: Local caching. This will result in your 3x3Page loading up to 5-times faster and below 0,4 seconds.
First, only your Homepage Link will support this new feature (former no-sign-required link).

Homepage link example: http://www.3x3links.com/?open=587ea729b400c82a325dfe971cc9918e

I've tested a lot of browsers together with the new feature, but if you still experience any problems, please let me know immediatelly.

Recent updates:

Use an URL as background image. This is quite cool for daily changing background images.
If you link to a local IP address, localhost or another 3x3Links page, you may upload an own logo for this link without the need for the logo being approved!
"No-sign-in-required" link renamed to "Homepage" link, as you should really use this one as your browser homepage when at home.
"Personal Link" renamed to what it is: a Vanity URL.
Now accepting Donations. If you use 3x3Links daily, you won't regret donating.

In work:

Offline Version
Own CSS support
"New Tab 3x3Links" extension for Chrome.

The latest on 3x3Links

2010-06-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Early this month two popular blogs wrote about 3x3Links: Lifehacker and MakeUseOf. This led to an unplanned load (or stress) test for the whole service. It was pure luck my payed(!) Google App Engine traffic quota was high enough. Traffic jumped from 0.1 page requests per second to more then 16.

Thanks to all those new users, more then 1000 new logos have been uploaded (and approved by me).

Now things are back to normal and I'm processing all the user feedback and fixing bugs.

Localhost and IP address links
For example I fixed a bug making it not possible to assign logos for http://localhost:80/ or http://192.168.1.1/ links. To fix the bug, you have to refresh (hit edit and save directly) your relevant links and upload a new logo. This logo will be only visible to you and directly approved. Nice, right?

What's next?
I will start accepting one-time donations from happy 3x3Links users. More on this later, but I can already tell that this is related to the need for beta testers: There will be special features reserved for donators...

Does 3x3Links feel a little slow right now?
Sorry, but this issue is known and the whole App Engine team is already working on this.

Refactoring and redesigning 3x3Links

2010-04-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

In this post I would like to share my vision of the upcoming 3x3Links changes with you. Most of the changes will be unnoticed. First, the 3x3Link source HTML files will consolidated allowing easier editing of the 3x3Links look&feel. This is called a "code refactoring" - changing code without effects to the user interface.

Next, the user interface will be redesigned. Here are some of my ideas.

1# Options

new left sidebar navigation
some of the current option pages will be split into multiple parts
each new option page will only have as many options as fit the the page without scrolling

2# Logo handling

the current Logo Central will disappear for users - it is slow and complicated
you will be able to directly jump from the customizing screen into logo selection or suggesting and back to editing

3# Other changes

You will be able to jump between 3x3Pages using a drop-down menu - the current "My Pages" choosing screen will disappear
Pages will be divided into standard pages displaying all internal links and dialog pages, allowing you only to change something, accepting the change or to go back to the previews page.

I invite you, dear 3x3Links users and blog readers, to participate in this changes in the comment section below.

Mod your 3x3Links Page

2010-04-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Nearly any great game is featuring a way to modify it to either enhance it, or to create something completely new. We like this idea, and as users asked us about making small (or larger) modifications on the 3x3Links Speed Dial page, we often try to make this possible.

Today we announce several new modifications, available on the Options » Personalize page inside the Tweaks block.

#1 Minimisation:
This is a 3x3Links page with hidden captions, nav links and tabs.

#2 Navigation:
This 3x3Links page uses the additional left-side tab bar. This does work best if your first level is full of folders and you like the traditional 2-click approach to navigate your favorites.

3# Swipe (Experimental)
Made just for fun, touch-screens and Chrome browsers. You have to be also fast to use this input modification: As soon as you clicked your first folder, keep your mouse button pressed and move directly to the link or folder you like to open next. It will open automatically once you hover with your mouse over it for half a second. You can test it here.

Have fun with the new possibilities and let us know how you like it.

PS: Next feature on our list: Selectable folder icons.

3x3Links for Android: Speed Dial Folder

2010-03-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

After using my Android handset for more than half a year, I was experiencing several problems:

A lot of apps crowded my home screen. I could barely see my background image.
My mobile started behaving more ofter very slow or got completely stuck, so the home screen had to reload.
Finding an app not on my home screen via the Launcher Dock took really long. It was just not cool searching for an app to show off!

Also, I had a lot of small apps installed, which I did not use very often, but which I considered as must-haves, e.g. Shazam, Ultrachron or cgSpeedo. Already used to 3x3Links browsing the internet, I wished to have something similar for my handset. The idea for 3x3Links for Android was born and I'm proud to announce, that today the 3x3Links app is available in the Android Market under the name "Speed Dial Folder".

