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Unlike other preview systems, such as the "binoculars" tool at Ask.com, which fetches small thumbnails of the new pages, Browster window displays the entire page at full size, just as it would appear if a user clicked to it. And moving the mouse outside the Browster window makes it disappear. In short, it spares the user the need to click back through a browsing history to recover an earlier page.
At first, Browster was intended as a way for users to quickly preview the results from search engines such as Google or Yahoo. And it's still quickest when used that way: on search pages, the software pre-fetches the pages for every result and inserts a Browster icon next to each one, indicating that it's been loaded into the browser's cache. That way, the pages pop up instantly when a user mouses over the search link, explains Milener, now Browster's CEO.
But after Milener and Brown (who is Browster's chairman) rolled out the first version of the tool in 2005, they discovered something surprising. "Users loved the 'hover' icon, and they use it even more than the 'pre-fetch' icon on Google," Milener says. "They're using Browster all over the Web, just to preview pages -- even though those pages are loading at the same speed they would if just clicked. In other words, the navigation function turned out to be more valuable than the pre-fetching. We realized this isn't just a better way to preview search results -- it's really a fundamental switch in the way we navigate."
While this change may not be completely revolutionary, it's one of the first in a very long time. "When you look at Microsoft in the mid-90s, you have to conclude that they stifled innovation in the browser market," says Flock's Andrews. "They stopped Netscape in its tracks with Internet Explorer, and once they became the dominant player in browsers, they just sat on it. But now that we have the core technology that anyone can use to create a browser -- the Mozilla code base, which has really come of age with Firefox -- I think we're going to see a lot of innovation."
Flock's developers hope to demonstrate that the Mozilla code base can be used to build a browser that's even more versatile than Firefox, which is famous for its ability to run extensions, such as Browster's. For example, Flock lets users upload files such as photographs to the Web by simply dragging and dropping them into the browser window. It notifies users when their friends have posted new pictures and shows the pictures directly in an area called the "photobar." It also has a built-in feed reader, blog editor, and integrated desktop and Web search tool, as well as an enhanced "favorites" system that lets users tag and share their bookmarks.
Features like these are already available to users in the form of standalone services or Firefox plugins, but Flock's developers believe that integrating them will provide a better user experience. "We're building the next-generation web browser," says Andrews. "We're going to exceed what people are used to with Internet Explorer and Firefox right now, by integrating these services and reducing the complexity of simple tasks, say, uploading photos to Flickr or adding images to your MySpace page."
Web users won't have to wait long to test Flock's theories; Andrews says a beta version will be launched "in the next few weeks."
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Guest (BootCamp)
Hi! Great article on web navigation and the future of clickless browsing. www.cooliris.com offers similar technology in the clickless browsing field. they have some other interesting products as well (bookmarks previewing etc.).
As for the 3d web navigation, there is a site, http://slashdot.org/articles/01/09/16/2317231.shtml makes for a very interesting read!
ciao
fernand
Guest
Browster is an .exe, Cooliris is an extension!
Thanks for the link on CoolIris - Browster is an executable, while Cooliris is a FireFox extension.
Much nicer for those of us using Firefox!
Guest (Hammerd)
Most of the "advanced" features that are touted seem to be geared to screaming at the top of their flashing visuals and key word links that want to hijack me to a webpage I don't want. If there is a next big thing in browsers, I pray it doesn't involve ads.
Guest (CatoTheElderII)
Yes, please stop the ads. Oh wait - the business model calls for more, not less, ads. Hmmm... anyway, what I don't want is to move my mouse over links and have the page either jump to that page or bring up a "preview" that takes just as long to open as if I had clicked on the page. I prefer if they leave the click action so I can choose when I want to navigate. Clickless idea sounds nice but I think it will result in an annoying tendency to gobble time doing things I don't explicitly want. Please - stop trying to "help" me! I can do the click! It ain't that hard!! kthnxbye.
And furthermore, Carthage must be destroyed!
