Go Flock yourself

Monday April 21, 2008

Web browsers suck. They really, really do even in this advanced day and age. Sure, they each do a few things better than the the other, but they all have inherent flaws that make using them a real pain.

Over the past weekend, I started looking for a browser that supported tags. That was my initial need - a browser that would let me tag my bookmarks so I could easily find things later without having to remember a url or page title. Basically, Del.icio.us in a browser form.

Then I found it in a program already on my system: Flock.

Flock is billed as ‘the social web browser’ for a reason - it works with so many social bookmark, sharing and communication sites that it’s almost overbearing. Almost. However, in my case I think I have found the perfect browser.

Based on Mozilla (Firefox, for the great unwashed), Flock runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Im not going to bore you with the entire feature set, but I do want to point a few features that have made me a believer.

First up, bookmarks. As seen in the accompanying image, when you choose to ‘Star’ a site (bookmark it), Flock presents you with a dialog that allows you to save the bookmark locally, add tags and if you choose, also add it to your del.icio.us or Magnolia online bookmarks. You can add it to multiple accounts at one time also. I can’t tell you how much I love this feature - being able to save my bookmarks while knowing that I can get to them from any browser I use is cool enough, but being able to make saving them in this manner the default action is awesome.

Next on the list is the aforementioned account integration. This has two parts actually - you can not only view your favorite sites and statuses from the Accounts sidebar, but you can add multiple accounts from the same service - as seen here, with Del.icio.us - or Gmail for instance. Using the ‘People’ sidebar then shows your current status and that of your friends on various services, as with Twitter in this case.

As mentioned above, having multiple accounts (again with the Del.icio.us) allows you to browse and search your local and online bookmarks - even when signed in as another user. In the example below, there are three separate accounts added and I can browse them without having to log in or out constantly. I simply click a link and go straight to my bookmark. It’s badass, admit it.

Last but not least: the built-in RSS reader. Sure, everyone has a favorite and I admit that I am a sucker for NetNewsWire, but the RSS reader contained in Flock is intuitive, easy to use and most importantly - easily navigated. It is lacking some advanced features, but it is by far the best of the browser based feed readers.

Also of note is that it is fully supported by 1Password, everyones favorite password management program.

Flock is a free product and you can download it from their site, www.Flock.com. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

<<<<