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Site Specific Browsers Blur the Line between Web and Desktop Applications

by Leo Zheng

You should use Site Specific Browsers. Here's why.

Published: October 20, 2009

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the Internet is changing. HTML5 and Javascript performance improvements, among other things, are allowing the web browser to do things that used to be only possible with software that you ran on your desktop. Sites like Gmail, Pandora, the upcoming Google Wave, and dare I say it, my.Onsip, are doing things that exhibit the potential of the new Internet web browser, and hopefully its just the tip of the iceberg.

But if you’re like me, and you somehow find yourself with 25 open tabs, running all of these sites in the same browser might turn into a problem. Let’s say a nasty popup somehow makes it through and screws everything up, or my browser suddenly stops responding for whatever reason. Well then I’m kind of out of luck. I have to reload everything and hope that everything got saved.

That’s where site-specific browsers (SSBs) like Prism and Fluid come in. Prism (Link updated 11/12/09) by Mozilla Labs allows users to take web applications and run them directly from the desktop like any downloaded application. Prism also allows you to make shortcuts for web applications on your desktop, in your start menu, and even in your quick launch bar. It’s great for My.OnSIP because I never have to scroll through my tabs looking for the web app when I get a work IM. I also never accidentally sign myself out by pressing the "back" button in the browser navigation bar anymore.

Fluid is a very similar application for Mac OS X Leopard. It’s inspired by Prism, and has a lot of the same goodies. One thing we found particularly cool was that it allows you to make "MenuExtra SSBs" – a mini browser that's basically an icon in your OS X System Status bar along with other MenuExtras like the Clock and Calculator. We’ve found that this is fantastic for sites that we regularly check like Twitter or Analytics.

Some people might say, “Well all these apps are doing is loading sites like desktop applications and creating a shortcut here and there. What’s the big deal?” Currently, I’m running Google Docs, My.OnSIP, Pandora, and my Job email on SSBs and I got them all up and running with a few clicks of my mouse. I’m using my Internet browser for just that; browsing. It’s an extremely convenient combination, and in a working environment where I’m constantly juggling things, convenience makes all the difference.

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