Team Up

May 9, 2011 · by Espen André Øverdahl

An idea can change everything. Especially if it gets executed.

In Opera 11.50, Speed Dial will come alive with support for installing extensions as Speed Dials. We want to have a rich catalog with a lot of really great extensions, and we have a contest in mind...

Wait... Repeat that for me, please

This is the challenge:

Come up with the best idea for a Speed Dial extension.
Make the best development of that idea.

This means that "normal" non-developer-people can also win something along with the developers.

How to get started

Not a developer? - List your ideas below in the comments section, and hope to be teamed up with a developer to execute it.

Developer? - If you see an idea from a user you think that you can create, send him a private message and ask to team up. If you got the idea on your own, then nothing is stopping you from starting to develop it.

Prizes

It pays to be first! The first 10 Speed Dial extensions that get submitted and approved into Opera Add-ons catalog will get an Opera laptop sleeve and stickers - each for the developer and non-developer.

At the end of the contest, the best extension as picked out by members of the Opera jury will win the grand prize. The grand prize is $1000 USD for the developer, and $250 USD for the user who suggests the idea and is partnered with the developer. If your team has multiple developers and users, the prize will have to be shared between them.

Guidelines

Get an overview on how to develop Opera extensions.
Or skip to learning how to make Speed Dial extensions.
Then submit your Speed Dial extensions at the Opera Add-ons catalog.

Rules

Contestants must be of legal age or have parental consent. Opera jury's decision will remain final. Contest starts on May 09 2011 and ends on June 24 2011 at 09:00 CET.

We will have a jury consisting of Opera employees represented from design, marketing and engineering departments to evaluate all entries.

Readers' comments 100

Left under the original article, as archived; 2 pages of comments could not be recovered.

TamilMonday, May 9, 2011 1:58:45 PM
A Speed Dial extension to monitor specified region.

Preview of Gmail inbox (recent 3-5 mails).
Jon PackerMonday, May 9, 2011 1:58:55 PM
Are extensions submitted before the 9th included in the contest?
agresiffMonday, May 9, 2011 1:59:32 PM
Off-Topic comment removed.
Michael TaMonday, May 9, 2011 2:00:19 PM
I have an idea, using one of the box of speed dial for quick info, like RSS, or weather info and stuff like that quick mail even
Sagar ChandnaMonday, May 9, 2011 2:05:19 PM
Originally posted by jonpacker:

Are extensions submitted before the 9th included in the contest?

Sure!

That makes you one of the early bird winners as well.
wkonckiMonday, May 9, 2011 2:06:30 PM
I sooooo want calendar paired with google calendar or msn one. That would make my life easier :3
AlekseyMonday, May 9, 2011 2:08:45 PM
Ok. start generating some idea. Not usual and very interesting.
If refresh every 1 minutes you can receive on speed dial twitter line on some popular theme, or receive count your new mail's in left? in right weather, in bottom live score your favor team.
pengbo nickMonday, May 9, 2011 2:09:47 PM
Oh please..this is a must have for speed dial extensions.
The ability to put number of unchecked mails in the speed dial box or simply having a new mail notification. like for example hotmail or gmail. it not only displays the webpage or icon. (BTW Opera. please have the option of choosing preview or icon) but also displays the number of unchecked mails. would be very very useful. thanks.
born2c0deMonday, May 9, 2011 2:13:05 PM
Here's some ideas:
1) GMail Extension: Number of unread emails should be shown in Speed Dial (SD).
2) Facebook Ext.: Number of new notifications shown in SD.
3) Flight Status : Airline Status (before-take off) and Flight Position (in-air) shown in SD.
4) Top 5 YouTube videos of the week (General or any category) shown similar to BBC RSS feed extension.
5) Google Calendar Ext.: Show the latest OR next 5 events from the current time in SD.
6) Ebay extension: The current auction price of an item of Ebay updated in near-realtime in SD.
7) Last.fm Ext. : Show custom Badges based on total songs scrobbled in SD.
8) Live Sports Scores: Display the live scores of any game Football, Cricket etc.
9) Stocks ext. : Display the stock value for a company in SD. near-realtime.
10) Pingdom ext. : Display Website Uptime/Downtime information in SD.

Update: For ideas 1, 5 and 8, previous user comments have beat me to it.
Julian Salas LópezMonday, May 9, 2011 2:14:18 PM
Great contest!

I have some ideas in mind like:

* The possibility of customize adding a image if you want instead of the page preview and change the background color too. (because no all sites aren't optimizing their styles for speed Dial).

* Have groups of different Speed Dial, for example you can make a speed dial for social networks, another for sport sites, another for Opera pages and so on. So the idea is create different catalogs of Speed Dial

* The possibility of drag and drop tabs to the Speed Dial for make Dials.

* A short cut like the Ctrl+D for add the current page to Speed Dial.

* Change the static appearance of speed Dial this is present the dials no just in vertically, a carousel, a sideshow, wall, stack, etc will look excellent.

