I have to agree with other posters: the app looks awful, there's no consistency of the UI elements within the app and with the iPhone's UI. Just because of how it looks I would never buy this app. The icon looks amateurish as well.
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Finally! A true tab based browser
- Thread starter tabbrowse
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Dear developer,
I just had a look at the first screenshot of your app, and the first word that popped into my head was MESS. Unfortunately, it does look kinda messy. It turned me off. Sorry.
I just had a look at the first screenshot of your app, and the first word that popped into my head was MESS. Unfortunately, it does look kinda messy. It turned me off. Sorry.
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Two things for me why I would not by this app, firstly the UI design is unapealing and secondly the price. £2.99 for an app that I can currently find other tab based browsers similar to yours for between £0.59 to £1.20.
Two things for me why I would not by this app, firstly the UI design is unapealing and secondly the price. £2.99 for an app that I can currently find other tab based browsers similar to yours for between £0.59 to £1.20.
Thank you all for your feedback
Thank you all for your feedback... Your feedback is well registered. We are definitely working on making a better UI. Please note that we had to make last minute modifications to many parts of UI due to various reasons which I cannot list here. The next version would be having a better UI along with a few nice features. Hopefully we can get it out of the door as early as possible...
Thank you all for your feedback... Your feedback is well registered. We are definitely working on making a better UI. Please note that we had to make last minute modifications to many parts of UI due to various reasons which I cannot list here. The next version would be having a better UI along with a few nice features. Hopefully we can get it out of the door as early as possible...
More Thougts after Usage
The UI is just fine. I've been using for since launch and it works well. The key is usability, glamor can follow. Sure, there are improvements to be done. But, don't you need to use before concluding that it's a mess? I'll bet you can get a complimentary copy to try out and then you can criticize with knowledge.
The app takes some practice & setup because it does so much more than safari. The tab browsing works great and the full-page view is very nice (once you know how to do). It did crash on me once, don't know why, but on restart everything came came back.
The key thing missing for me is that this app can't be made the default browser on the iPhone. That's an Apple problem that needs to get fixed. So, any program (like google mobile), still calls safari.
I'll have more thoughts as I use more.
Dear developer,
I just had a look at the first screenshot of your app, and the first word that popped into my head was MESS. Unfortunately, it does look kinda messy. It turned me off. Sorry.
The UI is just fine. I've been using for since launch and it works well. The key is usability, glamor can follow. Sure, there are improvements to be done. But, don't you need to use before concluding that it's a mess? I'll bet you can get a complimentary copy to try out and then you can criticize with knowledge.
The app takes some practice & setup because it does so much more than safari. The tab browsing works great and the full-page view is very nice (once you know how to do). It did crash on me once, don't know why, but on restart everything came came back.
The key thing missing for me is that this app can't be made the default browser on the iPhone. That's an Apple problem that needs to get fixed. So, any program (like google mobile), still calls safari.
I'll have more thoughts as I use more.
Few more features to try
1) If you closed a tab by mistake, you can restore it by touching on the cross button in the bottom and selecting the appropriate tab. The last closed tab would be in the bottom
2) If you read on your iPhone / iPod on the bed, you could open the website, double tap to zoom to a level which is comfortable for reading and hit the reading view [The glasses button in the bottom]. This would lock the orientation, prevent screen from locking, ignores all touches on the screen and automatically scroll the page for you every 'x' seconds. You can change the speed in which it scrolls based on your reading speed. You can change these options in the settings page.
3) You can email the link by touching the Ctrl button and then clicking the link. This would show you a menu. Selecting Email would open the mail app. In App email would be coming in next version
4) Gestures are disabled by default due to certain changes in 3.0 and 3.1. This is still in trial mode. You can enable gestures in settings. Move both fingers together upwards or downwards to scroll to top or bottom of the page. Move both fingers together to left or right to go back or forward in history. If the ctrl button was pressed before performing the gesture, then moving both fingers to left would switch to left tab, moving both fingers to right would switch to right tab. Moving both fingers up would switch to first tab and moving both fingers down would switch to last tab. I use this a lot. I touch the Ctrl button, switch to full screen and switch between tabs using gestures. Of course if this is intervening with your normal browsing you could disable it again in the settings page. We are working on making gestures better. Watch out for more gestures in next version.
