Testing RockMelt

I received an invite (thanks, Matt!) to try out a new browser called RockMelt. Built on Chromium, the open source browser on which Google Chrome is built, the RockMelt browser tries to find a niche in the market through a focus on social media integration. If you're comfortable in doing so, Facebook and Twitter accounts can be managed entirely (and quite comfortably) from within the browser regardless of the actual site you're actually visiting at any given time.

The social media integration does seem to work really well; as I'm writing this, I just shared a quick back and forth via Twitter with a friend without ever leaving the page I'm on. RockMelt manages the integration of Facebook and Twitter using something their developers call "edges". It's an appropriate name as icons (with counters displaying unread updates in close to real time) sit on the right "edge" of the browser. If you click on the icon, a pop-up list showing your Twitter or FB stream appears (this can be "torn off" and moved anywhere in your browser you'd like) from which you can have conversations with friends.

The right "edge" also includes an icon that will identify for you all of the active RSS feeds on the page you're visiting, giving you the choice to subscribe to the feeds right there. This is a cool feature but it isn't working perfectly for me at this early stage; the browser is identifying the feeds for some pages I visit but not others (this could, also, be an issue with the individual sites, I suppose). When it does work, though, it works well. A feed subscription pop-up just like that with the social media "edges" lets me read feeds without navigating from the site I'm visiting.

The "edge" on the left side of the browser includes more social media integration. In the upper left is your own FB profile pic. Click on it and you can post directly to FB or twitter here. Also, as default setting (I haven't begun to explore what kind of customization exists), this edge shows your FB friends along with their availability for chat using the same colored dots that FB employs.

One more social media feature is the "Share" button at the top of the browser. It's pretty nifty. If I want to share the page I'm looking at, I can do so either via FB or Twitter. Furthermore, I can do so as a public post or via those platforms' direct messaging features. I can also include a comment if I'd like and can even include a thumbnail a la FB.

Oh, and it's a browser, too. I almost forgot. The search functionality works well from the search box at the upper left. After entering your search terms, you again have the opportunity to view the results in a pop-up menu without leaving the page you're on. From the results list, you can either navigate directly to the link you'd like or you can easily open a link in a new tab, if you prefer.

I found it took me a few days of getting used to Chrome so I'll forgo judgment on RockMelt but at first glance, it seems promising. If you want to read a bit more, check out the New York Times' RockMelt user manual or a nice summary from Practical eCommerce.