Marie asked an interesting question about browsers on Twitter this morning
I recently came across Chrome Frame for IE a simple install that works in IE6 (no seriously please tell me you are not running IE6), IE7, and IE8 on Windows 7 and XP (well Vista too, see IE6 comment). Here is a quick video explaining Chrome Frame.
Why use Chrome Frame? If you are on a PC that you can not install Chrome or another browser on, it is a nice way to take advantage of some of the browsers features while still working in IE, specifically HTML5 canvas tags, and Javascript performance improvements.
Recent versions of Chrome Frame are also supposed to work on locked down machines though results seems to be mixed on if it actually installs or not without Admin rights.
This has become a major annoyance for me when using Safari on iOS, and I wonder why Apple does not fix this.
When I use a browser on my desktop, if I want to search I simply type the term in to the Address Bar, this works in Chrome, Firefox, or IE, the three browsers I have installed on my machine.
On my Android device (Droid X) the experience is the same I can type a URL, or search term in to the Address bar.
Then we get to Mobile Safari on iOS (Screenshots are from an iPhone, but the experience is the same on an iPad). For some reason Apple had decided to split URL, and Search in to two different fields.
When you are in the URL field (on the left), the keyboard is designed to type URL only does not have a space bar, so you can not even try to enter a search term there. If you are in the search field (on the right) you then get the regular keyboard with the Space bar allowing you to search:
Is anyone else bothered by this? I frequently find myself trying to search in the URL bar, realizing after I finished typing (the first word) of my search string, only to have to do it over in the Search field, why doesn’t mobile safari just work like every other browser out there?
I am sure there are other browsers available for iOS, Opera comes to mind, Firefox Mobile does not seem to have iOS support yet, but I really haven’t bothered to look at it or other options, the browser that ships should be good enough for my mobile browsing needs.
Have you tried Rockmelt? The new browser built on Chromium which in their own words:
“RockMelt does more than just navigate Web pages. It makes it easy for you to do the things you do every single day on the Web: share and keep up with your friends, stay up-to-date on news and information, and search. And of course, RockMelt is fast, secure, and stable because it’s built on Chromium, the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser. It’s your browser – re-imagined and built for how you use the Web. “
I got in to the beta a few weeks ago and have been using it on and off, most of my browsing is still being done in Chrome, where all my extensions are installed, but I have been playing a little with Rockmelt. What I have discovered is that Rockmelt, and Lotus Notes share a very common problem.
When you are in the Notes client you are authenticated with your notes ID, but when you attempt to use other services in the sidebar like Activites, or Sametime you are forced to (at least the first time you connect) provide a user name and password (despite already being authenticated in to the Notes client).
Rockmelt seems to have the same problem in reverse, when I load Rockmelt it remembers my logins to Twitter and Facebook in the sidebar, but if I visit Twitter or Facebook in the browser there is no connection made and I am asked to login again as seen here:
While I would like to see the Notes Client do a better job of handling Single Sign on, even with out it, I get a lot of benefits out of the Notes client, from my mail, contacts, and calendar, to Applications I use, and the integration with Connections, and other sidebar plugins, the lack of single sign on is a minor annoyance, overshadowed by the features that I use.
The jury is still out on Rockmelt, I am seeing the annoyances, but not yet seeing the benefits really justify making the switch, I will continue to play with it and see as they release future updates if the benefits show up.
If you are looking to try Rockmelt I have some invites, you need to connect to Facebook from their site and request one, if we are friends on Facebook I will be able to see your request and send an invite, first come first serve (and please don’t friend me just for an invite)
