Prism
Cool. Prism 0.9 is out.
I’ve been using Prism for a while now to separate off frequently-accessed or troublesome web apps from my main browser.
What is Prism?
Prism is sort of like a simplified browser that’s focussed in on doing just one thing, or rather, one website. Prism creates an icon to access a specific website and cut down on distractions while using that website.
For example, I have a GMail icon that opens a Prism instance. It doesn’t really do anything except use GMail. If I click on a link in an email, it opens that link in my default browser. Simple.
So what?
You may be asking, “So what? I just browse this in my normal browser!” Fair enough, that’s where I started.
So why do I use it? Stability. Each Prism instance runs in its own memory space. Each instance keeps its own settings, cache, cookies, etc. It’s separate to my normal browser, so it can’t interfere with anything else I’m doing. There is no possibilities of nefarious cross-site skullduggery. It also will not crash my primary browser if the web app misbehaves.
Suggestions
For me, Prism shines when it’s used to access web apps. Here’s some sites I access with Prism:
- GMail
- Google Calendar
- Google Reader
- Google Docs (hmmm… seems to be a theme here…)
- Weewar
What’s changed in 0.9?
A short list of significant changes in the new version:
- each Prism instance now runs in its own memory space, which cauterises apps from each other
- ability to use extensions (although I haven’t been too successful at installing them yet)
- Prism now uses Gecko 1.9 Beta 4, so it’s fairly closely mirroring Firefox developments
- app icons!
I’m loving having GMail et al separated off from my main browser and am looking forward to Prism’s future.
Blessings,
Steve
[Listening to Nine Inch Nails, Ghosts — Ghosts I]
