asides: productivity issue 3

Asides is an occasional feature in which I post interesting tools and links I've recently discovered. I've started grouping them in categories.  You can find them all by clicking on the category archive for Blogs, links, and the like.

This edition is the third collection of lifehacks and productivity links.

• In my Firefox extension issue of Asides, I introduced a handy extension that lets you highlight text on a web page.  I really like doing this if I'm reading some type of article that I'd like to summarize (here on Bootstrap for example); highlighting text on the screen is much easier than printing the page then highlighting.  Alas, Text Marker does not work in Firefox 1.5+.  I now use Highlighter instead.
• Another great Firefox extension that saves time when filling out forms, etc. is Clippings. Allows you to access and add frequently used text snippets from your right-click menu.
• TagFetch -- One search for news, bookmarks, blogs, and/or media tagged with the term of your choice.  Nice, clean, and fast. Mini-review at Webby's World.
• Haven't tried Gliffy yet, but it looks very cool.  Create flow charts, floor plans, and many other types of diagrams with this web- and Flash-based tool.  Share, put on web pages, etc.  Review at Solution Watch.
• ASAP Utilities for Excel has 300 of shortcuts to automate tasks -- many of which I didn't even know existed.  You don't even have to remember where to find them on the easy drop-down menu: you can add them to a "favorites" menu item.  And best of all, it's free.

Comments

[Natarajan]

You might be interested in Web Marker (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2679) a Firefox extension that you lets you mark (highlight) web pages and share them with others using URLs :)

[Nuthatch]

Oooh, this looks even better!

Folks -- in order for other people to see the text you've highlighted, the receiver has to have the extension installed, too. Do it! This is such a good idea it should be a standard browser feature.

[Jenn]

Thanks for this! Clippings is an excellent extension for doing repeated, frequent and extensive tagging of photos in Flickr.

[Pam in Tucson]

This is invaluable. Thanks so much for posting it.