> When first time internet users start using a browser, they tend to navigate
> themselves based on only the first website they view due to their lack of
> awareness of how a url bar works and how to use the bookmarks folder (if
> pre-populated.)
> To address that issue, I'm introducing the concept of a dock for popular
> websites that users (who are too new to understand how the url bar works or
> use the bookmarks folder) can use to navigate the web. The dock is on the
> top most part of the browser chrome (above the back and forward buttons) and
> a user clicks on the name of the website or the thumbnail to arrive at the
> docked website page.
> *Prototype links (F11 mode in firefox can be used if your monitors default
> resolution is a match) along with browser resolution:*
> 800*600
> http://docktabs.freehostia.com/800.html
> 1024*600 (EEE 9+)
> http://docktabs.freehostia.com/1024x600.html
> 1024*768
> http://docktabs.freehostia.com/1024.html
> 1280*720
> http://docktabs.freehostia.com/1280x720.html
> 1280*1024
> http://docktabs.freehostia.com/1280.html
> 1440*900
> http://docktabs.freehostia.com/1440.html
> 1680*1050
> http://docktabs.freehostia.com/1680.html
> *About Me:*
> I've been in web (theme) development since early 2007. I've suggested using
> the vertical tabs UI pattern to address the issue of extremely long content
> submission forms in Drupal. The vertical tabs UI pattern for content
> submission forms is currently the largest usability improvement being
> shipped as a part of Drupal 7 core.
> *About the prototype:*
> The prototype is a very rudimentary implementation of how the browser dock
> works. Based on iframes with images replacing the original browser chrome,
> the prototype is limited to users clicking on currently docked website names
> and their corresponding thumbnails to visit different websites.
> *
> About the browser dock:*
> The browser dock is designed to be part of a next generation, cross
> platform (desktop, portable and surface) web browser designed from the
> ground up for ease of use for new comers while offering seasoned browser
> users with additional benefits (in the case of the browser dock, seasoned
> users don't have to refer to bookmark folders or type in addresses in the
> url bar to access their most visited websites.)
> *Future considerations for the browser dock:*
> - Streamline the dock to use less vertical space while providing strong
> visual cues.
> - Dock Items can be configured manually by system administrators
> (default behavior and best suited for public and commercial use.)
> - Useful for cafe owners who may wish to encourage visits of certain
> websites such as local charities and local event publishing sites.
> - When the url bar is disabled, the dock can be the primary
> navigation system.
> - Office administrators can use the dock to visit company web
> pages and online services related to their work.
> - At exhibitions or shopping stores, free web terminals using the
> browser dock can allow visitors to visit websites related to the promoted
> materials.
> - Dock Items can be automatically displayed according to past user
> behavior (best suited for single user environments.)
> - Items that appear on Wednesday morning can theoretically be
> completely different on Monday evening based on a users browsing habits.
> - Possible integration with a system such as Weave for a new
> browser environment to collect a user's past browsing habits.
> - Websites can be set as private and are thereby disabled from
> appearing in the browser dock when in privacy mode (privacy mode can start
> by default with private websites hidden and when switched off, websites set
> as private would appear in the browser dock.)
> - Option to switch to classic mode to use the current default chrome of
> Firefox.
> License:
> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United
> States License
> Related Links:
> http://stevejbayer.com/blog/my-entry-mozilla-design-challenge-spring-...
> http://drupal.org/node/367050
> --
> Personal Website:
> http://stevejbayer.com
> Time Zone:
> +0530 UTC
