[ext] Fast Dial 2.1 for Firefox

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Old telega
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

[ext] Fast Dial 2.1 for Firefox

Post by Old telega »

Fast Dial replaces blank tabs with a panel of thumbnails of your favorite sites.
Home site: http://userlogos.org/extensions/fastdial

New in version 2.x:
  • Works only in Firefox 3
  • Fast Dial bookmarks are stored as Firefox bookmarks (Bookmark Menui > Fast Dial subfolder). Thus it's possible to manage Fast Dial bookmarks using Firefox Bookmark Manager and Bookmark Sidebar.
  • Every folder (group) has its own URL. Thus it's possible to open several different folders in different tabs simultaneously, which wasn't possible in FD 1.x. Folder thumbnails display folder contents.
  • Appearance can be specified for each folder individulally.
  • Every thumbnail can have arbitrary keyboard shortcut
  • Maximum 3 thumbnails are refreshed simultaneously, thus preventing loading failures on slow internet connections.
  • Conflict with WebDeveloper extension is fixed.
Adding new bookmark to Fast Dial (two ways):
  • Open site you want to add in a tab. Then double-click "star" icon in browser address bar - bookmark properties dialog appears. Select "Fast Dial" folder in this dialog and click OK. That's it, bookmarks is added.
  • Open site you want to add int a tab. Then switch to Fast Dial tab, click an empty cell - thumbnail Properties dialog appears. URL field has a drop-down with a list of sites currently opened in tabs. Select the site from list and click OK. Bookmark is added.
Other features:
  • Check "Folder" checkbox in thumbnail Properties dialog to create folders
  • Drag-n-drop a thumbnail to change its position. Alternatively use Bookmark Manager (menu Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks) or Bookmark Sidebar (Ctrl+B) to manage bookmarks.
  • Move mouse over top-right thumbnail corner for popup buttons (Delete/Refresh/Properties) to pop up.
  • Left click thumbnail and hold mouse button to see zoomed image
  • Ctrl+right click thumbnail to open Firefox context menu
Last edited by Old telega on August 25th, 2008, 2:15 am, edited 28 times in total.
Tuxman
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Post by Tuxman »

What's "simple" here?
Old telega
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

There already exists one Speed Dial extension. I didn't know how to name mine, so named it "simple". Is anything wrong with it?
Tuxman
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Post by Tuxman »

Ah, so it's another extension, not a light version of the "original" Speed Dial? Confusing name, then!
Old telega
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

OK, any idea how to name it? Maybe "Fast" or jus "Simple Dial" ?
Lost User 172044
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Lost User 172044 »

I tink that a good name for that is Visual thumbnails links or Homepage thumbnails or Thumbnails bookmarks..

Cya
Last edited by Lost User 172044 on September 19th, 2007, 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Old telega
Posts: 4
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

Let it be Fast Dial for now. I've already renamed it.
Old telega
Posts: 4
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

Version 1.3:
- Added toolbar button
Old telega
Posts: 4
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

Version 1.4:
- It was impossible to refresh next image, while previous is refreshing, now it's possible.
- Added image titles. If title isn't specified it's automatically taken from the page being loaded.
- Now images are resized when browser window is resized.
- Now Fast Dial opens only in blank pages (not in iframes).
- Added frames with rounded corners.
Known problems:
- If image title is wider than the image width, then title is displayed multiline and a scrollbar appears.
ArtifexAmando
Posts: 81
Joined: May 10th, 2005, 6:20 am

Post by ArtifexAmando »

Hi!

This extension's concept is great!

I first encountered this concept in IE with the IE7Pro add-on - http://www.ie7pro.com/ - in which it is called "Easy Homepage". Could I request that you look at their version of this concept, and perhaps make your extension more like it, because it is more graphically attractive and has more options than your extension at the moment?

Thanks!


· Artifex ·
Old telega
Posts: 4
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

I've just discovered that yesterday I forgot to put new version 1.4 to AMO site. If you have donloaded Fast Dial from AMO, please see the new version.

I first saw this concept in Opera and liked it very much. I've downloaded IE7Pro and tried it - it's much like the Opera's speed dial. Could you specify what features would you like to see most?
Also there's a discussion of desired Fast Dial functionality in a russian forum, you may take a look if you like, here

Update: what I didn't like in IE7Pro - it doesn't preserve width/height ratio of images, so they look too much stretched horizontally on my screen (I have 1280/800 resolution).
Old telega
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

Version 1.5:
- Image titles are now clipped if they are too wide
- Added possibility to specify number of images (width/height)
- Lightgray frames are drawn even for inactive images
Old telega
Posts: 4
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old telega »

Version 1.6:
- Drag-n-drop of images
- Verdana font
- Tooltip shown when mouse is over image title
- Drop-down lists of values in preferences + dynamic page update on prefs change
- Saved images are now of size 200x150 points (was 400х300)

Version 1.7:
- Ability to specify thumbnail size in preferences
telega
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Post by telega »

Version 1.9:
- Changed the way image preferences are stored, in order not to clutter up FF preferences file. Unfortunatelly, this means that old FD preferences will not work, you even may want to open "about:config" and remove all prefs regarding "fastdial".
- Added option "Refresh on visit" - refreshes page's thumbnail when you visit the page
- FD now isn't shown when FF is loading previously saved tabs or when new browser window is opened
- Seems the following error is fixed now: "Error: doc.styleSheets[0] has no properties"
telega
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Post by telega »

Version 1.10:
- Added "Refresh on timeout" preference for thumbnails. If timeout refresh is specified for a thumbnail, it's also refreshed on browser start.
- Clicking on an empty image opens "Set URL" dialog
- "Alt + number" keyboard shortcuts open assigned URLs
- "Loading" icon is shown when a thumbnail is refreshing. Now you can even drag-n-drop thumbnails while they're refreshing.
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