What A Browser Should Be

I don’t know, maybe I am asking to much, but I should be able to have the same browser experience at work as I do at home. Why can’t my browser recall what tabs were open at work when I open my browser after returning home?  How about the ability to have auto-complete remember where I have been (history) as I type and address in the address bar? Once I’m at a site that requires me to login, why can’t my browser be ready to autofill that information?

This should be done without “add-ons” or “widgets”. What I went to far? I don’t think so, especially since there are 3 browsers almost there already.

Opera

Opera caught my attention when I was looking for a better browsing experience on my BlackBerry. When I visited Opera’s site, I noticed Opera Mini. Which can be used on the BlackBerry. allowing me to still see the ‘real’ internet on my phone too. Since I would be doing more browsing, via my phone, Opera wanted to be sure I didn’t miss anything. Whatever I found on my phone, I can now sync it from my BlackBerry to my desktop with Opera Link. OOOhhh, I can sync my bookmarks between my phone, desktop, and laptop. One demand met: syncing of bookmarks between machines (My other requirements may follow). Opera is close to giving me what I want.

Pros: Speed                                                                            Cons: Doesn’t render all pages as Firefox or IE

Update: Opera 9.5 is faster yet. User interface has been redone and upgraded. nice. I have been trying 9.5 and I like it, but I have noticed the pages not rendering properly. I don’t know if it is a plug-in or an incompatibility, either way I would recommend it to anyone that want’s to try a different browser.

Flock

Flock wants to be the uber social browser to everyone for eveeryone. Offering you the ability to connect and update ‘all’ your web 2.0 social sites from your browser. Eliminating the need to login at the site. I like Flock, it is Firefox with a bunch of social add-ons. As a Firefox user you know that add-ons help make things easier, but are usually not a complete solution and that is the problem with Flock.

Flock offers you a sidebar, called People, where you can monitor your profiles on: Digg, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Pownce, and Twitter. The setup is easy, login in once, and Flock will remember your information so you can access each profile through the sidebar. Giving you the ability to monitor, modify, or post through the sidebar. Although, modifying and posting is not the best user experiences. Twitter was the most disappointing for me. To post a tweet, which is not obvious where to do this, you fill in a single line space that is missing a character count. Once you click post, the tweet doesn’t fall into the timline. Giving you no frame of reference of where your tweet fits into the conversation. Making replying to @messages impossible to respond to.

I like Flock, but it isn’t what I want. Flock is more of an app than it is a browser.

Pros: Compatible with Firefox add-ons                                        Cons: Can do alot but not one great

Firefox

Firefox 3, faster, and what I am using right now. It lost it’s ONE add-on that gave me the browser I wanted. Google Browser Sync; it remembered what tabs were open when I left work and offered to restore them when I started browsing at home. Google Browser Sync remembered which sites I visited. It even remembers my usernames and passwords. I have been using it for at least a year, but not lately. It has not and will not be updated to be compatible with Firefox 3.

Update: Mozilla is working on taking over where Google Browser Sync left off and it’s called Weave. I have been using Weave. After installing and using for about a day, it decided to not link up. I could not login. If go the labs.mozilla.com write up of Weave you’ll see they are planning a major upgrade that will give you all that Google Browser Sync was.

So why haven’t any of these browsers integrated nay of my suggestions? Am I the only one that wants this? Would it be hard?

What I Think A Browser Should Be

The browser should have a social aspect that also doubles as it’s backup. I see it as a FriendFeed component. The browser pays attention to what you are doing and then logs it to a webpage. This webpage is also the update link to be used by whichever browser you’re in front of. It is also obvious that you can then share your webpage. Choosing wether to share your browsing history, bookmarks, and NEVER your username and passwords. Although there would need to be a component of the webpage that would help you keep all those usernames and passwords straight. Then allow you easy access when browsing.

Maybe this is better served as a feature by FriendFeed,  and accessed by Firefox or Opera.