User:David Regev/Ubiquitous Firefox Revisited: Difference between revisions

Very little of all of this is genuinely new. Quite a lot of the concepts here are based on ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=D39vjmLfO3kC The Humane Interface]'' (and most of this should be familiar to anyone who has read this book), together with design patterns found in many different digital environments (such as webOS). True zooming interfaces have been around in research form for a long time, but have never quite made it to the consumer space in any large form, outside specialized applications (such as Google Maps). I’ve spent several years thinking about how a ZUI browser would work (including [[User:David Regev/Firefox ZUI|one mockup]]), but I’ve never come across a truly satisfying answer. It was only once I finally got an idea of what the essential problems with browsers were and some possible solutions that I finally figured out how a zooming browser might look—one that has a real chance of succeeding. In such an environment, we no longer need the classic [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_metaphor Desktop Metaphor], no [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIMP_(computing) windows, icons, menus, or pointers], no opening or saving, no downloading, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UwZkKsWgc0 no applications], and no other outdated counter-productive concepts. Nor do we need the metaphors that Web browsers have had for a long time: the Back button, bookmarks, and tabs. (Wouldn’t it be great if we could get rid of Reload too?) Finally, we don’t need chrome anymore either. All we have is content. Everything is unified in this environment: the browser ''is'' the operating system. (And, unlike Firefox OS, there is no odd [https://blog.mozilla.org/beyond-the-code/files/2012/02/6935638349_40bed4c03b.jpg browser-app–within–browser-operating-system]].)