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Photo © steeev
If you don't know about it already, Greasemonkey is a browser extension for Mozilla Firefox that enables users to customize how Web sites display on their computers. Once Greasemonkey has been installed, "user scripts" enable changes to the elements of Web pages.
Trust me, it's really cool.
Actually, don't trust me .. Go try it yourself!
There are already over 120 user scripts written for flickr.com, adding all manner of functionality from geotagging and enhanced text editing to changing the site's background colour from white to black.
Nearly 30 of these scripts have been written by steeev, a flickr user with a talent for innovating site functionality from the outside in.
His most recent script, "Flickr Contacts Organiser", allows you to tag your contact list, creating additional categories beyond "friends","family" and "contacts". It is a truly beautiful addition to the flickr interface which inspired me to contact steeev with some questions about flickr, greasemonkey and how the two fit together.
In the grand scheme of things I don't think my scripts are that popular at all, judging by the number of downloads of the scripts. I guess its due to the dominance of Internet Explorer and the reluctance of people to try out new and unfamiliar technologies. Though having said that, out of all my scripts I guess the most popular would be the Multi Group Sender one. My own favourite one would be a tie between the "multi group sender" one and the "group pool admin: warn + delete" one.
The "recent" flickr gamma changes broke a lot of my scripts, but it didn't take much work to get them working again. Anyway, nothing lasts forever, and I wonder if the possibility has entered flickr's mind that my work might one day render it obsolete! j/k LOL. Actually the situation reminds me of the song/story "the wise man built his house upon the rock, the foolish man built his house upon the sand". I guess writing GM scripts is like building your house on sand, and I must be totally retarded. I guess the obvious answer to the dilemma is for me to try and get a job at Flickr or Zooomr or some other such site! LOL
I think flickr is a really well designed and coded site, which makes it quite easy to add GM enhancements. As to whether or not Flickr are happy with the GM situation, remains to be seen, as far as I know, they havent released any official comment on it as of now. Although they do link to the "Flickr Hacks" group, where most of the GM scripts are posted to, in the list of "Groups We've Noticed" so perhaps that is an unofficial acknowledgment and endorsement. Another reason may be that they don't tend to make changes to the site that frequently, so you can release a script and know that you wont have to keep updating it constantly to keep up with the changes, which would be really annoying.
I've got a few other script ideas floating about, but you will just have to wait and see. I'm also planning on adding some new features to some of my existing scripts.
Everyone should check out "Greased Lightbox". It's really cool, and I like the way Zooomr have integrated it into their site. If someone could modify Greased Lightbox to work that way on Flickr it would be even cooler.
My favourite things about flickr are the amazing images, and getting to know cool people from around the world, and the general spirit of fun in the community.
Otherwise, in Interviews:
Utata Ink is a daily publication edited by Bryan Partington (striatic). Photos used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and obtained via the flickr API unless otherwise noted. To make a contribution to Ink, please visit Ink Me.
