The Next-Generation Browser: No URL Bar

[aigle]

http://www.conceivablytech.com/7533/products/the-next-generation-browser-no-url-bar

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9216945/Google_Mozilla_spark_debate_over_browser_address_bar

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/prospector-lessChrome-HD/

[Hungry Man]

Been coming for quite a while.

[CloneRanger]

Stupid idea :thumbd:

Might be alright for moblie phones/pads etc to gain more viewing area, but even then as mentioned, as far as visable security goes :thumbd:

[aigle]

i like it.

[J_L]

Worthwhile on my netbook, but not main computer.

[luciddream]

I guess I'm ahead of the curve, because I removed my URL bar a long time ago. I do however have an extremely long search bar as a result. I did it because I don't like how Firefox forces Google on you, which I see as a microcosm of all that is wrong with the world today.

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "I guess I'm ahead of the curve, because I removed my URL bar a long time ago. I do however have an extremely long search bar as a result. I did it because I don't like how Firefox forces Google on you, which I see as a microcosm of all that is wrong with the world today." }-

This post is not really helpful, is it?

[J_L]

How does Firefox force Google on you with its address bar?

[allizomeniz]

I've been hearing of this lately. What's the advantage of no URL bar on a computer other than to save space? Do some people have no need for it? I use mine a lot, though I've reduced its size quite a bit. I can't imagine not having it or my search bar either one.

[Carver]

If they take a way the URL Bar how will we know if we typed the address right?;D

[Kevin McAleavey]

Wait ... wut? Heh. We've had that in KNOS for a while now. Move rodent to top of screen, use address bar, take rodent away, back to full screen. We like to call it "F11 key."
227277

And rodent let's you fill the address bar:

227278

It's magic! :)

[m00nbl00d]

-{ Quote: "If they take a way the URL Bar how will we know if we typed the address right?;D" }-

Regarding Chromium/Chrome, when you open a new tab or press an existing one, you'll have the chance to type/copy and paste the URL address, and while it loads, the address bar is still present.

I've been using the compact navigation in Chromium since it was first introduced.

I don't see what's the problem with it, to be honest. :)

[CloneRanger]

@ Kevin McAleavey

Hi hows things ? looking up from what i see/read/hear = :) Bout time too :thumb:

Well i didn't know about F11 :P but i do now ;)

[vasa1]

This should cheer some people up ;)
http://mozillalabs.com/conceptseries/2011/05/24/community-concepts-ubiquitous-firefox-part-1-how-do-you-design-a-debris-less-browser/

[lodore]

I hate the idea. i agree with the article that hiding the url bar will make it easier for phising websites to trick users. domain hi lighting is a great feature why introduce it if you are then going to hide it?

I feel that the current versions of browsers default layout is minimalist enough.

[dw426]

What I'm still trying to figure out with the "minimalist movement", is do these ideas get brought to the table by people that think we're all using 10 inch screens or something? Sure, don't put a bunch of bars under the main one, and don't make gigantic freakin buttons (we have Linux distros for that), but otherwise, let it be. If you're worried about screen space for the mobile crowd, separate mobile and desktop browsers, and call it a day. The more they seem to "compact" crap, the less I seem to be able to find things. Drop-down menus are fine and dandy, but let's not go the old Opera route and get sent to menu Hell.

[dw426]

-{ Quote: "I hate the idea. i agree with the article that hiding the url bar will make it easier for phising websites to trick users. domain hi lighting is a great feature why introduce it if you are then going to hide it?

I feel that the current versions of browsers default layout is minimalist enough." }-

Phishing is easily avoidable though, so I don't really buy the security argument. Go right now to all of the websites you use that require you to enter personal info, copy each address, bring up Notepad, save them as a text file. When you need to go to them, break out the text file, copy the address, do your thing. No big deal. For websites that have been taken over, well, that's a different scenario and doing that won't help much.

[m00nbl00d]

-{ Quote: "Phishing is easily avoidable though, so I don't really buy the security argument. Go right now to all of the websites you use that require you to enter personal info, copy each address, bring up Notepad, save them as a text file. When you need to go to them, break out the text file, copy the address, do your thing.[...]
" }-

:argh: You don't need all that... :P

Whether the user clicks a link or directly inputs it, the address bar will be visible. So, as you said, the security argument doesn't make any sense. If people don't look at the address bar while the web site loads, then it doesn't matter if it's visible all time... or when it only matters.

