If you're making a list and checking it twice, it helps to have a great tool for said list making. This week we're taking a look at the five most popular tools Lifehacker readers use to make their wishlists.
Photo by plindberg.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite tool for maintaining a wishlist. We tallied up your nominations, and now we're back to share the five most popular tools for your review.
Wishpot (Web-based, Free)
Wishpot is a web-based wishlist tool. After signing up for a free account, you can add a button to your browser toolbar to quickly and easily add items to your wishlist from any web site. You can also manually add items, import your Amazon.com wishlist, or use your mobile phone to scan barcodes or take pictures of products to be added to your wishlist. Once you've built a list you can share it via email using a shared wishlist URL or by embedding a widget into your Facebook or Myspace page. When you share a wishlist with friends and family, they can reserve gifts on the wishlist they wish to purchase and the other people the list has been shared with will see their reservations—the owner of the list, however, doesn't see when gifts have been reserved. Wishlist is free and can be accessed either by using Facebook Connect or by creating a new account.
Google Docs (Web-based, Free)
Google Docs is a popular option for recording gift wishes despite not being specifically focused on wishlist creation. Lifehacker readers use various Google Docs tools like Google Spreadsheet to list and track their wanted items—the above image is a screenshot of a Google Spreadsheet wishlist that's available here. Whether you want to simply record items in a cloud-based document or you want to sort and analyze in a spreadsheet, Google Docs has something to offer for nearly every level of wishlist intensity.
Amazon.com Universal Wishlist (Web-based, Free)
Amazon's wishlist system used to only support items that Amazon or affiliates carried—which, while limited, still gave you access to a large stable of items. When they rolled out the Universal Wishlist and its accompanying Wishlist Button, however, you got the ease of use of the Amazon wishlist system plus the ability to add items to your list that Amazon.com doesn't carry. Anything from any web site can now be added to your Amazon wishlists, both private and public, using the Wishlist Button. Creating and managing your Amazon wishlist is free.
Evernote (Windows/Mac OS X/Web-based/Phone, Basic: Free, Premium: $45 per year)
If Amazon scores points for being able to import gifts from all over the web, Evernote wins points for being able to import gift ideas from everywhere. Although Evernote isn't specifically a wishlist-keeping tool, it is an excellent capture tool. Between the Windows and Mac desktop clients, the phone-based clients, and the web-based client, it's nearly impossible to be in a place you can't capture a picture or snippet of text, which you can then tag and add to your virtual wishlist.
Wishlistr (Web-based, Free)
Wishlistr is a simple but effective wishlist tool. You can start from scratch or import items from your Amazon.com wishlist or Delicious bookmarks. Like most of the entrants in the Hive Five, Wishlistr also has a bookmarklet tool for quickly adding items to your wishlist when you're away from the site and browsing the web. Wishlistr supports drag and drop rearrangement of your list and has a template gallery if you would like to theme your wishlist before sharing it with friends and family.
Now that you've had a chance to look over the top five contenders for the most popular wishlist tool (as voted by Lifehacker readers), it's time to cast your vote:
An honorable mention goes out this week to the original wishlist tool: pen and paper. If you have your own tips or tricks for creating, maintaining, and organizing a wishlist, let's hear about it in the comments.