We are glad to hear your feedback. Here are a few more you may want to check out. This link has all these features listed - Link
1) If you closed a tab by mistake, you can restore it by touching on the cross button in the bottom and selecting the appropriate tab. The last closed tab would be in the bottom
2) If you read on your iPhone / iPod on the bed, you could open the website, double tap to zoom to a level which is comfortable for reading and hit the reading view [The glasses button in the bottom]. This would lock the orientation, prevent screen from locking, ignores all touches on the screen and automatically scroll the page for you every 'x' seconds. You can change the speed in which it scrolls based on your reading speed. You can change these options in the settings page.
3) You can email the link by touching the Ctrl button and then clicking the link. This would show you a menu. Selecting Email would open the mail app. In App email would be coming in next version
4) Gestures are disabled by default due to certain changes in 3.0 and 3.1. This is still in trial mode. You can enable gestures in settings. Move both fingers together upwards or downwards to scroll to top or bottom of the page. Move both fingers together to left or right to go back or forward in history. If the ctrl button was pressed before performing the gesture, then moving both fingers to left would switch to left tab, moving both fingers to right would switch to right tab. Moving both fingers up would switch to first tab and moving both fingers down would switch to last tab. I use this a lot. I touch the Ctrl button, switch to full screen and switch between tabs using gestures. Of course if this is intervening with your normal browsing you could disable it again in the settings page. We are working on making gestures better. Watch out for more gestures in next version.
Some Feedback...
Let me give you some feedback and comments as well.
1) Doesnt load as fast as safari but on my 3GS it loads fast enough. 1-2 seconds. Well done.
2) Features that I have tried and like include the full screen mode, reading mode, tab browsing, ability to open previously closed tabs, ability to slide tabs.
3) Tab loading is fast as is browsing. Not noticeable difference between this and safari for me.
4) As everyone exhaustively pointed out your UI needs work. Let me point out some suggestions for you to consider:
a) Its a little busy right now. I might move the back and forward arrows to the bottom (ill get there in a sec) to make the URl bar longer. I would, if possible, move the refresh icon into the URL bar similar to how safari does it. I would then also move the new tab button onto that row and just use a simple "+" sign. Right now that new tab icon is too big and gets in the way of scrolling through tabs. Then you have only 2 icons, favorites and new tab and the scroll bar/search bar is longer.
b) Love the dual purpose URL/search bar ala Chrome. Its simple and the way you implemented it works great. Having the .COM button makes it easy to enter a web address if thats what you want (ie typing in yahoo and pressing .com so it doesnt search for it but takes you there). One suggestion. I think most people who are at a site, say www.cnn.com, that tap on the URL bar either want to type in a new URL or do a new search. Right now when you do that, you have to hit clear. I would auto-default to selecting all the text upon tapping in the URL bar so that a person can simple type over it without having to hit clear first. If they want to append the current URL, they simply need to tap one more time to get it back to non selected.
c) This one will likely start a debate but i prefer the tabs below the search bar. Easier to identify which tab your on. I would also make the distinction between active and non active tabs a little more drastic. Try using a darker blue for non active tabs; more like its greyed out.
d) The "X" to close each tab are a little big and ugly. Its a tough UI design here as the screen is so small you need to have the X big enough to push easily but not so big its ugly. Not sure what else can be done except maybe shrink it 20% and make it a more transparent red. The only other option is something like no X but hold down tab and get a pop up asking to delete but that adds 2 clicks instead of one.
e) I would default to no tabs until a second one is chosen. This will by default give you more screen real estate if you are just browsing and have no need for a second tab. I would actually make this an option so people can choose if first tab is in a "tabbed screen" or no tab.
