Flickr Enhancements - Best Tools Available

My name is Doug88888 and I'm a Flickr-holic.

It does feel like an addiction. The highs and the lows. But, if I am going to spend half my life roaming around in Flickr, I have at least found some tools to make the experience as productive as possible.

There are loads of tools out there to enhance your Flickr user experience. Below is a list of the ones I use everyday. The best news is they are all free to everyone.

Firefox
Whether you currently use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mac's Safari, seriously consider switching to Firefox. Why? Because you can then load add-ons that interact directly with Flickr. These will save you time and add to your enjoyment.

Download it first to make the most out of its features. Its free and easy like all good things.

GreaseMonkey
Think of GreaseMonkey as a gateway to Flickr add-ons. Install it right after Firefox. Once installed, there are loads of scripts available to enhance all kinds of websites, but especially Flickr.

Flickr Auto Page
Scrolling through page after page in Flickr can be a real drag. Once you have Firefox and GreaseMonkey installed, get this next. The script automatically adds every page related to a photostream so you can scroll straight through each page without clicking anything. Neat.

Flickr Ad Removal
Another GreaseMonkey script. If you hate being bothered by adverts, get this.

Flickr Move Comments Box Up
Have you ever noticed how much time you spend scrolling to the bottom of a photo's page to leave your glowing comment. This GreaseMonkey script shifts the Comments box up so its directly under the photo. Invaluable!

Flickr PM
This nifty little Greasehelper adds icons for Mail, Profile, Favourites, Scout, Interestingness, DNA and the user's photo archive next to usernames in forums and on individual photo pages.

Flickr Cross Recommendations
Under every picture you view, this adds thumbnails of other pictures fave'd by people who have fave'd this picture. A great way of finding other pictures you might like, and also allows you to play the Flickr Fave's game.

Cool Iris
This tool is an incredible way to view Flickr images. Once downloaded, hover your mouse on any Flickr image on someone's photostream, a small box and arrow icon will appear. Click on this and you are rushed into a new world of viewing pleasure via Cool Iris. This allows you, using a very intuitive interface, to fly through all the images on that page. Click on any you like to go to their individual Flickr page. With Flickr Auto Page installed, this means you can view a persons whole photostream, or all of their favourites in one go. Tip - use it on your own favourites to view your own personal art gallery - don't you have great taste!

The Explore list
This brilliant site lets you see the entire current top 500 photos on Flickr - the Explore list or the Interestingness list. A really swift way of catching up on what's been going on, and looking for your own pics! A fabulous feature of this is it allows you to comment on pictures directly, rather than going through Flickr. A wonderful shortcut - but remember, with great power comes great responsibility - resist the urge to write "Great Shot" next to all 500 pictures.

An alternative to Dackr is FlickrRiver, which has some of its own unique features.

Flickr DNA
This wonderful tool allows you to see, amoungst other things, whether any of your pictures have made it into Explore. BigHugeLabs do loads of other great Flickr stuff, which is worth experimenting with, but DNA is invaluable. You can easily check out other people's DNA too - here's mine.

These are the extras I use everyday - and I think they are helping me to overcome my addiction. Now to move onto another one...








Let me know if any of these links don't work for you. All the best.