Converting Safari Bookmarks to Firebird Bookmarks using XSLT

I like Safari, especially the fact that my Safari bookmarks are automatically synced to my iDisk. But I also like Firebird, and I’d like to use the same bookmarks in that browser as I do in Safari.

Safari stores its bookmarks in:

~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist

which is an XML file.

Firebird stores its bookmarks under:

~/Library/Phoenix/Profiles/default/[uniqueid]/bookmarks.html

which is a wonkly-formatted HTML file based on the original Netscape bookmarks file format.

Converting from the Safari-format XML file to the HTML-format Firebird file seemed like a good task to use XSLT for.

Using TestXSLT from Marc Liyanage as a testing tool, I created this Safari2Firebird.xslt style sheet that can be used to transform a Safari bookmarks file into a Firebird bookmarks file.

To do this using TestXSLT:

• Under the XML tab, select the Safari Bookmarks.plist file.
• Under the XSLT tab, select the Safari2Firebird.xslt file you downloaded here.
• Click Process and, optionally, save the result as bookmarks.html and copy to your Firebird profile directory.

I’m neither an XSLT expert nor particularly familiar with Firebird, so I may have missed something here, and this may not work for you. I welcome comments on how to improve the process.

Update: Marcus Kazmierczak helpfully modified the script; here’s his explanation:

I convert the BookmarksBar Folder to Firebird’s Personal Toolbar (including setting the property). I also discard the Address Book and Rendezvous folders and move all the folders in the BookmarkMenu to top level.

I’ve replaced the link above with a link to the updated version.