f) The bottom bar is a little messy. I do not think you need one touch access to reading mode. My thought is that this is a nice to have but the likelihood is that people will use this sparingly. I also do not think people need one touch access to the restore tabs screen. Unless you close them by accident which is not a frequent occurrence then this is also more of a convenience then a killer feature. Same goes for the Info icon which should be used very very little (i know it contains the bookmarks so ill get there). Instead, i would create something like a Menu icon under which you can choose (1. Reading mode, 2. Tab History, 3. Options). That way its one button for all those less used features. I think you MUST add a bookmarks icon for one touch access to bookmarks. Managing them can be buried in options but not access to them. Now for the right side of the bar. Your use of command and control is fine but again too much design here. No need for a none button. It should always be none as the default and the command and control are the only necessary buttons. Command click for new tab is perfect. Better than holding down link like in safari to ask for new window. Faster. Although please note i think when a new tab is clicked, it should open to right of all the other tabs and not be placed next to the tab your currently on. Gets confusing to keep track of where you open them. As for the control button, i have no problem with the menu options but is it possible to activate it by holding down a link instead of control clicking? Is that codeable? Right now holding down a link gives you the option of "Open" "Copy" or "Cancel". All useless. Copy can be done by just clicking once anywhere on the screen and frankly you can also just make that an option. If the programming framework will not allow you to alter this then your control button is fone but i would switch the two so command is first as I suspect it will be used more often. The bottom bar would now have: Command and Control on the left. Forward and back in the middle along with maybe bookmark icon in the middle. And Menu button on the Right.
g) You need to change your color scheme. The blue are too light. Frankly you would be well served to develop a "themes" plugin that would allow people to download different skins. Even so, i would make your colors darkers so there is more a distinction between the webpage and the bars. I also think you need to try and adds some nice rounded elements to these bars similar to what you have tried to do on the search bar row.
h) The full screen icon maybe should be moved to the bottom bar if you do as I suggest with the other icons. Its ok where it is but difficult to press and very small.
i) Have no played alot with gestures but seem to be ok.
I think once you have the UI right and some of the crashing fixed (i open 5 tabs and then closed the program before it was finished loading. The icon badge said 5 and when i clicked on your program it kept loading for a second and crashing. Maybe have to do with the fact that all tabs had not finished loading and were trying to load), you should consider some additional features such as:
1) Offline browsing. This would be a HUGE feature that people currently pay separately for from other apps. You can do this on your own or through partnership with someone like instapaper.
2) RSS support. This is no easy one but if there was a way to manage your RSS feeds through your browser interface, you could really have a killer app.
Right now, your price is not justified. If your UI was much improved and streamlined, I still dont know that enough people will pay to have tab browsing. However, if you include features like offline and RSS, then you are enticing people to not only use your browser (which they may come to love) but also the RSS and offline capabilities. These are natural convergence items and I think people would rather have one app to manage this well then 3 separate ones which they have to pay for....
Hopefully this is helpful and I know its just one person's opinion but maybe some of these are new thoughts that can help you...
Let me give you some feedback and comments as well.
1) Doesnt load as fast as safari but on my 3GS it loads fast enough. 1-2 seconds. Well done.
2) Features that I have tried and like include the full screen mode, reading mode, tab browsing, ability to open previously closed tabs, ability to slide tabs.
3) Tab loading is fast as is browsing. Not noticeable difference between this and safari for me.
4) As everyone exhaustively pointed out your UI needs work. Let me point out some suggestions for you to consider:
a) Its a little busy right now. I might move the back and forward arrows to the bottom (ill get there in a sec) to make the URl bar longer. I would, if possible, move the refresh icon into the URL bar similar to how safari does it. I would then also move the new tab button onto that row and just use a simple "+" sign. Right now that new tab icon is too big and gets in the way of scrolling through tabs. Then you have only 2 icons, favorites and new tab and the scroll bar/search bar is longer.
b) Love the dual purpose URL/search bar ala Chrome. Its simple and the way you implemented it works great. Having the .COM button makes it easy to enter a web address if thats what you want (ie typing in yahoo and pressing .com so it doesnt search for it but takes you there). One suggestion. I think most people who are at a site, say www.cnn.com, that tap on the URL bar either want to type in a new URL or do a new search. Right now when you do that, you have to hit clear. I would auto-default to selecting all the text upon tapping in the URL bar so that a person can simple type over it without having to hit clear first. If they want to append the current URL, they simply need to tap one more time to get it back to non selected.
c) This one will likely start a debate but i prefer the tabs below the search bar. Easier to identify which tab your on. I would also make the distinction between active and non active tabs a little more drastic. Try using a darker blue for non active tabs; more like its greyed out.
