Trailfire - The Complete Tutorial

The best of the best that Trailfire has to offer to you...

Whenever I download a new program or join some new online community, my first step is to read the Introduction page, the FAQ page, the About page, etc - basically the complete tutorial. I always want to get out the best from something, and reading the tutorial is a must-do for me.

However, it's sometimes hard to keep up with all the links to different pages in the tutorials. While this does not necessarily apply to the Trailfire set of help pages, (which are very well written and organized), I still found it necessary to create a trail so: (1) I can create my first trail (my first trail!) and experiment with this new way of organizing the web, (2) show other new users an example of a good trail, and (3) help those tutorial lovers like me make sure they didn't miss anything.

I don't think I need to explain this page. Basically it shows you what "the big idea" about Trailfire is. I love introductory pages like these where you read in a nutshell the best of what Trailfire has to offer.

More information about trails...

Another web page giving you a taste of Trailfire; or more specifically a quick summary of trails and what they do for you.

If you're like me, then you might like rereading good explanations or cleverly crafted blurbs that made you sign up for something in the first place - simply because they're well written, or maybe you find those excerpts explaining things better than actual help pages.

So here's what Firefox has to say about Trailfire:

"Trailfire provides a unique new method for collaborative discovery on the Web. With this addon and Firefox you mark pages that you find interesting by leaving notes right there on page. These notes are linked together into trails that you organize any way you want."

How Trailfire can help you find what you're looking for...

A bit more in depth of how Trailfire actually helps you, or "helps you find the needle in the haystack". All over the web you'll see dozens of marks (a single online sticky note), which usually turn out to be trails (multiple online sticky notes linked together).

You can then follow these trails and discover what other people have worked hard to discover before you. So instead of clicking on every Google search result you get for your particular topic, you get a collection of links that you already know will be useful to your research, project, curiosity, etc. You find one useful Google search result (by useful I mean that somebody bothered to "mark" that page with Trailfire) and from then on you follow the trail to wherever it takes you, and beyond!

Firefox says:

"Trailfire.com is also a unique social discovery engine and might be the right place to start when you are looking for something on the web. Use it to find other people’s trails. Browse the hot trails or look in categories of interest. You’ll see why trails are better than pages of search results because a real person put them together."

How to create trails. Add to the collective wisdom. It's easy!

"If it's easy, then how exactly do I do it?" you ask? If so, then this page is for you - the page some of you have probably been waiting for all along - the page that will answer all your questions... Well, okay, maybe not all your questions. This is for now all in a nutshell. The complete help page that will answer all your questions is of course none other than the FAQ. But we'll get back to that later...

Unless you want to ditch and skip ahead of me! :(

Anyway, here's another blurb from our dear friend Firefox:

"The next time you are looking for something on the Web use Trailfire to mark the pages you find and they will be automatically shared with everyone else through the search engines. Or if you prefer you can flip a switch and keep it all private."

How to manage, share, rate, and comment on trails. Participate in the community!

Participate is the key word here! And you'll want to do a lot of participation  - simply to get the best out of Trailfire. Whether you're participating to keep yourself organized, or to help others use the world wide web efficiently there's tons of features you should know about - like contacts, the activity tab, rating... you'll find more of those on the next page, the FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions.

Here's what Firefox has to say about community and participation:

"Trails let you guide people on the Web but they are also collaborative because people can comment on your trails and even add new marked pages (when you let them.)"

Get the answers to all your questions - and fast!

Tired of all these nutshells? Do you want to get the real taste of Firetrail?

Well, as an answer to your my first question, this page is perfect for you! Even if you don't like detailed explanations, I highly recommend you reading this whole page. It's not as long as it seems! Ignore all those links - think of them as a short paragraph per link - which they actually are, nothing more than that!

As for my second question, well you'll really have to try Firetrail yourself and get the real taste of it independently. Make some trails, add some marks, put Firetrail into action!