Flock 1.0 Released

The way we surf the net has changed a lot since Tim Berners-Lee first invented the World Wide Web, and the people behind Flock no doubt hope to take it on a bit further. There are plenty of browsers to choose from these days, each trying to offer something a little different. Microsofts Internet Explorer is still the king and is unrivaled when it comes to web site compatibility. And despite having a pretty poor reputation as a company, IE7 is actually a fairly decent browser. Firefox offer their users bazillions of extensions to make their web experience more customisable and personal, whilst Opera produce innovative browsers with everything built in. Apple have now put their Safari browser into the Windows browser war....so what have Flock got up their sleeves to make their product stand out?

Social networking is what. As internet users the world over jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, signing up for Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Hi5 et al, Flocker tries to bring not just the web, but all those accounts together in one handy little package. Is it any good? I've been using various beta versions of Flock for some time, and have had a few hours to test run their finished product. Click here for a few screen shots.

First things first - how good a browser is it? Social networking is all well and good, but the primary function of any browser is in its ability to put the web on your monitor. It's based on Firefox, so you wouldn't expect too many problems - unless you load it up with extensions, in which case Firefox can start to go wrong. Firefox has also had problems with memory leaks, hogging your PC resources and slowing your computer down. Firefox extensions do, for the most part, work with Flock and are just as simple to install. I must confess, I have added just one or two extensions that I consider vital. Mouse Gestures, PDF Downloads, Delicious (bookmarks) and Boost for Facebook customisation. And I've used them without problem. The browser runs quite smoothly, but I have found that opening too many tabs with You Tube videos running does bring it to an almost grinding halt. In everyday use though, Flock seems to handle the web without fuss or ado.

As far as customisation is concerned, it is however, lacking. Badly. Firefox extensions might work, but themes do not. There are plans to introduce themes for users to download but at the moment there are none. You are stuck with the standard theme, and whilst it isn't ugly, it is a little big chunky and plasticky, and there aren't many options available to allow you to change things, other than installing or removing toolbars. Because it is a little chunky, I found that adding even one toolbar took too much space away from the main window for my liking. But still, the buttons are all logically placed, clear and navigating is nice and easy. Maybe for people with slightly iffy sight this will be a God send!

The key to Flock's success will be in it's Social Bookmarking tools, and I have to say I think they are brilliant. Most of the time. In the screenshot above, I've put a red square around the all important buttons. The first opens a new tab to My World, your social bookmarking focus point. It's also set as the default homepage. The second will open you People Sidebar, the third is for (photo and video) media, the fourth is for RSS feeds. Button five opens your Favourites sidebar and button six is where you add your various accounts. Currently they are Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, You Tube, Photobucket, Piczo, Blogger, Blogsome, LiveJournal, Typepad, Wordpress, Xanga, Delicious and Magnolia. You can add a self hosted blog as well.

Next comes a useful Web Clipboard, followed by two more pretty useful tools. A blog editor, which should make posting a lot quicker and easier, and a Photo Uploader. I have used this to upload photos to both Facebook and Flickr with no problem. Quick, easy and importantly, well featured - I can tag, add descriptions, create new folders and sets - perfect.

The media bar is potentially useful, but I've found it a bit irritating. All of the buttons I've described glow orange when there is something new, but the Media Bar has an annoying tendancy to glow for no reason. I have found the People sidebar much more useful. you can tab between your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr accounts, and find your friends ordered according to most recently updated. Again, there is an orange button to tell you when there is new media, and this one seems to work!

I've also found the RSS reader a little bit annoying. It does allow you to import OPML feed lists, glows orange when there is something new, and has a customisable view. But I just don't like it from an aesthetic point of view. The browser does allow you to switch to Yahoo, Bloglines or Google Reader when adding feeds, but the RSS button won't open the alternative reader of your choice. Shame.

Other features worth a mention? Adding RSS feeds and bookmarks is made really very easy for you, and you can also very easily add any search box on any website to the browsers built in search tool. Very handy.

Conclusion

I like Flock. A lot. Not quite enough to make me switch from Opera, but very almost. It is now my secondary browser, relegating Firefox and IE7 to also rans. It does need a little polishing to remove some of the irritants and allow greater customisation, but I suspect these will come in time. It is fighting for a market share in a tough world, but I hope it does get enough of it to survive. It's social networking tools generally work well, it's different, innovative (even if it has taken Firefox to start with!) and it deserves a decent sized user base. Stars out of ten?

Suggested Alternatives

Internet Explorer 7, Opera 9.24, Firefox 2.0, Safari, Netscape, Maxthon.