Thought you all might find this interesting. Mozilla is apparently opening up the discussion on the future of web surfing.

 

Here's the site:

http://labs.mozilla.com/projects/concept-series/

 

Several videos on that site talk about specific concepts. Here's a link to an article about it:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080806-mozilla-mocks-up-possible-firefox-successors-in-idea-factory.html

 

Some of the ideas coming out are pretty interesting.

I'd really love to see an open source video codec (preferably Dirac) bundled with Mozilla by default. What'd really be nice is if the W3C made it an official standard. Then just add a <video src="..." width="640" height="480" /> tag.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=382267

 

Support already checked in, and it is indeed in the HTML5 spec. It just needs codecs.

Aurora looks like it would be sweet on a multitouch tablet(like a iPhone, but bigger) instead of that big mouse thing on the desktop. Are they planning on making their own portable device, or making an application for the iPhone/iPod Touch?

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=382267

 

Support already checked in, and it is indeed in the HTML5 spec. It just needs codecs.

 

It's unfortunate their emphasis is on Ogg Theora. While I was a huge support of Ogg/Xiphorous in the past, Dirac is simply better technology, more mature (particularly the Schrodinger implementation), and practically on par with H.264.

I actually got the most (from the Mozilla site in the OP) out of the short video about bookmark organization and history. The concept shown in the video has some minor disadvantages, but the real plus were the unusual search characteristics for re-finding bookmarks you made earlier. It would be a nice step forward. I never can seem to get my bookmarks properly organized, and I constantly lose track of where I put things.

The interface looks too cluttered to me. Those demonstrations were planned out and both the user and the computer seemed to know exactly what they wanted. I don't really want an interface like that. I am more for function than form.

 

EDIT: Although there are some nice looking functional things that would be nice, but I would want them without excessive eye candy.

The bookmark one? Yes, that struck me as cluttered as well. And I've never been a big fan of roll-off-the-screen-when-not-in-use toolbars either. The tradeoff there was pretty steep and I'm not sure it makes up for those annoyances, but I am really glad SOMEBODY is working on bookmark organization and general usability.

Bookmarking works really nicely with a plug-in like del.icio.us bookmarks or Google Bookmarks which lets you tag your bookmarks topically.

I've always liked the idea of online storage of bookmarks, but disliked the cumbersome nature of working with an online site or plug-in. Maybe it's time to take another look at it, though. Thanks.