"The growth of understanding follows an ascending spiral rather than a straight line." ~Joanna Field

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Gooey Browser, Take 2.

Okay. I hope this post will be a bit more structured than the last (which wasn't really intended to be what it ended up being.).
As stated before, I have some lofty dreams for the future of my internet usage. But, like so many things, I have no intent of follow through, it is just a dream.

Anyway. Let's start with a list of things I want from my browser, and maybe a bit of why:

  1. The obvious, web browsing capabilities. I want to be able to navigate to/from websites quickly and easily. Best done, as proven, with a URL box.
  2. In-built search function. All the major browsers (which I classify as Chrome, IE and Firefox, though Safari and Opera can get put in if you prefer.) allow some kind of in-built search now. Type into you URL box and it will search if it is not set as a URL. I want this to be a customizable search engine, like Chrome. (Because I like Google. But some crazy people use Yahoo or Bing or whatevs. Not my issue.)
  3. I want interconnectivity between everything I do. That means one account to get into my browser, and I have access to my data/files/browsing history etc. wherever I am, whatever I am doing. This means using my browser as, basically, a computer account. It should be like logging into my PC. (Yup, this will become very like the Google Chromium OS)
  4. I want modifiable priorities. Person One may be a die-hard news junkie and wants twenty news feeds up all the time. Person Two might be a clean-cut music fan who wants just their browsing and music available. Etc.
  5. I want transparency and ease of use. If the browser is going to do something, it should be from my command, or from a set of instructions I have okayed. No downloading without consent, no preferences changed without consent, etc. (Again, rather basic and obvious.)
That's it. A small list, but rather lofty in places.
And the reason it is lofty, and only a dream at this point, is that it requires the internet (or at least every part that gets used) to play nice with one another.

Moving on.

So you open up your laptop, turn on your PC, whatevs. I'm not asking for insta-internet access like the Chromium OS. Don't really care if there is another OS. But it would be nice if it were unnecessary, or at least minimal. Turn that sucker on, open this. You got everything there as you want it. All visible, in fully customizable gel-pockets.

And what I mean by join hands is my #3 point. I want to log into my browser and I want to be logged in to everything I do.
Facebook? Opened in the social media ticker feed. Same with Twitter and Google Plus. (Plurk if you're into that.) In fact, everything that can give me a notification (other than email and RSS feeds) I want to open into the social ticker. That way I can drag that to my main browsing space and look through my everything all at once.
PMs from my forums, Facebook updates, tweets, missed IMs... All there. And constant updating, so when I have it minimised to the little carrel it will scroll along with it's new stuff.

I want my eamil (all of them. Personal, work, other) to be put into another carrel. Same idea here. I want constant updates. When something new comes in I want to drag it to my main browsing space (MBS for ease) and look at it, respond, make new ones, etc. Then throw it back into the carrel.

RSS/Reader/Tumblr and the like to their own bubble. New things in the same way, same functionality.

When in their carrels, these widgets will only show what they are told to (default to New Feed, but can be set to show a stable page/image/etc.).

I want my calendar in a tiny carrel. Look to your lower right screen (Windows). Where the date/time is? I want that to have full access to an interactive calendar (Possibly Google Calendar). Or in a larger one like you see on websites with the whole month available.

I want my music program of choice to sit in a carrel showing what I am listening to with controls all available on my screen.

I want all the standard necessities, word processor, spread sheets, slide-show, image editor, calculator, I want to be able to make databases too, or better sort functions in the spread sheet (either way) and I want them all available as widgets. That way I can throw one down into a carrel and make notes while reading an article. Do quick math while chatting with a friend. Collaborate with someone over video chat on the slide-show for work. Share a spreadsheet and reference it while writing without minimizing and maximizing windows all over the place.

I want share functions. If I am connected to a friend I want to be able to connect one of my carrels to a "sharing" carrel in their browser and have them see what I am doing in that carrel.

I want an in-built video chat that can be put in a carrel as well.

I want a note/comment function. Not only to make documents like above, but also to be able to write a note on a webpage and have that connection saved to my account. That way if/when I ever open that page again there is my note. "Read to this paragraph", "Use this quote", "Look this up"

I want my "Find it New" and "I Saw This".
Find it New, that is my StumbleUpon widget. It comes up with new things it thinks I would enjoy, and gives me things that might challenge me.
I Saw This lets me keep track of what I have seen or not, and whether I liked it. It also lets me tag those things with personal tags, as well as keep my likes organized. It is a bookmarking widget.

I want all my carrels and their configuration to be set up to suit how I use my screen.

I want multiple browsing spaces but I also want tabs.
Difference being if I change to a different browsing space, everything changes except the MBS. All my carrels are set up in another configuration (say, a 'clean' set, where there is only the time and the MBS), whereas a tab would be a subset of the MBS, and would only change within it.

And above all I want all these things to be directly linked to one account.
If someone sees my "profile", they will have access to everything (that I have allowed, of course.) No running from site to site trying to get an idea of who I am.

If I leave my profile public (or if you were a friend) you could pull it up and you would be able to see all of my activity. Browse the favourites I made available. See my updates. Go where I am and participate. Everything I liked or made or commented would be available in one place. (As I so choose, of course.)

Point being that every site would be part of this. There would be no need to log into Vi.sualize.us and look at my pictures. Any picture I liked there would be here, and vice-versa. No need to go to Facebook, you see all my social content here.

So I am not asking much. Just a total re-haul of the entire interconnectivity system that has been around since before I was born.
Unification.

I guess what I want is Google Chromium with a face-lift and the internet to all join hands.
That isn't too much, right?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not so crazy to think it would ever be possible. But I just wanted to tell you my dreams.

I know I said there would be pictures, too. That is not this post. There is one more on this topic, then I think we will be done.
Next post will be pictures and a quick overview of features and functionality of this imagined system.
Thanks for entertaining me. :)

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