‘Are You Sure’ Bookmarklet Fights Web Wandering

We’ve all got them—those bookmarks that sit on your toolbar (or on a keyboard shortcut, if , begging you to take just, you know five minutes and see if anything’s new over there. Web developer and author Paul Bausch certainly has a few, so he’s taken to editing them to add a small bit of JavaScript around their URLs, which brings up a prompt asking “Are you sure?” The format is easy to adjust and edit, though, if your procrasti-browsing habits require a more strern warning. Here’s the basic template:

javascript:if(confirm('Are You Sure?')){document.location='http://www.google.com/reader';}

Replace whateversite.com with your chosen irresistable site, of course, and ignore any line breaks you’re seeing due to our page formatting.

As one commenter on Bausch’s site notes, you could train yourself to click the “OK” as a matter of pure muscle memory and routine, defeating the basic benefit of a wait-stop measure. But a little JavaScript tweaking—random triggers, multiple buttons, different window placement each time—could put a bit more power behind it. Any of our code-savvy readers up for a mini-challenge? Post your suggestions, or the code itself, in the comments.