Rated 4 out of 5 stars

by crisco44 on Nov. 2, 2008 · permalink

Speed Dial version 0.7.2.5 seriously interferes with the setting of Roboform Passcards in Firefox 3.0.3.

Since writing this review the developer has offered me the next version of Speed Dial namely version 0.7.2.6 for me to test to see if this still causes any issues with Roboform. For the technical users out there I understand that Josep has used "iframe" object instead of "browser" to render the thumbnails in this development version. I can report that this has nearly, but not completely eliminated the problems with Roboform refreshing itself and displaying wrong passcards. When initially loading the computer / Firefox the wrong passcard is presented but this can be overcome by adding what you originally had as the home page to Speed Dial and then including Speed Dial as the home page. Then loading the first page from there seems to clear any issues in this respect.

Before testing 0.7.2.6 I was definitely going to uninstall version 0.7.2.5 and find an alternative but now I have kept version 0.7.2.6 and will continue to evaluate it. I find the program very helpful to me and very well written.

I think there could be more direct help links and tutorials from the Speed Dial program itself without having to find the homepage link and looking for the manual. At times I find the manual lacking in sufficient detail and layman’s language when I do not understand what to do. I think a whole lot more information could be added to “Tips & Tricks”.

One piece of advice that Josep offered me with regard to “refresh stealing focus” was to tick the box “disable JavaScript in the background browser” (Advanced/ Other).
Because I am not technically minded I do not understand the implications of this. It does not disable Javascript in the Firefox browser from the tests that I carried out but so far it has certainly seemed to help the “focus” problem. I will have to wait and see.

I find the flexibility of adding thumbnail pictures very good but a bit hit and miss and difficult to understand at times. Getting the crop / size combination right can be tricky. In the end I was able to produce meaningful thumbnail pictures that are a pleasure to use but I am still at a loss to understanding the thumbnail picture pixel sizing and its effect.

I have only been using this program for a day or so and have still to get to grips with all that it has to offer. With its numerous features and lack of detailed help it is going to take me some time yet.

In view of what this new development version has to offer I am changing my original 1 star rating to 4 stars. I hope you find this review of more help than the previous one. The developer Josep is certainly very helpful and responsive to any issues that have been raised.

When this new version is released I would certainly recommend that you give it a try.

Good luck.
David