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Stainless does tabs right

There has been much rumination and wringing of hands over the positioning of the tabs in Safari 4 beta. It’s not just the fact that they’re at the top — there are other problems. First, there is no longer a proper title bar to grab onto for moving the window around. Second, the first tab takes in the three dot-widgets on the left, which makes it seem as if that tab alone has control of them. Third, the tabs expand to take over the entire width, which is non-intuitive. Fourth, you have to grab onto little tread marks to rearrange them.

So is there a better way? Yes there is, and you can try it out in Stainless — a web browser that started as a proof of concept and has progressed into a full-fledged project. It has some great features, but let’s start with the tabs. First, even though the tabs are at the top, there is still a strip above them for a proper title bar. Second, the first tab doesn’t take over the widgets. Third, the tabs are all the same size — unless, of course, you have so many that they have to adjust to fit. Fourth, you can grab the tabs anywhere if you want to rearrange them.

Why didn’t Apple think of that?

Stainless was originally designed to demonstrate how a Mac browser could have independent processes in each tab, just as Google’s Chrome does. With web-based apps now more prevalent, this will become an important technology. If one website crashes, you’ll be able to carry on your work in another tab. Stainless goes a step further by offering parallel sessions.

[They] allow you to log into a site using different credentials in separate tabs at the same time. This new technology is woven throughout Stainless, from the private cookie storage system, to session-aware bookmarks that remember the session in which they were saved.

Another neat trick is a shelf on the side where you can place favicons for your bookmarks.

Stainless is only at version 0.5.1, so there are still lots of features missing. It looks quite promising, though, and is definitely an app to keep on your radar. It’s a small download and launches wicked fast.

Posted Thursday, March 5, 2009 in

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  1. It really usefull for those who have many different caracters or ID when they online. maybe I’ll try to use this new great technology too, but where can I find the download information?

    Tukang Nggame

  2. There is a link above, but in case you missed it:

    http://www.stainlessapp.com/

    Mark





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