Digg This New Extension for Firefox
Digg founder Kevin Rose announced a new Firefox 3 extension that brings subtle notifications to your browser. The same add-on also includes an update to the Digg toolbar that shows the number of Diggs and comments the current page has. Rose included a slick video (embedded below) that shows off the functions.
Digg Firefox 3 Extension from Kevin Rose on Vimeo.
The notifications feature is cool for anybody who wants to stay on top of what’s on top. The latest popular item pops up, but only for a few seconds by default. The settings for the Digg notifications are robust, offering category/subcategory choices, options for how the notification looks/acts, and the ability to be shown your friends’ activity.
Several times in his video, Rose mentioned that Digg wants feedback and feature requests from its community. The characteristically chatty crowd hasn’t shied away. The common suggestions matched the shortcomings I see in the extension, too.
The toolbar places itself at the top of your browser window, near the location and bookmarks toolbars. It’s easily hideable via a Digg icon (to the left of the location bar), but it has expanded itself several times today. Worse, it appears the toolbar is immoveable, so I can’t place it at the bottom of my screen, or change its ordering to be above the bookmark toolbar, for example.
Also, the toolbar does little more than my Digg bookmarklet ever did. Clicking “digg it” takes me to the Digg page, where I have to digg it myself. This may be a conscious decision by Digg to either not collect any personal information or discourage spammers.
The notifications are a nice way to get a trickle of news from Digg. I’m skeptical of tools that try to grab my attention, but this one does so in a subtle way. Plus, the conveniently location “Zzz” button provides an easily way to toggle the notifications.
Overall, I’m impressed. I wish every web service provided a tool this easy to take a little bit of a site with me.
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