The one and ONLY thing I like about the Opera browser is its ’speed dial’ feature, where you can click on thumbnails of websites and be taken to those sites immediately. I loved having my favourite websites on the screen as pictures that I could just click with my mouse. So a few weeks back, I decided to see if there was a similar function available for Firefox. I finally settled upon Fast Dial, speed dial for Firefox. I now love it so much I can’t live without it.
Upon installing it, Fast Dial then lives in your blank Firefox tabs. You can insert any of your favourite sites inside each of the boxes (there is space for up to 100 sites if you fiddle around with the customization options) and when you insert the URL, a thumbnail picture of the site then appears. Any of the boxes are easily editable if you want to change the URL later or update the thumbnail picture.
You can also change the background colour to anything you want. The default colour of the home screen is white but I changed mine to black. You can also change the size of the boxes, the number of the boxes….everything is customizable.
Another very nice feature is a right-click option on each Firefox tab which says “add to Fast Dial”. So if you are on a website and you decide that this should go into your Fast Dial, just right-click on the tab and choose “add to Fast Dial”. The next time you go to your Fast Dial page, you’ll see the page there.
I absolutely love this extension because I have been able to get all my frequently used webpages all in the same place in a nice easy-to-view arrangement. I have found my productivity much higher as a result because no longer do I need to go searching through bookmark folders looking for links and no longer do I have to sit there and tediously type out URL’s. Now all I have to do is open a new tab and click on the thumbnail for the page I am looking for.
It works perfectly. This extension should be built into Firefox as a default feature and everyone should use it! There’s no better time-saver! Plus it looks very cool on the screen - I’ve lost count of the number of people who have stopped to gaze in awe at it - “where did you get that screen?!” 
Install it and try it! Right-click on the Fast Dial window, go into the options and customize it to just the way you want it! I guarantee you won’t want to let it go afterwards!
(By) Mark O'Neill is a freelance writer, blogger and the editor of Make Use Of. Check out his blog at Better Than Therapy.
Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to MakeUseOf and get daily updates about new cool websites and programs in your email for free. Plus get free cheat sheets to your favorite programs.
Filed Under: Browser
Tags: addons, browser tips, firefox tips, speed dial, start pages
I suppose the one thing in Opera you like is better than NOTHING I like it that bloated piece of garbage browser FireFox.
Why so Serious?
although I have portable Firefox, I dont always have it with me, so instead of fast dial, i use the online version of it:
http://www.hyperigo.com/
does the same, and I have my frequently used bookmarks with visuals.
Ya know its amazing that another app can come up w/ true innovation and get ignored yet just cause its firefox everyone is like “yeah thats great”. I’m seeing a trend of everything Opera does mozilla seems to pick up and do. Why not have thier own innovation and creativity, rather than re-inventing the wheel. Guess Opera will get raped again…..
i gave the FF add-on a shot, and it didn’t work so well for me: it made my browser address bar non-functional. the idea is cool, but it seems a little buggy yet.
It made your browser address bar non-functional? In what way?
The extension isn’t buggy for me so I am puzzled as to why you are having problems. I’d like to help if I can.
i set it up per the instructions, which worked great. then i accessed a URL that was not in my bookmarks, and it stuck. the URL stopped changing, no matter where I actually went. kinda bizarre. glad it works for you though - it’s definitely a fab idea.
I went to plugin page on Mozilla’s website and checked user comments. The extension seem to work fine for most, so I guess the problem is on ur end.
I became aware of speed dial with my Opera browser, but soon after that I visited Firefox add-ons and discovered Fast Dial. This add-on works perfectly for me. I wish that Opera would offer more than just nine (9) speed dial bookmark spaces. Does anyone know of how I might get a larger speed dial feature for Opera? Or if Firefox’s add-on will work for Opera?