*Change the color of the background.

* Pop up a small preview of the page when user hover the pointer on one Dial as Opera do with the tabs.

* Dial Staking: group dials like tab staking.

* A special Speed Dial that show you currently Open tabs, where you can manage its and even save as a session.

Well that are my ideas I'm just starting to learn how to create Speed Dial extensions but I don't have enough time . Any way hope be useful for someone

All the best and let's coding!
MariosMonday, May 9, 2011 2:16:20 PM
idea: speed dial folder, for those who want to have their bookmarks organized in the speed dial in categories/folders.

edit: Julian Salas López wrote a similar idea first
grotosMonday, May 9, 2011 2:18:22 PM
1. I don't know if it is possible, but maybe some Opera shortcuts: for example refreshing feeds with one click (usefull especially in full screen mode)
2. Notification (a list) of today's events from google calendar/...
3. Something which notifies when there is a change on specific site: you give an url, it is refreshed every X minutes and then displays some massage when there is a change
jottossonMonday, May 9, 2011 2:19:32 PM
Mod edit: This is a contest for Speed Dial extensions, not for how Speed Dial itself works.
Paweł PawlakMonday, May 9, 2011 2:20:01 PM
Maybe some "combo-extension" that shows number of unread e-mails (for example on Gmail), tweets, facebook (chat & messages), rss feeds etc.? It would be nice to put it into one box in speed dial, to save some place...
Maybe some clock with an alarm? Or maybe even some sticky notes with a "todo" list?
......TrAsErA......Monday, May 9, 2011 2:21:22 PM
i think it should have the following spped dial
¤ gmail with status
¤yahoo,msn mail extentn
¤google search
¤my opera
¤facebook
¤twitter
Ler-xMonday, May 9, 2011 2:24:16 PM
Here are some ideas.
1) the opportunity to download someone's speed dial.
2) Possibility to put a picture of your choice for a site.
3) The possibility to remove rows.
khelil koceilaMonday, May 9, 2011 2:25:01 PM
live webcam on speed dial
(msn, yahoo, faceboo, gmail, skype) liste of connected contact
google earth speed search
random web site on the x number of last box from favorit list
show cpu and ram statistics
light up/down sound up/down box
hard drive liste
shootdown/reboot windows or mac
display Opera Unit apps on speed dials
quick add current page on speed dial
Michael TaMonday, May 9, 2011 2:26:02 PM
have some options to change it like top site from safari, or google chrome where your most viewed page is the first, second, third, forth and so on.

Change the design so it can move freely, IE. resizing EACH INDIVIDUAL dial box (more personal)
XombieMonday, May 9, 2011 2:31:23 PM
1: Translation and dictionary:
What about a speeddial page that uses translation and dictionary within SpeedDial thumbnail, user enters some text and translation or its meaning appears.

2: Calculator:
Build a speed dial extension with a scientific calculator, so that no need to open windows calculator, user enters and get results within speeddial.

("I am not a developer")
leonmcgMonday, May 9, 2011 2:32:40 PM
an extension that lets you view a list such as
your twitter feed
your facebook feed
popular or subscribed youtube vids
unfortunately i'm not 18 yet so someone can just go steal my ideas
netmainMonday, May 9, 2011 2:33:51 PM
what about a box in the speed dial that shows recently opened websites " not include those already in the speed dial" one by one, and the possibility to choose the reload time.. and when no "history found" it shows a "history" logo.
rilogMonday, May 9, 2011 2:46:01 PM
What about opening a game like sudoku from a speedial? It's simple
XombieMonday, May 9, 2011 2:47:50 PM
Here goes another one...

Build a chat Gadget for speeddial.

For example gmail, yahoo! So user can login and chat without leaving speeddial.

User can switch between Chat pages.

("I am not a developer")
AlexisMonday, May 9, 2011 2:49:25 PM
A movie sked extension would be great. One that updates as new movies are shown at a certain moviehouse. One that would cycle in the case if moviehouses with multiple screens.

Speed dial image may show the movie poster and screening times.

Non-developer here!
XombieMonday, May 9, 2011 2:50:16 PM
A simple SpeedDial Extension with google page, where user can enter and click the search button and search opens in new page.

("I am not a developer")
Charles SchlossMonday, May 9, 2011 2:50:40 PM
XombieMonday, May 9, 2011 2:53:04 PM
Originally posted by Chas4:

That is a nice idea, Implement a live speed dial page with eyes, that Follows mouse in speddial
(For beauty purposes )

("I am not a developer")
khelil koceilaMonday, May 9, 2011 2:55:04 PM
an app to become the king of the world
(I'm not developer but a futur king)
netmainMonday, May 9, 2011 2:57:15 PM
another one, it's more like rss feed,
SpeedDial Extension shows " All opera teams news, only the last news like: last snapshot for ODT, last dev from Opera core team, last post in choose opera ... etc with the possibility to choose those and add more rss feeds." and including few opera tips

that will really help to fellow all the opera news.

thanks
FavMonday, May 9, 2011 2:59:39 PM
Mod edit: This is a discussion about Speed Dial extensions.
Jon PackerMonday, May 9, 2011 3:04:35 PM
Just a word of advice to those guys coming up with ideas -- as far as I can tell, there is no way to capture mouse input on the speed dial. So things like Sudoku, Scrollable feeds, Chat - anything that requires user input is not possible .

