This application (who knows how it got its name) provides the means of reorganizing your Netscape bookmarks. It also provides the means to "listen" to Netscape and record the URLs you visit. The result of this reorganization and listening process is an outline of URLs. Simple formatting can then be applied to this outline and the entire set of URLs can be saved to a file.
The simplest way to begin learning how to use Clay Basket is to first export a list a Netscape bookmark. Next, launch Clay Basket and open the file you just created. Using the Font menu you can not change the font of you bookmarks. This function is extended through the "Look and Feel" menu option where you can change the colors of the windows and you are given options whether or not the URLs and dates associated with the bookmarks are displayed. After you change the aesthetic appearance of the bookmarks, you can also rearrange the items in the list and create a very nice hierarchal outline. Furthermore, you can create new headings and move your URLs under them with copy, paste, and drag procedures, as well as edit the titles and URLs of each of the items.
Another way to create a Clay Basket document is to turn on the "Recording" feature. Once initiated, Clay Basket will "listen" to Netscape and create lists of URLs you visit. This list can then be edited using the same procedures described above.
The main advantage of Clay Basket is two-fold. First, it makes, through its expandable/collapsible hierarchal lists, a very large collection of hotlist items easily browsable. For example, an entire hypertext information system could be digested into one Clay Basket document. This "digest" could then be distributed displaying the overall structure of the system to would-be end-users. Furthermore, this structure would be presented to the end-user in quite possibly small, easy-to-ready sections.
The only drawback, at the present time, to Clay Basket is that it contains no documentation and therefore takes a bit of experimentation before you can figure out what it is suppose to do.
Eric last edited this page on September 26, 1995. Please feel free to send comments.