The past week I have spent my browsing time using Flock. What attracted me to flock was the way it integrates your "Web 2.0" experience into one application as well as possible. It allows you to easily add to your online bookmarks via the del.icio.us or Shadows services. It integrates your Flickr and Photobucket browsing and uploading experience tactfully. Flock also has the ability to smoothly edit your blog be it hosted on WordPress, Movable Type, Typepad, Live Journal, or Blogger.
It is also based on Mozilla Firefox, giving you the sense of security and peace of mind that the Mozilla engine tends to provide. But you may be asking yourself why they don't just make this service an extension to the existing Firefox Application. The Flock Team has admirably decided to provide a complete service to the user to fill your overall browsing needs. Interesting business model, but I would much rather have the option of downloading a Flock Extension to Firefox or downloading Flock as a full-fledged browser.
Although the authors recommend you use it parallel with Firefox or another browser, I decided to dive right in by setting it as my default browser. Despite the program being "barely past the concept stage" (according to the FAQ), the bugs in the beta have been minimal. The applications interface may not be bloated, but there is an obvious need for tightening up the code. I encountered a few errors pop up immediately after adding my user information for services until I restarted the browser. After that the only problems I experienced were normal to the development stages of any program.
The concept of online favorites may not be new, but as with most of Flock's features they have never been so tightly integrated into the graphical interface. The first thing you will probably notice would be the Star Button. Clicking this once will add the current site/tab to your favorites and optionally sync with your online Favorites service. It is much more than a “lazy” shortcut with a slick interface, it is an all new way of organizing your sites. You may even find yourself habitually moving over to the Star Button in other applications. At the moment the online syncing brings up the problem of not being able to delete local favorites without deleting the remote ones, but no doubt this is something that will be fixed in the development process or added as an option.
Below the Navigation Toolbar we have the unfamiliar Topbar Toolbar. This drop down menu is the center of your experience with Flock. Here you can change the bar to display your Flock Favs (a navigation of flock.com on default), News (RSS Feeds), custom sets of favorites (see: Drew), and other Top Bars for all of the integrated Flock features. As with most of the interface on Flock you are likely to adapt to the environment easily.
When you choose an option from the Top Bar Selector the Top Bar slides out and becomes your portal to that selection. The Photo Browser allows you to search through your own and other users photos very fast. The Photo Uploader does just what you would imagine with some standard options. Tagging is a bit clumsy as you have to right click each photo individually but no doubt a user interface for that is being developed.
There is no CTRL+H option for History as with most browsers. Instead the Favorites Manager awkwardly contains your browser history. Within the first several minutes you will experience the depth of the problems Flock has, however you will be able to deal with them. Your new default browser it is probably not, but a great companion for Web 2.0 junkies it is.
Despite the bugs standard to development process, I would suggest you give it a try even if you are not into Flickr, Blogging, or Online Favorites. To be honest Flock is what attracted me to Online Favorites and Flickr and I now use those services regularly. Flock has some great potential and a great start here in version .05.14.2. For more in depth information on Flock and its development, head over to the Flock website.
