Mozilla's Prism: Get Web Apps on Your Ubuntu Desktop

When Mozilla announced their Prism application some time ago, I have to admit I was skeptical as to its usefulness. Prism is basically a "site specific browser," meaning it can only browse one web site at a time, making a website or web application seem like it's more integrated into your desktop. Initially I doubted I would ever find a use for this style of computing, but I've recently come around.

You see, I'm often working in a web browser, and I'd like to have my Toodledo web-based to-do list accessible, as well as my Google Calendar, Google Docs, or Gmail, without it cluttering up my tabs or taking up space on my current virtual desktop.

With Mozilla Prism, I keep my web browser for, well, browsing the web, and I have separate windows specifically for my calendar, email, to-do list, and Google documents. I usually put my Prism web applications on a separate virtual workspace on my Ubuntu desktop as well, which really helps me focus on the task at hand, but keeps those essential apps in easy reach.

An added benefit of using Mozilla Prism for certain web applications is that it is lighter and quicker to start up than a full Firefox instance, so it's a snap to quickly pull up my calendar or documents straight from my regular application menu!

Using some nicely packaged Mozilla Prism configurations in the Ubuntu repositories, it's easy to create Prism apps for Google services and put them in your application menus just like any other application.

First, open a terminal and type the following:

sudo apt-get install prism-google-calendar prism-google-docs prism-google-mail

Enter your administrative password when prompted, and the packages will download and install. You're done! Once everything is finished installing, check your Ubuntu application menu to see the new shortcuts. The webapp-as-desktop-app goodness doesn't stop with Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Gmail, though. There are several other easily installable packages that provide access to still more web services, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader. Just do a search in Synaptic or Add/Remove Applications to full explore all the possibilities Mozilla Prism on Ubuntu has to offer.