I am lucky enough to have recently discovered ‘Flock’, a new, Mozilla-based web browser that can better Firefox!
Whilst very similar to Firefox in functionality (it is in fact based on a lot of the same code), the looks, features and functionality of this browser take it to another level.
Features Galore
The key features of Flock apart from the regular features that a web browser supports are a fully features RSS reader, Instant access to Flickr or Photobucket photos, Web Snippets and integrated posting to Blogs. Flock also supports the popular ‘social bookmarking’ site that is, del.icio.us.
RSS Reader
The RSS reader is a huge advance on the live bookmarks that were available in Firefox (these are still available in Flock). Whenever you are on a page that offers syndication, the orange feed icon will appear in the address bar. Click on this and you can view the feed within the news reader. You can also subscribe at the click of a mouse button. The new reader offers different views (excerpt, headlines, full) as well as single or double column layouts. There are also some useful organisational features that allow you to sort your feeds into their relevant categories.
Flickr
The Flickr integration is a highly innovative feature. If you click on the photo button on the toolbar, a drop down frame appears on the page showing your latest Flickr additions (as well as those of any friends you might add). There is also an easy to use photo uploader tool which provides drag and drop functionality and allows easy tagging.
Web Snippets
Ever seen something on the web that you would like to post on your Blog later. Or do you simply need the time to read over a few paragraphs of text or glance at a photo again? Right click on anything in Flock and you can add it to your web snippets. These are accessible at the bottom of the browser in a pop-out frame. Even better, you can drag and drop any items you have saved straight into posts on your blog using the in-built blog tool. No HTML skills required!
Blogging
The blogging tool supports all the major Blog API’s. Whilst the interface is fairly simple, Flock allows you to drag photos from the Flickr toolbar, from any web page or from your Web Snippets straight into your Blog posts. Neither do you have to enter any HTML code. Very easy to use, although currently lacking in some features.
Bookmarking
Apart from saving bookmarks onto your computers hard drive, you can also choose to add tags to them and post them up to your del.icio.us account. This is great if you wish to share your bookmarks with other users or if you want to access them from multiple computers. No more exporting your favourites list!
And many extensions
Modelled on Firefox, flock supports practically all the same extensions that are available with other Mozilla-based browsers (including Firefox). This means that the features do not stop there. There are loads of other tools available for use, click here for an extensive list.
Beautiful
This browser can make Windows XP feel like Mac OSX with its attractive user interface. Everything is highly accessible and whats more, Flock is compatible with Linux and Mac aswell which means that you can use the same tools on all three major platforms. Whilst still in ‘Beta’ stage of development, this browser is beginning to get noticed. Hopefully, we will see some more exciting developments in the near future as interest grows.
I’ll keep you posted!
