Idea: Web browser for work
I’m using Safari because it is fast, simple and not ugly. But it has several annoying issues:
1. It does not return allocated memory back to system (however, it recycles it internally and does not leak). I end up with Safari eating 1+ gigs and multiple windows with multiple tabs opened. And it is not easy to restart Safari due to a second issue:
2. It does not remember opened windows and tabs automatically. If I opened 10 tabs to read later (or to work with), I have to save them in a bookmark group. And it is not easy to remove/add new pages to that bookmark group.
3. Even if I have enough memory and Safari does not crash too often, I still have multiple windows and tabs, and hidden tabs. It is hard to switch between them, especially using a keyboard.
Let’s see what we can do about it.
First, I turn to other applications I use every day: Mail, TextMate and Xcode.
In Xcode and TextMate I have a quick access to any file using a Cmd+T shortcut: I press Cmd+T, a small window pops up with a search field. I type a portion of file name and it appears in the list. Press Enter — and here it is.
Cmd+T is useful for rare switching. For more frequent switches there’s Alt+Cmd+Up to switch between .h/.m files and Alt+Cmd+Left/Right to navigate through tabs in TextMate.
In Mail I have an Inbox and the folders. Inbox contains unread/undone messages. Everything else is in the folders.
In Mail I also have a single window with a single list of items. If I want to open a particular message in another window, I double-click on an item.
With some background I may draw some requirements for a browser useful at work:
1. It should always remember all windows positions and opened websites. If it crashes, it should restore all pages as they were opened before crash. (Just like Opera did for many years, by the way.)
2. It should have a Cmd+T menu to have a quick keyboard access to all open and bookmarked pages.
3. It should remember history for a page even if it is opened in a new window or tab.
4. The unread pages should be marked so.
5. There should be a context menu item “Read Later” which puts the link into Inbox and marks it as unread.
6. It should cache all the bookmarked pages on disk (in a form of webarchive) for indefinite amount of time. Each new version should be stored as well, but not overwrite the previous one. I want to access exactly the same content I’ve once seen.
7. Closed pages should be easy to reopen. (Safari lets you reopen a window, but not a tab).
Next step is to make some UI mockups to see how silly (or not) these desires are.