Have you given more thought to triggers having a link or button render function? Currently you can obvioulsy run a trigger on a field change but it takes 2 to 3 clicks to do that where a button or action link (like for workflow) would only take 1 click. A button or link would also let you run a trigger via a view instead of accessing the record. Seems like it should just be part of the current trigger system.
1. You can render Workflow action as a button.
2. You can create workflow action which will run selected triggers.