My Take

Twitter: Week 9

By neonblue2

1:24 PM Jul 1st from web

My dad just got ->2<- iPhone 3GSs. Silly Telstra...

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Or maybe a sorta rant about the crappier parts of such an ambitious project.

Stainless is a web browser that began as a simple test of making a Chrome-like multi-process web browser for Mac OS X before Chrome arrived. It pretty soon evolved into an active project to build an actual web browser. In a lot of ways it's an astounding product.

Here are some of the best parts.

Multiple Processes
Like Google's Chrome, Stainless employs a multi-processing architecture to improve stability and performance. Though it's not as incredible as Chrome's implementation (as their website used to say) it works the same way in most cases.

The only downside I've encountered is that Stainless can sometimes lockup the WindowServer leading to a system wide freeze (except the clock...). The only way to save yourself is to login using SSH and kill something. I recommend the Finder.

Dynamic WebKit Framework Loading
Unless you know what to do it's impossible to force a WebKit browser to load another WebKit library than the system default. Having the option to do so in Stainless in awesome.

There is sometimes a performance decrease but that's not the fault of Stainless.

Bookmark Shelf
Instead of an bookmark "bar" underneath the address bar, Stainless uses a "shelf" on the left that displays website favicons (or custom images of your choice) that display the website name when hovered over. It's an awesome idea.

I wouldn't think it were so good if you couldn't edit the favicons (some websites don't have favicons or they're broken) but you can. Yay!

And now the worst.

Non-Mac Behaviour
This is what annoys me the most. The "About" and "Check for Updates" options in the menu bar are supposed to lead to two well known Mac conventions; the standard Mac "About" window; and the usual Sparkle update window. Instead, in Stainless, they lead to two, in-Stainless, browser windows that open beneath the current window. It's really annoying!

And what's with the kooky "about:" crap that everyone likes to chuck in their browsers these days? Firefox then Chrome and now Stainless. You don't see Safari or Camino doing it, do you? No. It's because they want to create a seamless experience with the rest of the OS. Crazy behaviour throws everyone off balance.

Odd Placement of Controls
I'm just going to chuck these out there. Why don't the "New Tab" and "Close Tab" buttons line up with each other? Why is the "Close Tab" button on the wrong side? What's up the non-stand Preferences window? Why is the tab bar so static (dragging URLs in, double click to open new tab, etc.)?

Now this might sound like me going on about cosmetic issues I have with Stainless but they're also usability problems. The non-standard behaviour and appearance means I have to reacquaint myself with everything each time I use it. Why can't we just have a normal "About" window? It comes standard with the template. Why don't buttons line up? It's quite easy to see they don't. Why is the "Close Tab" button on the right? Every other "Close" button is on the left because that's where it belongs.

Just don't go about redoing everything and Stainless will get better. Put more work into making it better rather than totally different. UI conventions are there for a reason. Don't forget them.

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