{"id":153,"date":"2008-08-06T09:49:29","date_gmt":"2008-08-06T17:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mozillalabs.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2008-08-06T09:49:29","modified_gmt":"2008-08-06T17:49:29","slug":"introducing-snowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/labs\/2008\/08\/introducing-snowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Snowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

An Experiment with Messaging in the Browser<\/h3>\n

Conversing (a.k.a. messaging) is a common online activity, and a number of desktop and web applications enable it.\u00a0 But with an increasing variety of protocols and providers, it’s getting harder and harder to keep track of all your conversations.<\/p>\n

Could the web browser help you follow and participate in online discussions?<\/p>\n

Snowl is an experiment to answer that question.\u00a0 It’s a prototype Firefox extension that integrates messaging into the browser based on a few key ideas:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It doesn’t matter where messages originate. They’re alike, whether they come from traditional email servers, RSS\/Atom feeds, web discussion forums, social networks, or other sources.<\/li>\n
  2. Some messages are more important than others, and the best interface for actively reading important messages is different from the best one for casually browsing unimportant ones.<\/li>\n
  3. A search-based interface for message retrieval is more powerful and easier to use than one that makes you organize your messages first to find them later.<\/li>\n
  4. Browser functionality for navigating web content, like tabs, bookmarks, and history, also works well for navigating messages.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Initial Prototype<\/h3>\n

    The initial prototype supports two sources of messages: RSS\/Atom feeds and Twitter.\u00a0 And it exposes two interfaces for reading them.\u00a0 First, a traditional three-pane “list” view, targeted to active reading of important messages:<\/p>\n

    \"the<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Second, a “river of news” view, based on the concept popularized by Dave Winer<\/a>, designed for casual browsing:<\/p>\n

    \"the<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roadmap<\/h3>\n

    Our next step is to gather feedback on the prototype and the ideas behind it.\u00a0 We want to know if the concept has promise and is worth pursuing further.\u00a0 We’re particularly interested in feedback on how messaging might fit into the browsing experience and if there are other interfaces (or refinements to the two interfaces built into the prototype) that would make it easier for users to have online conversations.<\/p>\n

    We’re still considering what may come after that, but possible extensions to the Snowl prototype include:<\/p>\n