Why the name change? I believe the name "Speed Dial Folder" can better describe the use case for this app than the name 3x3Links and also it is easier to type on the on-screen keyboard. :)

Learn more about Speed Dial Folder at our dedicated page and search for "Speed Dial Folder" on the Android Market to download it.

Oh, did I mentioned it's free?

Logo Suggestions

2010-02-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

We at 3x3 believe that using logos for your favorite links is much cooler than using website thumbshots. Therefor we integrated Google Image Search to help you finding the original website logos easier.

Inside the Logo Central, click on Show Suggestions:

Suggestions will load in form of logo thumbnails. Click on the appropriate logo to take over the location into the URL field. Hit Upload, to complete the transaction.

PS: Kudos for the_roggy for his feedback and the resulting motivation to create this feature.

3x3Links Bookmark Button for Chrome

2009-12-23T00:41:00.000-08:00

Do you sometimes wish to be able to add a website you are just browsing to your 3x3Links page? There is an extension for that!

The 3x3Links Bookmark button will be added to your Chrome Navigation Bar.

Your will be able to display your 3x3Links page by entering your 'No Sign-In required' Link ID.

Clicking on an empty spot will allow your to bookmark the current website!

Links:
Download Chrome Beta with Extensions
Download the 3x3Links Bookmark Button Extension

This is a kind of a Christmas present for all you Chrome and 3x3Links users out there. Once HTML Extensions are available for Firefox, we will add this feature there too.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010!
Federico of 3x3Links

Chrome: Load 3x3Links when opening new tab

2009-12-11T03:41:00.000-08:00

Until now it was not possible to customize the website displayed when opening a new tab in Google's Chrome Browser: Always the default Chrome homepage was displayed. With the newest Google Chrome Beta build this changes with the introduction of Extensions for Google Chrome (similar to Firefox Add-ons).

Now you can decide which website to be displayed when opening a new tab, either via the "New Tab" button or by using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+T.

How to:

Download and install the Google Chrome Beta to be able to install Extensions or wait until the Gold Version supports Extensions.
Download the Chrome Extension New Tab Website.
Set up your Encrypted 'No Sign-In required' Link as your website to open on new tab.
Enjoy :)

Adding a little bit more security with SSL support

2009-12-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

Dear 3x3Links user,
we just enabled TLS/SSL on our site.
This means that the traffic from your computer to 3x3Links can be now completely encrypted.

Until know, you might have use a similar URL to access your 3x3Page without signing in:

http://www.3x3links.com/?open=4029e12eaca6a29d14d44de44541ed4e8 (Sample)

While this URL remains valid, we recommend to switch now to the secure HTTPS (or TLS/SSL) one:

https://3x3links.appspot.com/?open=4029e12eaca6a29d14d44de44541ed4e8 (Sample)

Important:

The open parameter remains the same.
All existing links keep on working
The appspot Domain is the official domain of the Google App Engine Framework, 3x3Links is hosted upon.
If you are using 3x3 as your company intranet startpage, we strongly recommend to use the new secure URL.

If you have any questions, please drop a comment below or use the Options - Contact formular on 3x3Links.

Three new Features: Background color, Owner and Subtitles

2009-11-29T00:41:00.000-08:00

#1 Change the background color of your 3x3Page
Go to Options - Personal Link. Beside uploading and positioning a background image, you can now also choose a background color, either via a color picker (by jscolor), or by typing the color code.

#2 Show who created this public 3x3Page
As a new commercial 3x3Page feature, you are now able to define the creator of the 3x3Page by his name, website and a website title. Those information are used to build a hyperlink.
Commercial pages are intended to be shared with a global audiance, not only a restricted circle.

#3 Describe your links

Go to Customize - List View. Inside your link table, a new field is available called subtitle. If available, a subtitle is displayed when stopping your mouse over a link.
In addition, a real 'subtitle' is displayed on the bottom of your Commercial 3x3Page when moving your mouse over a link (see below).

Example:
How you could use all this nice little features (Live Demo):

More features to come!

3x3Links hits Japan! Should we localize 3x3Links?

2009-11-24T04:04:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy about 3x3Links being noticed in Japan:

The Japanese Webmarketing Blog http://web-marketing.zako.org/ wrote a very detailed article about 3x3Links with a lot of images, even from 3x3 running on a Android phone (I used Google Translate to read it).

Also I notices already Germany, Italian and Polish blogs writing about 3x3Links and now even Japan!

The question is: Does 3x3 need localization? Should we focus on creating German, Polish and Japanese translations of 3x3Links or continue introducing new enhancements? Any volunteers for translating 3x3? :)

What is 3x3Links about?

2009-11-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

Joel Spolsky asked on his Blog: "What is your company about?", and successfully answered this question for his company, Fog Creek Software. Motivated by this, we tried to answer the same question for 3x3Links:

3x3Links: We help users to organize their favorite websites and to access those lightning fast on any computer.

