Site-specific browsers4

I haven’t fooled around with this too much, and I also have the issue of having a billion things I want to do on the internet on a regular basis, but this is pretty neat anyway. Maybe you’ll find a use for it. Maybe I’ll find a use for it!

        Here’s what it does: Adds a button under the tools menu for Firefox (the desktop version probably works differently) for you to make a little icon on your desktop, taskbar, etc. that will go directly to the site you’re currently viewing. By default, you get the site - that’s it. No address bar, no navigation buttons, no distractions. So you take your Gmail inbox, you take your calendar or to-do list manager of choice, and you get little icons to open them up. Facebook, maybe tumblr, whatever.

        You get out of bed, check your stuff (inbox, new posts, things to do today, whatever), interact a little (reply to an e-mail, make a quick tumblr post, add an event), go to work, the end.

        Chrome has this feature by default, and Prism is a firefox extension for it. I guess it just depends how you want them to be rendered? Bubbles, for Windows, renders it in IE. If you actually want that. Aside from that, I’m not entirely sure what differences there may be in performance. If you’re using Chrome, the “create application shortcut” option under tools will do that for you. Firefox says “convert website to application.” As far as Bubbles goes, I’m not sure.

        Looking at Bubbles, it has extensions that allow notifications for specific sites. That may put it above Prism and Chrome, because you really only want to check your e-mail when you know there’s something there. At any rate, check ‘em out, do some research if it sounds useful. You expect me to do everything for you?!

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edit: looking at Bubbles some more, it’s pretty ancient, no posts on the site or anything for months - probably best to skip that one, but that leaves the notification issue unresolved

edit2: guess Prism makes its things in a dumb way, so use Chrome’s thing - I don’t think you need to use Chrome at all or anything after you’ve created the application

edit3: Looking at Snarl and Growl to fix the notification issue. Yip allows access to these through Firefox. Research continues.

edit4: Yip seems more or less dead - the download link isn’t working, anyway, and cursory glance at google results didn’t turn up an alternative download. I question the need for these notifications in your browser when you already have Snarl/Growl providing desktop notifications.

Snarl is, from what I can tell, developed for windows - Growl is a port from Mac, and this means it has great iPhone support. If that’s your jam. Both seem to have a number of useful add-ons to support whatever you want them to support, so yeah.

Though this brings us full circle and makes the site-specific browser entirely useless. I mean, it would probably load faster than opening a shortcut in your browser. But when would you use it? *shrug*