Comments on: A Better Speed Dial for Firefox http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/ Technology News Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:45:09 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Ryan http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133194 Ryan Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:19:17 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133194 <div class="commentquote"><a href="#comment-133104" rel="nofollow">Dave wrote:</a><blockquote>Personally, I never understood what the big deal with speed dial is. I don’t see how it’s any better than a simple bookmark toolbar.</blockquote></div> I find it to be a lot more useful to see a visual interface to my most used bookmarks. I guess it's just a personal preference, but a lot of people who have used Speed Dial before find that they fall in love with it. It's one of those things you just have to give a shot. <div class="commentquote"><a href="#comment-133115" rel="nofollow">Alek Davis wrote:</a><blockquote>OK, from where I stand, Faster Dial has one major problem (again, unless I missed something): its settings seem to be machine-specific. With Symbaloo, I can get my thumbnails from any system (from home, work, etc). It would be nice if Faster Dial could centralize setting so that they get accessible from multiple machines. I kind a like its functionality.</blockquote></div> That's something that Opera 9.5 Beta does, and I'm sure a similar feature will be available in the Firefox extension in the future. Maybe they could set it up to retrieve a specific tag from the Del.icio.us bookmarks or something. Dave wrote:
Personally, I never understood what the big deal with speed dial is. I don’t see how it’s any better than a simple bookmark toolbar.

I find it to be a lot more useful to see a visual interface to my most used bookmarks. I guess it’s just a personal preference, but a lot of people who have used Speed Dial before find that they fall in love with it. It’s one of those things you just have to give a shot.

Alek Davis wrote:
OK, from where I stand, Faster Dial has one major problem (again, unless I missed something): its settings seem to be machine-specific. With Symbaloo, I can get my thumbnails from any system (from home, work, etc). It would be nice if Faster Dial could centralize setting so that they get accessible from multiple machines. I kind a like its functionality.

That’s something that Opera 9.5 Beta does, and I’m sure a similar feature will be available in the Firefox extension in the future. Maybe they could set it up to retrieve a specific tag from the Del.icio.us bookmarks or something.

]]> By: Dkong http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133122 Dkong Sat, 15 Mar 2008 06:41:39 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133122 <div class="commentquote"><a href="#comment-133104" rel="nofollow">Dave wrote:</a><blockquote>Personally, I never understood what the big deal with speed dial is. I don’t see how it’s any better than a simple bookmark toolbar.</blockquote></div> I agree. Though with opera, the bookmarks toolbar is kinda crappy (no middle clicking to open in a new tab...), and the speed dial is just like...right there, so it's pretty effortless to set up. Thus, I use speed dial if I'm using Opera. If I'm not using Opera, then I don't use any of the other copy cats. Dave wrote:
Personally, I never understood what the big deal with speed dial is. I don’t see how it’s any better than a simple bookmark toolbar.

I agree. Though with opera, the bookmarks toolbar is kinda crappy (no middle clicking to open in a new tab…), and the speed dial is just like…right there, so it’s pretty effortless to set up.
Thus, I use speed dial if I’m using Opera. If I’m not using Opera, then I don’t use any of the other copy cats.

]]> By: Alek Davis http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133115 Alek Davis Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:49:17 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133115 OK, from where I stand, Faster Dial has one major problem (again, unless I missed something): its settings seem to be machine-specific. With Symbaloo, I can get my thumbnails from any system (from home, work, etc). It would be nice if Faster Dial could centralize setting so that they get accessible from multiple machines. I kind a like its functionality. OK, from where I stand, Faster Dial has one major problem (again, unless I missed something): its settings seem to be machine-specific. With Symbaloo, I can get my thumbnails from any system (from home, work, etc). It would be nice if Faster Dial could centralize setting so that they get accessible from multiple machines. I kind a like its functionality.

