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Fizzik's social web browser enters public beta, but I kinda wish it hadn't
Look, I know this is a beta app and that means it's not feature complete or bug-free, but I had higher hopes for Fizzik's "social web browser." When I first wrote about it, it seemed like an interesting concept -- perhaps this underscores the importance of waiting until you get your hands on a program before making that call.
When you launch Fizzik, you see the screen above. I'm no interface designer, but I think there might be one or two minor flaws with this. I'm going to pretend I'm an average user for the next few paragraphs:
For starters, what the hell do I click on? Where's my home page? When I start Internet Explorer I see MSN. How come I don't see anything but blackness on Fizzik. I see a magnifying glass which I assume is to search, but what if I don't want to search? What if I want to look at ilovebacon.com? Where do I type that? Can I type that? It doesn't look like I can.
I'll give up and perform a search for ilovebacon instead. That tone on tone button is nearly an inch wide, but I still have to click right on the magnifying glass?
When you launch Fizzik, you see the screen above. I'm no interface designer, but I think there might be one or two minor flaws with this. I'm going to pretend I'm an average user for the next few paragraphs:
For starters, what the hell do I click on? Where's my home page? When I start Internet Explorer I see MSN. How come I don't see anything but blackness on Fizzik. I see a magnifying glass which I assume is to search, but what if I don't want to search? What if I want to look at ilovebacon.com? Where do I type that? Can I type that? It doesn't look like I can.
I'll give up and perform a search for ilovebacon instead. That tone on tone button is nearly an inch wide, but I still have to click right on the magnifying glass?
Here's what I get when I click the button. This is search, right? Where's the G for Google or Y for Yahoo? What the heck is that b with the dot in it? Under video I see YouTube...What about Hulu? I watch videos there, too. Maybe that's what that H is for under the news. Huffington Post? What the hell is that?
Ok, I'll look for a CD on Amazon instead:
Ok, I'll look for a CD on Amazon instead:
Ahh, there's what I get in my regular web browser. But I don't understand why it's so much harder in Fizzik. In Internet Explorer I can pick Amazon from the search box and do the same thing -- and I still have nice, obvious menus and buttons I can click on.
Maybe I'll try that plus thing now. Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail. Still no link to Google...How the heck do I Google something? Maybe I can import my favorites...Or maybe not, since there's no menu that I can find that would let me do stuff like that.
...and that wraps up a new user's look at Fizzik.
Here's my beef with this program. Who is Fizzik targetting? Casual users who don't understand the complexities of the web? I don't think those are the kind of people who will be willing to figure out such an alien interface.
Is it power users who love the social web and media sites? Possibly, but those people -- like most of our readers -- would gladly choose a faster and more extensible browser like Firefox or Google Chrome and mold it into their own personalized power browser.
Ultimately, Fizzik just confuses me. What do you think, DS readers?
...and that wraps up a new user's look at Fizzik.
Here's my beef with this program. Who is Fizzik targetting? Casual users who don't understand the complexities of the web? I don't think those are the kind of people who will be willing to figure out such an alien interface.
Is it power users who love the social web and media sites? Possibly, but those people -- like most of our readers -- would gladly choose a faster and more extensible browser like Firefox or Google Chrome and mold it into their own personalized power browser.
Ultimately, Fizzik just confuses me. What do you think, DS readers?
Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsSunyiNyufiMay 10th 2010 3:53PM
Had the same problems with Fizzik. It's hard to just browse in it, and the lack of Google isn't good either. Also while I can post to twitter from it, I can't look at new updates from my friends without going to the twitter site.
The only thing I liked about it was watching YouTube videos. Though that might be mainly due to the fact that I hate YT's new design.
PaulMay 10th 2010 4:01PM
Just a bit of context here: Fizzik was built by two guys. We wondered if the browser experience could be different. We are not venture funded, and we are not a big multinational corporation.
We put this into beta to get feedback from you and others to and a better product. Some of your readers might prefer to help Microsoft and Google improve their products. That's cool.
Finally, apart from your above sentiments, we need to thank you for sending literally thousands of folks our way. We're glad to have your readers on board - they are just the folks that will help us get this right.
Paul - www.fizzik.com
GrantMay 14th 2010 7:40PM
Lee, I also appreciate your review. We went into beta mostly to find out what we should do next. Do people want a better browser? If so, the best way to do that is find out what kind problems people need to solve in today's web. We don't think the browsers developed in 90s are optimized for today's internet, but it is anyone's guess what the new kind of browser will be.
It's our goal to try to find out what that new kind of browser could be. We did what we could in our little part of the Puget Sound, but now we need to get more advice from the world. It's a little scary putting something up for the whole world to see, but its the only way we can actually create something great.
I do hope that people will, even if they don't use it all the time now, at least be willing to watch and let us know where to improve.
Grant - fizzik.com
BradleyMay 10th 2010 6:24PM
@ The Fizzik Guys:
I understand you are a little miffed about the review, but you have to remember those are honest comments. Maybe instead of commenting "We're just two guys" and so on, you should instead try to come up with ideas on how to do it differently.
AnonMay 10th 2010 8:08PM
I agree with the majority of the review, but with two exceptions. I believe that a whole lot of people on the internet know what bing is ("b with a dot") and fewer, but still a lot, know what the huffington post is. That said, if you are going to include bing, not including google is strange, and including HP but not so many other, more popular news sites is strange.
As for the developers, basically what bradley said. Do not expect to get this much constructive criticism a lot.
TimothyMay 10th 2010 7:22PM
I, for one, applaud the idea of trying a radically different design... Maybe this isn't a perfect one, but it's always interesting to see something new in UI design.
josephJun 23rd 2010 1:18PM
wannah know what i think??..This is ah fabulous idea!! This is EXACTLY what i was looking for>>thah results and thah web page all in thah same frame.How can yah go wrong with that?? However.....as many has said,where is thah google search?? And thah speed is ah little bit rediculously slow as far as loading fizziks.there is no history button,help button or nothing like that.(that i could see anyway).This is ah GREAT start to new browsing!!. i once posted on thah net that i wanted someone tah come up with this bout ah month ago,and POOF!! wouldnt yah know it..here it is..i think by just fixing ah few bugs among other things..this would be an awsome browser!!..please,keep going with this. thah more yah improve it,thah more people are going tah use it.. i cant wait tah see thah next release!!. great job guys!! keep up thah good work :) ..ps..i hope yah stick with thah results and thah web page all in one frame.. i would also like tah see thah back and forth button on thah results on thah left hand side where yah search so that yah can go back and forth through results,at thah same time keeping thah webpage which you are viewing still on screen with thah back and forth buttons there also..know what i mean???.even tabbed browsing would be nice on thah web pages like chrome has. :) ty