goldenv wrote:
I have worked an open source javascript + html page that has the
potential to replace your existing browser home page. If you are
interested in trying it out, or learning more about it, it is freely
available at http://code.google.com/p/tphp/
I would love to hear from you if you have any comments.
Trying to reinvent Web 0.8, yes? Sorry, given mature apps like Firefox,
Opera or Safari, and the increasing number of people who don't even know
what a command line is, I don't think you get anyone hooked by this,
especially not developers. For example:
1. I have to "install" tphp as browser home page to get its functionality.
My Firefox (2.0.0.13) is already there, and it shows the home page that
*I* developed, on my local Web server (which has a number of advantages
over a local file).
2. tphp provides me with a way to do quick Google searches by just
typing text.
So what? In Firefox, I type Ctrl+K (to get to the Search Bar)
and enter the query, and I'm there. And I can install any number
of search engine extensions there from the Mycroft project site.
3. tphp provides me with a way to use keywords to quickly navigate
to sites of interest.
So what? Firefox provides me with bookmarks and bookmarklets
that can be triggered by typing a keyword followed by options.
I can run them by pressing Ctrl+L (to get to the Location Bar)
and begin typing.
I have "babylon" (Babylon.com lookup), "bahn" (Deutsche Bahn
timetable service, with options for start and end point, written
in JS), "bug" (Bugzilla bug ID query), "chk" (W3C Markup Validation
of a given URI-referenced resource), "chk-css" (W3C CSS Validation
of a given URI-referenced resource), "chk-xml" (Christoph Schneegans'
XML Schema Validator), "css" (CSS 2 Spec), "grp" (Google Groups query)
"imdb" (Internet Movie Database query), "wiki" (Wikipedia query, with
support for non-ASCII letters and and option to preselect the language,
written in JS), to name just a few.
4. tphp provides recommendations based on previous searches.
So what? Firefox's search bar already remembers previous searches
and even makes a lookup to provide me with Google suggestions as
I type.
With the myurlbar extension (old and a little buggy, but nonetheless
helpful) those recommendations include even titles of Web sites
previously visited and that of URLs and titles of bookmarks as I type
in the Location Bar.
5. tphp allows to go to the site as if you used Google's
"I'm feeling lucky" feature.
So what? That's a Firefox built-in (Location Bar again), and you can
even change it or disable it if for some reason you don't like Google.
And I can do 2. to 5. while viewing *any* site.
6. You write that you intend to set up a Python-powered web site that
people can set as their home page, to provide an extensible interface.
Then I will have to live with whatever keywords my fellow users
define, even if I don't agree with them. That does not sound very
user-friendly.
And finally:
You don't expect people (and especially developers) giving you the chance
of further spying on them (given the spying that Google already does, and
they have a reputation to keep), whatever your sincere statements and
true intentions, are you?
PointedEars
--
Anyone who slaps a 'this page is best viewed with Browser X' label on
a Web page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web,
when you had very little chance of reading a document written on another
computer, another word processor, or another network. -- Tim Berners-Lee