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Another TechCrunch Guest Post on Single-Site Browsers

My first guest post for TechCrunch, on the subject of single-site browsers, attracted a lot of interest and no small number of questions. Without seeing them in action, it’s pretty hard to grasp what’s so great about what sounds like a stripped down, less functional version of a normal web browser. I’ve followed up with a more detailed look at some of the leading contenders, Bubbles, Fluid and Prism, highlighting the advantages their provide over traditional browsers. I also threw Adobe AIR into the mix, contrasting its holistic approach to Rich Internet Applications with the minimalist take of the other three products.

My conclusion:

AIR has the full weight of Adobe behind it, great tool support and a lot of mindshare in the web space. If enough vendors are convinced by its advantages and decide to use it to create desktop-enabled versions of their web apps, it may be hard for the other SSBs to compete. API standardization will be key in determining how things pan out. A common, well-designed API for single-site browsers would even make it realistic for vendors to integrate desktop-oriented code directly into their web apps. If this were to happen then loading an application like Gmail or Flickr into Bubbles, Fluid or Prism would give you all those fancy dock menus, popup notifications and the like with no customization required at all. Considering that users are increasingly leery of downloading and installing standalone apps, this would be a compelling advantage indeed.

Note: The link to my script customizing Bubbles for use with TechCrunch isn’t online yet in the main article. I’ve posted it here for those who are interested in taking a look.