I’ve compiled a list of a few apps that have significantly changed the way I do things online, whether at work, blogging or browsing. Whether I’m searching for information, referencing media or managing my workload these little applications have completely changed the way I go about a particular task or project:

Screenjelly

Screenjelly revolutionised the way I could share online ads

So I see an online ad that inspires me to write on this blog or show to a colleague or client. But of course you can’t save a flash ad from the page easily in a format that shows you it’s full capability. Screenjelly lets you record what’s happening on your screen quickly and easily, allowing me to record ads (particularly useful for showcasing expandable and video formats) but crucially also record a click, the landing page and the journey beyond.

+ simple to use, you can log in with your twitter account

- quality not great for recording fast moving video or flash, java app can be slow

Twhirl

Probably nothing new to many but Twhirl is the best Twitter client I’ve found for me. Most of that is down to it catering expertly for multiple accounts, vital as I have my personal twitter account plus I manage most of the tweeting for the blog me and 2 mates run, Real-Ale-Reviews.com.

The ability to keep tweets separate in two windows and the easy to use buttons for the various sections of Twitter: @replies, DMs, search, followers etc make Twhirl great to use. It lacks the ability to sort your incoming tweets by custom filters as TweetDeck does, but that’s no great loss for me personally.

+ multiple accounts easy; small, attractive interface; not just Twitter either

- no complaints from me; no list compatibility…yet

Charles

I’ve no experience of another debugging tool, but Charles is a beauty. Officially it’s a web debugging or HTTP proxy – it allows you to view what’s happening in the background when you view and interact with a web page, helping developers find errors and get them sorted.

Charles HTTP proxy lets you see behind the rendering of a website page

It has other practical uses though. We recently saw some of our clients’ ads on a site we didn’t expect to see them. With Charles installed we clicked on the ads, recorded all the page interactions and browser requests and identified firstly, our ad sever, then the publishers ad server and the ad servers of our network partners. Some quick deduction and the culprit was spotted and the ads swiftly removed (with a ticking off!). Charles saved hours of wrangling with media partners over who had served it (they were all run of network blind buys so if no-one had owned up we had trouble).

It’s hugely useful for understanding how the internet actually works each time you load a page. It regularly amazes me how many people who work in online media roles fundamentally don’t understand what the internet is and how it renders information.

+ easy to save sessions and turn recording on and off

- licensed, not free

Readefine

Readefine makes browsing regular blogs easy - but doesn't detract from actually going there to comment

Whilst I can’t say I prefer using Readefine to reading posts on the actual blogs, Readefine does help me not miss new blog posts. It’s billed as an Adobe AIR application which makes it easier to read blogs. This isn’t it’s strongpoint for me though, I revel in the ability to login via Google Reader and easily check out the latest posts from blogs I love to read. I follow quite a few, which makes trawling them all a ridiculous task.

Using Readefine I can scan the latest articles and select the ones that I want to visit and perhaps comment on. Readefine doesn’t stop me visiting blogs that I would have visited, it enhances my ability to see more blogs and actually increase the amount of blogs that I comment on as I find posts I would have otherwise missed.

Whilst Google Reader and RSS may be being overtaken somewhat by social media as a source of news, Readefine has given me a reason to use RSS and I’m looking forward to a long relationship with it by my side.

+ free, saves lots of time trawling blogs

- slightly odd navigation, lack of filtering options

Four apps, not all new, but ones that make a genuine difference whilst at work and play.  Some honourable mentions should go to DropBox for file storage (which I’ve been recommend so many times and started using this week), Minitask (simple as hell ‘To Do’ list app for your desktop, but rightly so) and MoTweets, the only twitter client worth bothering with if you have a Windows Mobile phone (the only negative of my HTC HD2 being the scantily populated Windows Marketplace app store).

If you have other suggestions please comment and let me know about them!

This post was 100% inspired by James Poulters “5 Web Apps I would never be without in 2010“, well worth a read (I’ve been trying Focus Booster today!)