I think the idea is solely to display some information, the only interaction you have is the one click when the user clicks on the tile (although you can direct that click to whatever site you like, so that is an opportunity for creativeness).
khelil koceilaMonday, May 9, 2011 3:11:40 PM
speed dial buddy a little animated carracter who ask us to visit opera website with different animations and text bubble
СергейMonday, May 9, 2011 3:16:13 PM
Online player (or radio) with the mapping of the current track
MichaMonday, May 9, 2011 3:19:31 PM
Hi,

Originally posted by rilog:

What about opening a game like sudoku from a speedial? It's simple

Nice idea. I have a sudoku-script, but how can I get an event (mouse-click, key-down, etc.) from a speedial?

kind regards
СергейMonday, May 9, 2011 3:23:35 PM
Associate the cell Speed Dial with Tasks Manager\ToDo Manager (ToDo works as a normal opera extension). In the cell Speed Dial displays the current and future business.
ThomasMonday, May 9, 2011 3:44:05 PM
A Myopera extension would be good In order to help people to continue to use it. Also a news extension with video support would be cool. (Not a developer but wish I was)
XombieMonday, May 9, 2011 3:53:58 PM

An speedDial Extension showing featureed Youtube video . and clicking can play next video.

("I am not a developer")
SamMonday, May 9, 2011 3:54:35 PM
The ability to execute a script when clicking on a speeddial. Scripts (userJS, greasemonkey?) can be written by users or copied from a database with stuff shared by others. The speeddial would look like a regular one, only with something extra running when opened.

Why have an extension with one objective when you can have one with limitless capabilities?

My two cents.
M.AMonday, May 9, 2011 4:00:35 PM
Non-developper here, my idea is Mini Speed Dials: speed dial stacking. Clicking on a chosen speed dial will show you other speed dials inside of it. Probably dim the light in the background and show the mini dials.
Edit: when is it useful:
Say you go to reddit, you can have mini dials set for different subreddits, main page, top per day etc...
This can be applied to many websites and I really hope someone picks it up.
Juan Francisco GiordanaMonday, May 9, 2011 4:14:59 PM
Who is the illustrator that makes these: http://files.myopera.com/EspenAO/files/teamup.jpg

Barracuda and Swordfish logos are also that awesome. He/She deserves a well deserved post!
SondeckisMonday, May 9, 2011 4:35:11 PM
Is it possible to make an universal song "reader" from any Internet radio - listen.pls ?
Universal Song "reader" from any Internet radio

or

A quote from WikiQuote
DeyanMonday, May 9, 2011 4:37:21 PM
Speed Dial Stacking feature.

maybe this idea, time ago, will suit here better:
http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=862732&t=1304959709&page=1#comment8223082
something like main_dial with sub_dials after mouse hold or else ...

+1 for Malek Damaj
d4rkn1ghtMonday, May 9, 2011 6:07:01 PM
Mod edit: Off-topic comment removed.
ヒュイ・ブレインMonday, May 9, 2011 6:14:14 PM
How about an extension that gives multiple previews of a website that also updates while in the process? It would be great for news websites such as Engadget and MSNBC and such. Each preview could be a few seconds long then it would fade into another preview. The previews could also be activated by either mousing over them or by having them all go at once. And for a slow connection, it could be disabled by either disabling itself (like how Opera Turbo enables itself) or by clicking on the configuration logo in the Speed Dial.
Granko AntonMonday, May 9, 2011 7:06:14 PM
Make 64-bit build
Jon DunfeeMonday, May 9, 2011 7:19:51 PM
1) Tabbed groups of dials (personal, work, gaming, etc..)
2) Makeup of dials representing the currently open tabs/windows.
KryptoKnightMonday, May 9, 2011 7:25:56 PM
Ability to play video clips (youtube, etc.) in speed dials, similarly to Windows 7 DreamScene, only in small little previews It could become a dynamic collage of videos, w00t!
Докучаев КонстантинMonday, May 9, 2011 7:26:09 PM
Originally posted by michaelta315:

I have an idea, using one of the box of speed dial for quick info, like RSS, or weather info and stuff like that quick mail even

this extensions are exist already
Докучаев КонстантинMonday, May 9, 2011 7:28:25 PM
Weather Extension for this site http://www.foreca.com (I really need to know weather hour by hour)
KryptoKnightMonday, May 9, 2011 7:30:11 PM
Also, extension to update social networking statuses (twitter, facebook, etc.) in speed dial previews.

Also, an extension with an actual live preview of a site could be useful, so you can do scrolling, clicking, entering info, etc. directly via a dial.