[BoerenkoolMetWorst]

-{ Quote: "What I'm still trying to figure out with the "minimalist movement", is do these ideas get brought to the table by people that think we're all using 10 inch screens or something? Sure, don't put a bunch of bars under the main one, and don't make gigantic freakin buttons (we have Linux distros for that), but otherwise, let it be. If you're worried about screen space for the mobile crowd, separate mobile and desktop browsers, and call it a day. The more they seem to "compact" crap, the less I seem to be able to find things. Drop-down menus are fine and dandy, but let's not go the old Opera route and get sent to menu Hell." }-
Indeed, screens are quite high res these day's, why sacrifice the URL-bar for just 30 pixels?
My monitor is has 1050 vertical pixels and notebook screens has 800, more than enough, I wouldn't want to exchange my URL bar for a few pixels.

Besides, for users that really want more pixels there is a really nice invention from YEARS ago called Full screen mode or F11 mode :isay:

[jack90125]

I do not get it. every browser I have used since netscape has little arrows or tabs and by clicking you can get rid of the url bar the toolbar etc.
also if you use firefox or some such you can get rid of the search bar and click on a setting in options if its not an address to do a search from the url bar on default search engine.
again see no clue as to why this is since it has been done from the beginning.

[dw426]

-{ Quote: "I do not get it. every browser I have used since netscape has little arrows or tabs and by clicking you can get rid of the url bar the toolbar etc.
also if you use firefox or some such you can get rid of the search bar and click on a setting in options if its not an address to do a search from the url bar on default search engine.
again see no clue as to why this is since it has been done from the beginning." }-

I know that, you know that, most of us here know that. But as long as you have little sheep out there, and articles like those linked telling the little sheep what's better and how everything will change, and, as long as browser developers maintain a "me too" mentality, this nonsense will keep happening. One thing in one of the articles that made me truly laugh out loud, was the question of why Chrome has so many touch UI tweaks yet doesn't offer the damn thing on touch devices.

[Hungry Man]

no idea what you're talking about

[Kevin McAleavey]

-{ Quote: "@ Kevin McAleavey

Hi hows things ? looking up from what i see/read/hear = :) Bout time too :thumb:

Well i didn't know about F11 :P but i do now ;)" }-
Well HEY there, stranger! :)

So far, not a lot of interest. Folks seem to think this is just another Linux something or other, it certainly isn't. But one has to use it to appreciate what it is, a complete computer on a DVD or USB stick with no muss, no fuss, no configuring, just go ... tried to offer this to COMODO while I was there, tried to get other security companies interested as well. Nope - blows out the entire need for their 1981 "technology" to protect a leaky operating system that could have been SO easily fixed by undoing IE4, poorly done "file associations" and all that came with it. So I get to surf instead of spending more time scanning and cleaning and system restoring. Works for me ... heh.

As to the F11 thing, that's what I found so amusing about the premise behind this thread. It's SO easy to add a mousetrap (or finger trap for touchies) whereby you can indeed go full screen and hide the bar, and just sit there waiting to intercept a move up to the top and fold it down when needed. And once you've used it, up it goes out of the way. So simple, so elegant, solves everything without taking away something people want. Like that F11 trick which has been there for ages that nobody ever seems to have discovered including browser authors and their legacy code. Even Netscape 4 and IE3 had "kiosk mode" if you knew where to look!

Spent most of my life in coding thinking of the user instead of the geeks, but such a thought process is punished in the programming industry. Making sense and simplicity for the end user is NOT the game. Damned Klingon coders. :(

[m00nbl00d]

It has disappeared from Chromium... :'(

They gave me a treat and then they took it away. :argh: It's like stealing a candy from a child. :blink:

[Daveski17]

-{ Quote: "Drop-down menus are fine and dandy, but let's not go the old Opera route and get sent to menu Hell." }-

Opera has a neat favicon toolbar now. Occasionally some of the favicons disappear. No change there then with Opera reliability! ;D

[Daveski17]

-{ Quote: "Damned Klingon coders. :(" }-

LOL! That's funny!

[noway]

The idea is to maximize real estate for advertising purposes. And to put feathers in hats. New and improved, like dish soap every year. You as a user of the browser are not a design priority.

[Hungry Man]

-{ Quote: "The idea is to maximize real estate for advertising purposes." }-
Sounds a whole lot like a baseless accusation.

Perhaps they want to increase screen realestate because *gasp* users want more screen realestate!

It's like this is really a capitalist society.

[dw426]

Well this thread was resurrected from the grave ;D Real estate is fine, but, using Chrome as an example, you can't get much more space without resorting to punching F11. I'm not sure what else users would want taken out. I'd also ask what exactly are they wanting to see so much of that the current crop of browsers blocks that badly?

[J_L]

You'll know once you own a netbook or something smaller. Mine's 6-inch vertical space (1024x600).

