Firefox 4 Will Push Edges of Browser Definition 501
Chris Blanc writes "Mozilla Lab's push is to blur the edges of the browser, to make it both more tightly integrated with the computer it's running on, and also more hooked into Web services. So extended, the browser becomes an even more powerful and pervasive platform for all kinds of applications. 'Beard wants the new online/offline, browser/service to be more intelligent on behalf of its users. Early examples of this intelligence include the "awesome bar," which is what Mozilla calls the new smart address bar in Firefox 3. It offers users smart URL suggestions as they type based on Web searches and their prior Web browsing history. He's looking to extend on this with a "linguistic user interface" that lets users type plain English commands into the browser bar. Beard pointed me towards Quicksilver and Enso as products he's cribbing from.'"
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll be switching to Epiphany (Score:1, Interesting)
rewrite html first (Score:2, Interesting)
HTML and all the technology around it did its job. Now it is time to come up with something better.
Re:rewrite html first (Score:2, Interesting)
SeaMonkey (Score:5, Interesting)
So I've switched to SeaMonkey. So long, Firefox. I've used you since the early days when you were known as Phoenix. I shan't be using you any more, given the direction you're heading.
Re:Oh please DON'T (Score:2, Interesting)
Weave is a good idea, but dangerous (Score:5, Interesting)
I also like Prism. I know people like to complain about the bloat of Firefox. It's not like FF has been getting any slower. In fact, through the last 3 beta versions of FF3, it's been getting faster, and the memory usage has actually gone down. What's the big deal?
The primary roadblock at this point is network access. Sometimes I don't have network access on my MacBook, depending where I am (Alaska comes to mind). The ability to continue working on web-based applications, absent of a network, is tantalizing, to say the least. Imagine writing a whole bunch of emails on Gmail, and synchronizing once you get network access. (Like all the stability of Outlook (ha!) and all the continuous service updates of Gmail, rolled into one.)
Hold on... (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd tag this article "dontpanic," but I don't think there is such a tag, plus then I'd be encouraging the use of tags, which are distractingly humorous web-toys at best.
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:3, Interesting)
when the Browser is keeping tabs on sites visited and metadata regarding that AND making that available to the OS and other Apps there is a great many things that can become easy based on your use of the Internet. More than I can mention here, but I'd like to see it. Imagine some mashup apps run locally on what you view, or optionally what others view via a tracking service not entirely unlike del.icio.us that allows you to categorize files on your hard drive also, where the tag clouds are shared, and downloading files uses the tags to organize etc.. as a basic premise.
No, the tags do not have to be shared with the world, and files will still be files, but finding them would be easier than saving everything to the desktop. This is one area that I think has not been sufficiently explored to assist casual users. They can remember that the file was something to do with banannas, but not that it was about Costa Rica. Tags allow easier memory tracks for humans.
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:3, Interesting)
The correct question here is why should I have to restart my browser every three days.
On this machine FF has been running continuously for 4 1/2 days. I have one tab open (this one). The Windows task manager says the process is using 430MB of memory, with about the same for VM. That means it's been a good week, since I've see it go to 700MB.
As for extensions, I have IEView, AdBlock Plus and CustomizeGoogle, plus Google Notebook, which is installed but disabled.
All I want from the address bar (Score:4, Interesting)
Awesome bar - as envisioned by the A.W.E.S.O.M.-O (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:5, Interesting)
Running arbitrary code on a Windows machine is worse since you can't play minesweeper without being an administrator.
Not to downplay deleting your home directory, that would suck...I'm just saying its still not as bad.
Re:Firefox development should fork (Score:3, Interesting)
I want a browser, not an OS.
History (Score:2, Interesting)
How about just fixing the most broken metaphors of browsing that no longer fit how people use the browser? I'm looking at you History.
Now that tabbed browsing is the norm, it seems that the metaphors surrounding the browser's history are getting a bit dated. For one, it all looks so linearly organized. While over in reality, we have tabs spawning other tabs. When they are opened isn't necessarily at all when they are used (and thus remembered to be relevant). Some tabs are hubs that are returned to again and again, spawning the same or different pages each time there. Sometimes those spoke tabs last for one reading (or less). Sometimes they give rise to other tabs directly, with a middle click, other times indirectly (open new search on something related to the page's content).
All this rich information is completely lost in the current views of history. The complex path we took from then to now is all lost in a flat view that is only somewhat usable, largely because it has some search capability (but even that doesn't reach into the contents of the pages we are presumably searching for).
If there is a plugin for a richer history, I'd be happy to know.
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:3, Interesting)
What is a browser for? (Score:4, Interesting)
What makes me wish a web page were more tightly integrated with my OS? Absolutely nothing.
What makes me wish the address bar did more than go to where I type? Absolutely nothing.
Things that I wish for:
1) A fast, stable, independent browser that launches and terminates quickly.
2) The address bar not to reset focus when a page is done loading if I am typing.
Firefox is great because of all the plugins. I managed to get it just the way I want it, and I couldn't have done it without them.
Firefox sucks out of the box though, so maybe the developers can work on making a more impressive initial package.
Re:Sounds Scarry. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:3, Interesting)
Then your browser doesn't have access to your documents; you can save stuff in ~/Downloads and that's about it. Well, in reality johnbrowser has access to connect to your X Server so there may be some avenues of attack there, but it gets that much trickier to just wipe out all your stuff.
Re:is it just me? (Score:3, Interesting)
The common complaint about Open Source Software is if you don't like it fix it. Lets be realistic. Most of us work full time jobs and have a life after that. Digging threw Firefox code to make a feature more usable isn't worth most of our time. I would just use a different browsers either Safari, IE, Opera... Because it takes less time to download a different browser then stick it with one I don't like.
Bitching in areas where we hope the people who's lives do consist of digging threw firefox code would be more pressed into making it better. The argument isn't about Firefox it is about the attitudes in designing features and the ego stating that it is the users fault for not being able to find a feature right away but will need to search the internet to find solutions for, is not efficient.
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Linspire (Score:1, Interesting)
Awesome Bar? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I hope they implement this as plugins (Score:3, Interesting)
What ever the problem is, I wish they would fix it. I have followed the directions to limits it but they don't seem to help. Earlier today, I got upto almost 650,000k because I had to turn noscript off to check a bank statement with my webmail open. Of course I had a few other things open too but that is besides the point. I rebooted and opened the same windows and only had about 140,000k usage.