Lets dismantle this statement to verify it's fitting:

"organize": You can group your favorites into folders based on the topic or related activity, e.g. Shopping, Entertainment or Socializing.

"lightning fast": #1 The 3x3 page design is quite minimal and we have some cruel rules to keep the overall performance fast, e.g. website logos must be smaller than 5kb and all users share the same logos. Still, we feel there is some space left for improvement in the future.
#2 We have a unique keyboard shortcut key concept allowing you access up to 729 of your favorite links in under one second.

"any computer": 3x3 is web-based and can be accessed from every computer either using your personal key (for safe locations) or your personal url (for unsafe locations) without the need to sign in.

Do you think we managed it to describe 3x3Links correctly?

Happy Birthday 3x3Links: Users may have multiple 3x3Pages now.

2009-10-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

When a web service like 3x3Links grows one year older, there is always some kind of gift - not for the service, but for it's users. It's the same with 3x3Links, which becomes one year old today.

We are happy to announce 3x3Pages. Each 3x3User can now create not only one 3x3 Homepage, but unlimited ones. Create a 3x3Page for your personal use, work, hobby or just favorite topic.

Share your 3x3Page about your favorite topic by listing it in search engines. Other surfers might profit from your knowledge and your 3x3Page.

How to create a topic-related, public 3x3Page

Sign in with your Google Account to 3x3Links.
On the top right, click "My Pages".
Click "Create a new 3x3Page".
Set up your Links by clicking "Customize".
Go to "Options" > "Personal Link" and define a Personal Link and a Caption for your 3x3Page matching your topic.
Set How will you use 3x3Links? to "Commercial" and check "List in search engines". Don't worry, we will not charge you for this.
You are done, your page is public and can be seen in the 3x3Directory.
Switch between your 3x3Pages by clicking "My Pages" and selecting your desired page.

If you have any problems, use the contact form to drop us a line. We will try to help you.
Otherwise, have fun creating a lot of useful 3x3Pages.

Update:
Some pics from the tiny 3x3Birthday Event. *sweet*

3x3Links Media Coverage and Future Plans

2009-10-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

Who is talking about 3x3Links?

The Swiss Blog Netzwertig.com describes the 3x3Links navigation concept as "simple, but ingenious" and highlights the "neck breaking" fast ability to access your links (Translated from German). I'm feeling proud reading this.
Read the full article (in German language)

Examiner.com writer Kimberly White suggests to use a 3x3Links Page as your personal "Online wedding planning organizer". Using 3x3Links for helping organizing an event also refers to a feature some of you might be missing: The ability to create multiple 3x3Pages per account for different purposes. I'm glad to announce, that this is one of the next features to be implemented.
Read the full article

How is 3x3Links doing so far?

Thanks for asking. Not bad at all. As of now, 3x3Links serves around 600 startpages daily and has more then 70 active users. Currently I'm running a little AdWords compaign to spread the word and to reach my self-given goal for this year: 1000 daily uses.

Reminder: 3x3 will become 1 year old on November, 1st.

Table View

2009-09-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Imagine you want to create a new folder at your 3x3Links page, called "Socialize". You click on the Customize link and start adding links inside the 3x3 Grid. You will need a lot of Clicks to create all nine links.

A 3x3 User had the same problem and wrote me an E-Mail asking for some kind of "Batch Create" for Links. Here is the result:

The Links Table View allows you to change all nine links of a level at once and to save all changes with one click. You save a lot of clicks when filling a new folder. For reorganizing links you still have to use the default Grid View.

But this is not all.

Recently my friend Kim wrote an article about using 3x3Links as your business intranet start page. There, she recommends first to organize all your important links inside a spreadsheet and to group those by categories. At your 3x3Page, you can then create a folder for each category and put the related links inside. Wouldn't it be great then, to simply use copy-and-paste to import your spreadsheet data into 3x3Links? Jep.

To do so, go to Customize -> List View and click on Import data from Spreadsheet at the bottom of the page. A data paste field appears including brief instructions.

Nice?

Little Image, Big Effect. Tiled background now supported

2009-08-28T13:29:00.001-07:00

3x3Links does already support uploading and positioning your own background image for some time. This is especially great for company logos.

Since today, as a new option, you can now also tile your background image. This is just great if you want to add a cool Web 2.0 effect to your page, without slowing it down by a large background image file.

For creating your personal tile graphic, you might want to check out the Web 2.0 Stripe Generator.

How to Create an Efficient Intranet Start Page for Your Business (using 3x3Links)

2009-08-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

A good friend of my, Kim, posted a video guide how to use 3x3Links as your intranet start page at your company. You can watch it at eHow.

Thanks Kim!