[Hungry Man]

^^That.

I'd love if Chrome would shave off as many pixels from the screen as possible. I personally use a thin scrollbar in Chrome just because it saves me something like 10 pixels.

[J_L]

I don't use a scrollbar at all :D.

[funkydude]

Browsers should be just a window like the IE platform preview. Who needs a UI! Pah!

[Yakuman]

-{ Quote: "I don't use a scrollbar at all :D." }-
I tried this a couple of times before, but the obvious disadvantages outweigh any real estate gained: you can't gauge your current position on a given web page (especially if it's vertically long) nor do you know how long the page is to know how much further you need to scroll down. It's like you purposely set yourself up for a handicap.

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "I tried this a couple of times before, but the obvious disadvantages outweigh any real estate gained: you can't gauge your current position on a given web page (especially if it's vertically long) nor do you know how long the page is to know how much further you need to scroll down. It's like you purposely set yourself up for a handicap." }-

Ditto. I need the vertical scrollbar.

[Hungry Man]

Same here. But mine is 3 pixels or something like that.

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "Same here. But mine is 3 pixels or something like that." }-

5 px for me.

[allizomeniz]

I tried an add-on for FF 3.6 that makes them both one. When you type or paste a URL it functions as a URL bar, otherwise it's a search bar. I kinda liked it but there were some issues which I don't exactly recall now, but it was enough to make me go back. I think theoretically it could be a good idea if done right so you don't lose anything in the process.

[J_L]

-{ Quote: "I tried this a couple of times before, but the obvious disadvantages outweigh any real estate gained: you can't gauge your current position on a given web page (especially if it's vertically long) nor do you know how long the page is to know how much further you need to scroll down. It's like you purposely set yourself up for a handicap." }-
It isn't too much of a handicap for me, I can scroll down and find out just fine. As for specific locations, I use Ctrl+F.

[Dude111]

-{ Quote: "Stupid idea :thumbd:" }-Totally stupid!!

Wouldnt be anywhere as easy to surf!

[dw426]

I completely get the netbook/smartphone argument. I can't stand surfing the net on those things. But, I'm hoping ideas such as this will apply only to the market where it's actually needed, the mobile market, on mobile browsers.

[xxJackxx]

-{ Quote: "I completely get the netbook/smartphone argument. I can't stand surfing the net on those things. But, I'm hoping ideas such as this will apply only to the market where it's actually needed, the mobile market, on mobile browsers." }-

Agreed. I run 1920x1200 on my laptop and desktop. I don't need features removed there. Mobile browsers should be separate products and they can strip those to the bare nothing all they want.

[m00nbl00d]

Right now I'm using a 15" laptop, and I'm enjoying Chromium's Compact Navigation. Unfortunately, newest builds removed this feature, and it appears that Chromium developers have no intentions of bringing it back. If they ever consider it again, it seems it will be something different. Something like IE Platform Preview? lol

I seriously got no idea of what they could remove/hide from Chromium's UI ??? The tabs? Perhaps also the Wrench menu? The scrollbar as well? ::)

I also don't think it's necessary to take away features. Simply give the choice of hiding them.

That's what Compact Navigation was all about. Those who wanted it, could enable it. Those who didn't want it, didn't have to enable it.

[Hungry Man]

Compact navigation is in Canary in about:flags.

[m00nbl00d]

-{ Quote: "Compact navigation is in Canary in about:flags." }-

I don't keep up with Google Chrome canary or parrot. ;D

But, it will eventually loose it. Unless Chromium developers have a change of heart.

Google/Bing/etc for chromium compact navigation. You should get two hits, at least.

[Hungry Man]

Googling that doesn't give me any results indicating that it's gone.

Anyways, features in Chromium often come and go, I doubt it's gone for good...

[m00nbl00d]

-{ Quote: "Googling that doesn't give me any results indicating that it's gone." }-

Sometimes we need to look for the answers we want. They aren't always in front of our eyes. ;)

-http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=83602

-http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=85184

To save you some time, read the last posts on those links.

[Hungry Man]

Yeah, those were definitely not on my front page haha remember that Google results are different for different people...

Anyways, I'm happy about this. The fact that it hid extensions was stupid. They should have done what the Firefox extension does, which is to hide the entire bar and only bring it up when your mouse goes to it or when you hit Ctrl + L.

-{ Quote: "we deemed that this was not the correct approach to a compact UI design. We will, however, be considering a different approach to a compact UI in the future which may or may not be similar to the first prototype." }-
Important to note. I doubt the entire project is scrapped, just this (in my opinion poor) implementation.