What will the Web look like in 10 years? Will we still be using something similar to current Web browsers or will there be a radically new interface for the Web? And will we even be using something like a PC or will all access be through mobile devices and dedicated appliances?
These and other questions are what Mozilla Labs is hoping to answer with their Concept Series, which is dedicated towards discussing and preparing for the future Web. And one of the first and most interesting projects from the Concept Series is Aurora, a fully thought-out idea of a browser in 2018.
Aurora is the brainchild of Adaptive Path, a design and consulting firm. Aurora doesn't exist as a real application, it is simply a set of ideas and graphical mockups. But it does point to a possible new direction for Web browsers.
Looking at the Aurora concepts it immediately reminded me of other 3D interfaces such as Sun's Looking Glass. The Aurora interface is designed to be highly interactive, to use real-world interface methodologies, and to be contextually aware of what a user is doing and what they've done in the past.
Looking at these initial concepts for Aurora, I was impressed with the amount of work that Adaptive Path had put into their mockups and browser ideas. One could easily see this being a next-generation browser.
But I am also skeptical about some of the perceived directions of the Aurora interface. I'm still not completely sold on the idea that a real-world interface is superior to an interface adapted to the necessities of computing and the Web. As I've said in the past, there are many times that I wished the real world had an interface more like the Web or my computer.
I'm also a bit skeptical about interfaces that try to adapt to what a user is doing by bringing some content front and center while pushing back other content. In my experience these work OK in some dedicated work contexts but most real people are too unpredictable and spontaneous for these to really work. Just because I've done something a certain way in the past doesn't mean I won't need to do it in a radically new way today.
Still, I like what Mozilla and contributors such as Adaptive Path are doing with the Concept Series and Aurora. These types of projects will hopefully lead to a future Web that we'll all be happy to surf to.
To check out the Mozilla Concept Series go to labs.mozilla.com/projects/concept-series/ and information on Aurora can be found at adaptivepath.com/aurora/
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Comments (6)
I never like the context arrangement of windows. It's analogous to the situation that the very next thing you want rolls off the desk and disappears in the crack between the floorboards.
The stuff where I put it. If I stick stuff on top, leave it under them. The smart part is leavign a small tag that I can see to click on or hover over to see and retreive it.
Posted by Dr_Zinj | August 8, 2008 7:36 AM
It's always good and I find fun, to look into the near future. In this case this team seems to be closer to the mark than some others.
My humble input to the process would be to keep in mind "individuality". Everyone works differently and as the previous poster stated, if you put the document "there" it should stay "there" and not be cast aside because you haven't looked at it in a week. Many of us work in the world of "out of site, out of mind" and frustration builds when we 'just know we saw that item the other day but can't for the life of me find it'. Note this is not age related but rather how our brain works at an individual level. It's the old creative versus analytical brain process discussion.
If we all did things the same way it would be easier for vendors the like of Microsoft to provide interfaces to their products. However, we don't all do things the same way. We're as individual as snow. And even if you do manage to create groups of like users, there will still be individuality amongst them.
Human interfaces such as the next great web browser should pay very strong attention to this and reflect that reality into what the future holds.
Posted by Sheeva | August 8, 2008 8:49 AM
I play MMORPGs and if you look at the GUIs of players in a game such as World of Warcraft, different mods or add-ons allow the game interface to be drastically customized depending on how that user thinks and reacts to their environment through mouse clicks and keyboard interaction.
The interface components can be customized exactly to the user's play/work style. While I agree that there are best practices, you can't discount that some people are wired differently and would prefer a different interface.
In my humple opinion, I think the browser of the future is one that allows the inclusion of third party modifiers that add/modify/customize interface elements.
Posted by Nine | August 8, 2008 10:31 AM
Hate to say it but the big hold up here is likely to be 'monetization'! How do all these services get paid for? The ubiquitous wifi, the rainfall collection data, the lists of events, etc. etc. True they all exist in someway or other right now but you will find that they generally do not last a long time because sooner or later the service runs out of money or time or something and poof! Only those that find a good way to 'make a buck' (vc is not "making a buck" so while it may be what gets most services started, that is all it can do) can last. Technologically everything they are proposing seems to well within the current highend abilities, but monetarily?......How does it get paid? Plan , plan, plan, dream, dream, dream, but "Show me the money!"
Posted by Dan M | August 8, 2008 10:35 AM
There is a reason that man went from icons and drawings to language as a means of communication as man evolved from the cave. Can it be that these designers are proposing that the rest of the world regress to their comfort level?
If people liked the idea that things they put someplace have been changed around by the gods then Vista should be worldwide phenomenon by now.
Posted by MylesJ | August 8, 2008 7:04 PM
This "Web of the future" bears more than a passing resemblance to Apple's over 10 year old Hot Sauce/Project X browser plug-in and HTML tags.
You can see a picture of Apples' Hot Sauce Here:
http://www.vitaluna.net/archives/HotSauce_navigation_screenshot.jpg
Of course with today's faster processors and graphics cards it might be an idea who's time has come......10 years later.
Posted by Randy Smith | August 9, 2008 11:35 AM