a browser address bar. areas that I’ve found so far where Google Chrome is based on the
Another interesting feature of the browser integrated with Google WebKit engine, which has excel-
Google Chrome is its integrated Search, when a Web site failed to lent standards support. In my
use of Google Gears. Called appli- launch, the error page displayed by short amount of testing I have yet
cation shortcuts in the browser, Chrome gave the option of launch- to run into a site that didn’t work
this feature lets users take any Web ing the site from Google Cache. in Chrome, though I am sure they
application and save it as a desktop- During my short amount of test- are out there.
based Web application, with its own ing I never ran into any unstable All in all, the beta of Google
launch icons in the Start menu, sites or applications. I was there- Chrome is an exciting and impres-Quick Launch and desktop. fore unable to test the new feature, sive new entry into the Web browser
Like other browsers, Google where every tab in Google Chrome field. As I continue to test this beta
Chrome will warn users when they runs as a separate process, which and subsequent releases, I’ll pro-go to a secure site where the cer- should keep a single site or appli- vide updates on any new discov-tificate doesn’t match the address cation from bringing down the eries or possible issues with the
entered. Also, in one of the only entire browser. browser. ´
MOZILLA AURORA: THE BROWSER FOR THE NEXT WEB?
WHAT WILL THE WEB LOOK LIKE IN 10 YEARS? WILL WE
still be using something similar to current Web
browsers or will there be a radically new interface for
the Web? And will we even be using something like a
PC, or will all access be through mobile devices and
dedicated appliances?
These and other questions are what Mozilla Labs
is hoping to answer with its Concept Series, which
is dedicated to discussing and preparing for the
future Web. And one of the first and most interesting
projects from the Concept Series is Aurora, a fully
thought-out idea of a browser in 2018.
Aurora is the brainchild of Adaptive Path, a design The Aurora interface is designed to be highly interactive.
and consulting company. Aurora doesn’t exist as a real to an interface adapted to the necessities of computing
application; it is simply a set of ideas and graphical and the Web. As I’ve said in the past, there are many
mock-ups. But it does point to a possible new direction times that I wished the real world had an interface more
for Web browsers. like the Web or my computer.
When I first saw Aurora, I was immediately reminded I’m also a bit skeptical about interfaces that try
of other three-dimensional interfaces such as Sun to adapt to what a user is doing by bringing some
Microsystems’ Looking Glass. The Aurora interface is content front and center while pushing back other
designed to be highly interactive, to use real-world content. In my experience these work fine in some
interface methodologies, and to be contextually aware dedicated work contexts, but most people are too
of what users do and what they’ve done in the past. unpredictable and spontaneous for these to really
Looking at these initial concepts for Aurora, I was work. Just because I’ve done something a certain
impressed with the amount of work that Adaptive way in the past doesn’t mean I won’t need to do it in
Path had put into its mock-ups and browser ideas. a radically new way today.
One could easily see this being a next-generation Still, I like what Mozilla and contributors such as
browser. Adaptive Path are doing with the Concept Series and
But I am also skeptical about some of the perceived Aurora. These types of projects will hopefully lead to a
directions of the Aurora interface. I’m still not completely future Web that we’ll all be happy to surf to.
sold on the idea that a real-world interface is superior —Jim Rapoza