]]> By: Alek Davis http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133112 Alek Davis Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:12:28 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133112 Fred Thompson: Great, Fred! Indeed I did not realize this. Thank you for the hint. Now it looks very enticing. :) Fred Thompson: Great, Fred! Indeed I did not realize this. Thank you for the hint. Now it looks very enticing. :)

]]> By: Fred Thompson http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133109 Fred Thompson Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:03:34 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133109 Alex Davis, you probably didn't see the group function for the thumbnails. That lets you define a thumbnail as a pointer to a different screen of thumbnails. Use that with the custom icon option for a thumbnail and you can have what you describe, different sets of thumbnails for different locations or tasks. You could have, for example, a custom icon that's a photo of your workplace and enable the "group" checkbox in the properties for that thumbnail. I've got a 5x3 setup (widescreen monitors) in which the first 4 of each row are the most common per category and the right-most links to a page for the less-commonly used shortcuts. The thumbnails are a great way to quickly see what is updated. The earlier comment about RSS might work for some people, I'm more visually oriented so thumbnails work great. The only drawback I see to Fast Dial is the lack of scrolling in the thumbnails. SnapFiles.com has such a huge amount of static junk at the top of the page that the thumbnail is useless. Guess I'll finally have to start using GreaseMonkey to trim the fat from SnapFiles... Alex Davis, you probably didn’t see the group function for the thumbnails. That lets you define a thumbnail as a pointer to a different screen of thumbnails. Use that with the custom icon option for a thumbnail and you can have what you describe, different sets of thumbnails for different locations or tasks. You could have, for example, a custom icon that’s a photo of your workplace and enable the “group” checkbox in the properties for that thumbnail. I’ve got a 5×3 setup (widescreen monitors) in which the first 4 of each row are the most common per category and the right-most links to a page for the less-commonly used shortcuts. The thumbnails are a great way to quickly see what is updated. The earlier comment about RSS might work for some people, I’m more visually oriented so thumbnails work great. The only drawback I see to Fast Dial is the lack of scrolling in the thumbnails. SnapFiles.com has such a huge amount of static junk at the top of the page that the thumbnail is useless. Guess I’ll finally have to start using GreaseMonkey to trim the fat from SnapFiles…

]]> By: Alek Davis http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133106 Alek Davis Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:20:03 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133106 This looks like Symbaloo, but seems a bit easier to use (i.e. adding and changing thumbnails). The problem with Fast Dial is that it always loads thumbnails when I open a new tab, and it may not necessarily be what I want. Also, there is no way to have multiple sets of thumbnails. For example, in Symbaloo, I can define a special tab with thumbnails for sites I use at work (which are not accessible outside of the corporate Intranet) and home, I can have a group for shopping, news, etc. With Fast Dial, there is only one set, and it's a bit limiting. It would be nice if the set of thumbnails could be customized for specific location or task. This looks like Symbaloo, but seems a bit easier to use (i.e. adding and changing thumbnails). The problem with Fast Dial is that it always loads thumbnails when I open a new tab, and it may not necessarily be what I want. Also, there is no way to have multiple sets of thumbnails. For example, in Symbaloo, I can define a special tab with thumbnails for sites I use at work (which are not accessible outside of the corporate Intranet) and home, I can have a group for shopping, news, etc. With Fast Dial, there is only one set, and it’s a bit limiting. It would be nice if the set of thumbnails could be customized for specific location or task.

]]> By: Dave http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133104 Dave Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:45:36 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133104 Personally, I never understood what the big deal with speed dial is. I don't see how it's any better than a simple bookmark toolbar. Personally, I never understood what the big deal with speed dial is. I don’t see how it’s any better than a simple bookmark toolbar.

]]> By: Fred Thompson http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133101 Fred Thompson Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:15:57 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133101 I agree with Jake. homepagestartup.com is garbage. It gives someone else free demographic information, the thumbnails are too small, it's got minimal customization, etc. speed dial has a challenge "playing well with others" and gets confused at times, refusing to actually display the thumbnails. Fast Dial looks pretty good. Thanks. I agree with Jake. homepagestartup.com is garbage. It gives someone else free demographic information, the thumbnails are too small, it’s got minimal customization, etc.

speed dial has a challenge “playing well with others” and gets confused at times, refusing to actually display the thumbnails.

Fast Dial looks pretty good. Thanks.

]]> By: Omar Upegui http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133100 Omar Upegui Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:15:09 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133100 @Jake: Been there. Looks good. Thanks. Regards, Omar.- @Jake:

Been there. Looks good. Thanks.

Regards,

Omar.-

]]> By: Jake http://cybernetnews.com/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/comment-page-1/#comment-133099 Jake Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:56:25 +0000 http://cybernetnews.com/2008/03/14/a-better-speed-dial-for-firefox/#comment-133099 garbage. www.homepagestartup.com garbage. [homepagestartup.com]

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