d) The "X" to close each tab are a little big and ugly. Its a tough UI design here as the screen is so small you need to have the X big enough to push easily but not so big its ugly. Not sure what else can be done except maybe shrink it 20% and make it a more transparent red. The only other option is something like no X but hold down tab and get a pop up asking to delete but that adds 2 clicks instead of one.
e) I would default to no tabs until a second one is chosen. This will by default give you more screen real estate if you are just browsing and have no need for a second tab. I would actually make this an option so people can choose if first tab is in a "tabbed screen" or no tab.
f) The bottom bar is a little messy. I do not think you need one touch access to reading mode. My thought is that this is a nice to have but the likelihood is that people will use this sparingly. I also do not think people need one touch access to the restore tabs screen. Unless you close them by accident which is not a frequent occurrence then this is also more of a convenience then a killer feature. Same goes for the Info icon which should be used very very little (i know it contains the bookmarks so ill get there). Instead, i would create something like a Menu icon under which you can choose (1. Reading mode, 2. Tab History, 3. Options). That way its one button for all those less used features. I think you MUST add a bookmarks icon for one touch access to bookmarks. Managing them can be buried in options but not access to them. Now for the right side of the bar. Your use of command and control is fine but again too much design here. No need for a none button. It should always be none as the default and the command and control are the only necessary buttons. Command click for new tab is perfect. Better than holding down link like in safari to ask for new window. Faster. Although please note i think when a new tab is clicked, it should open to right of all the other tabs and not be placed next to the tab your currently on. Gets confusing to keep track of where you open them. As for the control button, i have no problem with the menu options but is it possible to activate it by holding down a link instead of control clicking? Is that codeable? Right now holding down a link gives you the option of "Open" "Copy" or "Cancel". All useless. Copy can be done by just clicking once anywhere on the screen and frankly you can also just make that an option. If the programming framework will not allow you to alter this then your control button is fone but i would switch the two so command is first as I suspect it will be used more often. The bottom bar would now have: Command and Control on the left. Forward and back in the middle along with maybe bookmark icon in the middle. And Menu button on the Right.
g) You need to change your color scheme. The blue are too light. Frankly you would be well served to develop a "themes" plugin that would allow people to download different skins. Even so, i would make your colors darkers so there is more a distinction between the webpage and the bars. I also think you need to try and adds some nice rounded elements to these bars similar to what you have tried to do on the search bar row.
h) The full screen icon maybe should be moved to the bottom bar if you do as I suggest with the other icons. Its ok where it is but difficult to press and very small.
i) Have no played alot with gestures but seem to be ok.
I think once you have the UI right and some of the crashing fixed (i open 5 tabs and then closed the program before it was finished loading. The icon badge said 5 and when i clicked on your program it kept loading for a second and crashing. Maybe have to do with the fact that all tabs had not finished loading and were trying to load), you should consider some additional features such as:
1) Offline browsing. This would be a HUGE feature that people currently pay separately for from other apps. You can do this on your own or through partnership with someone like instapaper.
2) RSS support. This is no easy one but if there was a way to manage your RSS feeds through your browser interface, you could really have a killer app.
Right now, your price is not justified. If your UI was much improved and streamlined, I still dont know that enough people will pay to have tab browsing. However, if you include features like offline and RSS, then you are enticing people to not only use your browser (which they may come to love) but also the RSS and offline capabilities. These are natural convergence items and I think people would rather have one app to manage this well then 3 separate ones which they have to pay for....
Hopefully this is helpful and I know its just one person's opinion but maybe some of these are new thoughts that can help you...
Price Cut!!!
Dear All,
Based on the feedback received, we have cut the price of the app while new features are added and existing features are refined. The price would be back to $4.99 once the update is out. Thank you again for the feedback
Dear All,
Based on the feedback received, we have cut the price of the app while new features are added and existing features are refined. The price would be back to $4.99 once the update is out. Thank you again for the feedback
Thanks. The idea is good and the browser looks nice. However all the best broswer in the world (at least my world) are free, Firefox, Safari, Google, even IE. The most I'd pay for a browser is 1.99.
Price Cut!!!
Thank you for your response. As noted in the previous post, we have cut the price of the app ahead of the update.