Guest (nb)
what ad's ? i use firefox web browser + adblock extension + filterset.g updater extension. add in the scroogle search engine and use that instead of google. what ads ?
Guest (oyao)
this is quite useful when it will create "preview" for other searches
Guest (Alex Iskold)
Making the browser understand everyday objects
Another new trend in browser technologies is semantics. Microformats, flock and the work we are doing at adaptiveblue are all examples of harnessing interactions and semantics to drive productivity.
See my article in Web 2.0 magazine for overview on the topic:
http://ajax.sys-con.com/read/227524.htm
and checkout adaptiveblue.com to preview or 'smart browser' technology.
Alex
Guest
sdafcsdf
Guest (Venkatesh Kanchan)
"pre-fetches the pages for every result"
There goes your bandwidth, not to mention the pandora's box it will open in terms of security.
Guest (Joel)
Mouse-over previews and pay-per-click traffic
I'd be curious to find out how "previewing" these pages via mouse-overs affects sites who are paying the search engines for the number of click-throughs they get. Since the page is being opened up, this should count as a click-through, but if the page automatically closes when the mouse exits the link area, the value of this "click-through" would be much lower.
Also, I'm curious how allowing one to preview pages from search results can qualify as an interesting change in browsing methodology. The article makes the good point that browsers haven't changed much in 10/12 years. However, I think that it's innovations like Google's bookmark sync and Foxmark's bookmark synchronizer that may make a more significant change to the browsing experience, allowing one to access one's own bookmarks and config settings from any machine.
Guest (Nivi)
Oi, what about Songbird: http://songbirdnest.com
It is a media player with a built-in web browser that can get media from any web site in the world. As opposed to iTunes which only connects to the iTunes Music Store.
Songbird is also built on the Mozilla stack.
Check it out yo: http://songbirdnest.com
Nivi
Chief Songbird Elocutor
Guest (Aaron)
This piece of software for windows offers a new persepctive on browsing, by allowing the user to keep web-sites running like applications.
It allows costum actions like site notifications, drag-n-drop and shortcut menus. These can be added to existing sites by scripts or so-called 'Smart Bubbles'
Ruomors are their slated to release a cool version with a Flickr script on 13/6
Guest (Aaron)
Guest (Gil)
Wade's never heard of Opera? It had IE and Netscape beat YEARS ago and Firefox keeps adding "new" features Opera had long ago. Bone up on research, Wade.
Guest (hab)
For all of you moaning about the ads, how many of you are paying a subscription fee to avoid ads for those sites that give you a choice? And how many of you are thankful that we have all this free content BECAUSE the ads are enabling the websites to generate income and provide the content.
Just curious.
Guest (Levi Figueira)
Flock: "...entirely new browsers designed from the beginning (...)"
Not quite so...
I use Flock on a daily basis: it's my favorite browser!
But it's TOTALLY Firefox-based! It's more like a complete set of addons (those written from scratch with great new ideas and concepts) added to a standard mozilla/firefox codebase and with a new theme!
But it's a great option and I do recommend it :)
~Levi F.
Great article and comments! I love this stuff. Wondering if anyone has heard of Twonky Beam from Twonky Media? You can download a free plug-in for your Microsoft IE 6.0 and above browser. It allows you to stream audio and video media from your browser directly to connected devices in your home (e.g. dlna & upnp complaint devices). Check it out! http://www.twonkymedia.com/beam
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Guest (Marco de Salvo)
New Browsing Interface
I think that modern computers are able to support new graphical interfaces, more focused on "intuitive navigation". The simple click action, is probably unecessary. I imagine a future Browser in which the links and the pages simply opens when I move the mouse on the specific item.
Another scenario maybe the 3D navigation interface, where a rotation of the geometry can show many "facets" of the same webpage in an interactive way.
But all these innovations must put the user at the core in terms of usability and intuitive navigation.
Mrco
http://www.marcodesalvo.it
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