
very large token strings appearing in random bookmark records in exported HTML file
per the subject, some of my bookmark HREF records in the file are very short, like this:
but then some of them contain thousands of bytes of token data, hash data, or some other kind that seems to be some sort of output from the page that is bookmarked. here's the truncated version of just such a record i see:
<DT><A HREF="https://www.uscellular.com/support/contact" ADD_DATE="1605967404" LAST_MODIFIED="1605967416" ICON_URI="https://www.uscellular.com/etc.clientlibs/uscc-static/clientlibs/web-resources/resources/icon-192x192.png" ICON="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAMAAAADAC........>US Cellular</A>
but the continuation of that data will go on for 100+ lines. why is this? i have attached an image that shos most of the endless data I see. thanks.
All Replies (13)
Hello Adam,
I believe that the export to html functionality is to be able to import them back later using the import functionality shown in the attached image. All extra information are metadata probably needed to properly import the data to the browser. I see dates, urls and icons in your examples.
Athraithe ag Μάριος ar
well i realize that. but what about my questions about WHY all that appears?? can you tell me anything about where all that junk comes from? obviously it is page-specific, because most bookmarks do not have all those bytes in them. about 20% of the BM records have that junk. by the way, is your avatar the mask of the anonymous group!? LOL. if it is, that's awesome. ha ha ha.
> ICON="data:image/png; ... "
That is a site icon encoded as a "data URL" (see: Data URLs on MDN).
I'm not sure why some bookmarks have encoded site icons and some have URLs. ??
But either way, it's not personal data.
Note that you can paste this long data URI string including data:image/png; in the location bar to view this PNG image.
jscher2000 said
> ICON="data:image/png; ... " That is a site icon encoded as a "data URL" (see: Data URLs on MDN). I'm not sure why some bookmarks have encoded site icons and some have URLs. ?? But either way, it's not personal data.
js,
some of the really long junk IS attached to the icon. can you tell me why? i know it's not personal data. I don't waste my life tracking corporate stupidity and the 500 million different queries they run all day long that was set up 20 years ago. LOL.
cor-el said
Note that you can paste this long data URI string including data:image/png; in the location bar to view this PNG image.
i have no need to do that. i know this. most images have buckets and direct URLs.
Adam said
some of the really long junk IS attached to the icon
What do you mean by "attached to the icon"? This is not a URL, the ... is the encoded bitmap data:
> ICON="data:image/png; ... "
In the past we used to use a bookmarklet (JavaScript bookmark) like this to remove this icon data. You can open the bookmarks HTML backup in a Firefox tab and run the bookmarklet.
javascript:(function(){var A='ICON',e=document.getElementsByTagName('a'),E,i,j=0;for(i=0;E=e[i];i++){if(E.hasAttribute(A)){E.removeAttribute(A);j++}}alert('Ready, removed "'+A+'": '+j)})();
This bookmarklet can remove more attributes that might be present in an older HTML backup.
javascript:(function(){var a='ID,ICON,ICON_URI,LAST_CHARSET,LAST_MODIFIED,LAST_VISIT,ADD_DATE,PERSONAL_TOOLBAR_FOLDER,SHORTCUTURL,WEB_PANEL',A,d=document,e=d.getElementsByTagName('*'),E,i,j,k=0,L=0;if(a=prompt(a.split(',').join('\n'),a)){a=a.split(',');for(i=0;E=e[i];i++){for(j=0;A=a[j];j++){E.removeAttribute(A)};if(E.nodeName.toLowerCase()=='a'){k++}}}e=d.getElementsByTagName('dd');if((L=e.length)&&(confirm('Remove '+L+' description(s)?'))){for(i=L-1;i>=0;i--){e[i].parentNode.removeChild(e[i])}}else{L=0}alert('Cleanup Complete - Save as Web Page, Complete\n\n'+k+' bookmarks\n'+L+' descriptions')})();
Athraithe ag cor-el ar
cor-el said
In the past we used to use a bookmarklet (JavaScript bookmark) like this to remove this icon data.javascript:(function(){var A='ICON',e=document.getElementsByTagName('a'),E,i,j=0;for(i=0;E=e[i];i++){if(E.hasAttribute(A)){E.removeAttribute(A);j++}}alert('Ready, removed "'+A+'": '+j)})();
This bookmarklet can remove more attributes that might be present in an older HTML backup.
javascript:(function(){var a='ID,ICON,ICON_URI,LAST_CHARSET,LAST_MODIFIED,LAST_VISIT,ADD_DATE,PERSONAL_TOOLBAR_FOLDER,SHORTCUTURL,WEB_PANEL',A,d=document,e=d.getElementsByTagName('*'),E,i,j,k=0,L=0;if(a=prompt(a.split(',').join('\n'),a)){a=a.split(',');for(i=0;E=e[i];i++){for(j=0;A=a[j];j++){E.removeAttribute(A)};if(E.nodeName.toLowerCase()=='a'){k++}}}e=d.getElementsByTagName('dd');if((L=e.length)&&(confirm('Remove '+L+' description(s)?'))){for(i=L-1;i>=0;i--){e[i].parentNode.removeChild(e[i])}}else{L=0}alert('Cleanup Complete - Save as Web Page, Complete\n\n'+k+' bookmarks\n'+L+' descriptions')})();
well that is nice. but i have no need for JS anything. i am shoving the HTML file into excel, stripping out the junk, and creating my own software to keep track of my bookmarks, making them quickly accessible on all devices. phones, machines, etc....
i will more than likely automate it with selenium and create an interface with .net.
If you plan to store your bookmarks in the cloud, you could consider writing a personal extension to sync your bookmarks with it.
I don't store anything in the cloud because I don't let corporations get a hold of any of my data, personal or otherwise. There's nothing wrong with the cloud, but I don't move with the world and I don't jump on bandwagon's and that's exactly why I don't use the cloud. But yes it's very useful or it can be.
The other reason of course is that with someone like me who customize everything and someone who the corporate world would never be able to figure out, if I used the cloud to store anything, more than likely it would result in me wasting time because everything would be off kilter regarding what I want and how I want it to be stored and uploaded and many other things and how I want it to come out when I need it, because the cloud is for services that are marketed to 95% of the worlds population and I just happen to not be part of that percent.
I guess I misunderstood, since you said your software would make your bookmarks "quickly accessible on all devices. phones, machines, etc." Sounded like a webapp.
like I said it's not an application it's for my personal use and I'm not making money doing it because I use many different software programs to get what I need from beginning to end.