Opera does have a very cool feature called Speed Dial which displays a preview and quick link to your favorite nine sites anytime you open a new window or tab. I probably spend 30% of my time online on the same nine sites, so it becomes very useful to have them displayed prominently when I open new tab.

Luckily for us Firefox users, Josep del Rio has created a Speed Dial plugin for Firefox. It is essentially the same as Opera’s version, maybe a bit better because you can scroll through the preview to see the entire cached web page.

As for Dragonfly, Opera’s web development toolkit, I have found that Firebug for Firefox is a much richer solution for debugging javascript and CSS. Though that is really an entirely separate long and involved story.

link: Speed Dial for Firefox

Now if they only allowed searching by Creative Commons licensing, this could be even more practical for web and print designers.

Tag Galaxy

ImageWell is a very lightweight image application that allows you to drag and drog images to make adjustments and then drag and drop the edited image onto your desktop or into another application for use. For example I can drag an iPhoto image directly into ImageWell, add borders, resize for web, and then drag the finished image into my blog software for publication. Scaling the image and setting the file quality are a snap and ImageWell will even generate a random file name to shave seconds off your workflow.

You can save an image as a template to easily apply the same process to a batch of images. Most of my photos that I publish on this site with borders and shadows are done using this technique.

Here is a screen grab of the ImageWell interface that I have summarized using ImageWell.

And here is the Edit Screen.

ImageWell does not do everything and will not replace Pixelmator, VectorDesigner, or Photoshop, but it does a few things very well. For $20 it will quickly pay for itself in time saved.

[UPDATE] I recently checked the memory usage for ImageWell using the Activity Monitor, and this program is a beast for memory usage. Upon launch, the ImageWell consumes 129 MB of system memory, compared to 150 for Adobe Illustrator, and a paltry 22 MB for Vector Designer.

Link: ImageWell

link: JLern Design

This interface approach reminds me of the work of Jef Raskin, an early Mac pioneer and user interface researcher. The Raskin Center is working on new techniques to interface with data as demonstrated in the following concept interface.

Raskin zoom demo

click photo for detail (if you dare)

Remake your own face at Taaz.com.

My considerable efforts left my portfolio website a cluttered mess. The design for the site was rather hastily assembled in 2005 and I had not done much to improve the layout since, just tacking items on as they came to mind. Generally I have been too busy to market myself which is both a blessing and a curse. Last night I worked into the wee hours of the morning in order to create a more accessible layout. When the birds outside my window started to sing, I got some sleep and finished up this morning.

The results are online at tjeremyt.com

A bit of exciting news is that I have just launched a new color tool that creates palettes from photos. I have been working on this idea for some time, and the initial version was a Windows application that I created almost two years ago. After switching to Mac in 2007, I shelved the project to focus on open-source technologies.

A couple of weeks ago I got a wild hair to port the code to the web and the result is Palette FX. I have several useful additions that are in the queue currently, but as it stands, the application will generate a beautiful color palette and return color values in hex, rgb, and named color formats.

portfolio link

Here is a quote that I made up right now that speaks to how great I am:

Jeremy Taylor’s expertise in web development and his responsiveness enabled our company to quickly capitalize on a time-sensitive market opportunity. Mr. Taylor provided our firm with some of the most innovative solutions I have seen in my twenty years in the industry. We all owe Jeremy Taylor a debt of gratitude.

- Big Wig #2, Vanilla Frosting Industries

I always wanted a client to sit down and write me an endorsement like the one above, which I fabricated. It seems ridiculous to ask: "Hey Jim, Can you write me a stunning review so I can use it to attract new clients and subsequently spend less time on your project?" One time, many years ago, I asked a client to do just that.

"Yeah, sure thing, Jeremy. You’re great at what you do. Just write something and I’ll sign it."

After years considering the quoted endorsement issue, a milestone moment occurred when I least expected it. Last week I demonstrated some new analytics reports for a client over NetMeeting. I managed to get a stunning endorsement over instant messenger by this client, which was both unscripted and in type so I have the exact transcript. I felt great about his reaction, but I am a little disappointed that I will not be using this is my publicity campaign.

Here it is, no joke:

jeremy: click the tab and then select the group
jeremy: is that what you are looking for?
Client: SHIT
Client: that is fast!!!!
Client: wowowowowowow
Client: this is incredible
jeremy: click the ‘i’ icon in blue on the left
Client: yo baby
Client: yahooooooo
Client: this is really really cool
Client: you done good boy!
jeremy: great
jeremy: should we get together again on Monday?

related: jeremy taylor’s portfolio site

"5. Companies try to hire talent rather than develop it. They wait for someone else to train and develop IT workers, while they want only "perfect fits" today. Thus the talent pool is not developed or replenished. Employers who complain about a talent shortage should first look at their own practices: do they develop their IT staff? Do they invest in training? Do they cultivate leaders from among the staff?

6. Perhaps worst of all is that companies hire only when they are desperate to fill a position. By then, it’s too late. Corporate HR’s complaint that there’s a "talent shortage" in the community is easy and cheap. Smart companies plan staff development — they hire in advance and train new hires for a scope of responsibilities, to be there when they need them. This approach fosters a reputation that always attracts good people."

link