Hi all,
you can call it web 2.0. You can call it Google's one more step to world domination. You can call it breach of privacy. Whatever you may do you can't escape the fact that Google is always upto something. A part of which was released yesterday as Browsersync - a cross-platform firefox extension. The idea is it allows you to use one profile on multiple computers, with changes automatically synced up a.k.a roaming file support. The idea behind the extension isn't new. There was roaming profile support in Netscape 4 & even early implementations of FF had roaming file support. At this point in time it's slightly buggy in implementation but the idea is good. The only issue I've with it that whose sovereignity lies when I upload my whole browser settings to Google.
Anyway let's go on with the actual implementation & we have rest of time to argue/discuss & know more about it. It also gives a rundown on how to install Firefox extensions.
First go to this link you'll come across this web page
Clicking on googlebrowser.xpi would take u to this next page
Clicking on Agree & Install would would make the web page look like this.
Notice the yellow band on the top. Click on the Edit options to reveal this window
Add the address of the site which u want in the whitelist. In this case it's tools.google.com & click on Allow.
Again one is thrown back to the Agree & Install web page. This time click on Agree & Install reveals this new window
Notice the countdown timer next to the greyed out Intall button. After the timer is over the Install button will be clickable. The extension is installed.
To see the extension if it's installed go to Tools > Extensions . The Extension Manager/List window will pop up . Go down & see the extension as can be seen here
Restart the browser for the extension to complete the installation.
After restarting the browser you come across this in your face window
Take a moment to read through the contents before clicking on Next as it has some privacy issues. Satisfed with contents clicking on Next gives you this Window
To go further you need to either have a Google Account or create a Google Account. As creating an email account is not part of the tutorial we'll skip & assume that the user has an gmail account. Enter in the account details & you're presented with another window which has 2 choices as can be seen here
Clicking on Standard will take you to this window
while Advanced will take you to this window
which lets you granualary choose what to store as well as encrypt or either of the combinations of things.
After making the choices/combinations & clicking on Next brings you to the same window as shown earlier
This PIN or password is what will be taken to retrieve your browser settings elsewhere hence be careful. Use a mixture of letters & nos. to make it a tad difficult process
After this is over three windows pass by rapidly :-
Now browse whatever u want to. At any point the extension is supposed to keep a track of if u add any new bookmarks & stuff & keep it synched.
Now for other computers the 1st thing is they need to have FF 1.5.0.4 installed on the machines. As shown in the 1st part the installation procedure will remain same upto a point. Remember this picture
Till here the things are the same. Now as we've already made an Googlebrowser account we just need to enter in the PIN as shown here
Clicking on Next will result in a series of statements floating by in a window
and finally you get the finish box
Now restart the browser again & see browsersync sitting pretty in the right hand top corner
As you can see in case if a session has crashed it gets saved in browsersync
That's about browsersync. It has lot of potential but somethings need to be cleared up.
1. The UI could be made more user-friendly. It still is confusing for first time users.
2. The code needs to be made free or open. Right now it's only installable from the site. Once the xpi is downloadable & free or open then people are able to hack into it & make it more pretty, stable & secure.
3. The extension appears & disappears during sessions
4. No upgrade path. It's only with 1.5.0.4 & it's tightly integrated with that version. This needs to change.
All in all a good extension having birth & hence having birth pangs. Hopefully the developers & team at Google will realize & do the needful. Enjoy
you can call it web 2.0. You can call it Google's one more step to world domination. You can call it breach of privacy. Whatever you may do you can't escape the fact that Google is always upto something. A part of which was released yesterday as Browsersync - a cross-platform firefox extension. The idea is it allows you to use one profile on multiple computers, with changes automatically synced up a.k.a roaming file support. The idea behind the extension isn't new. There was roaming profile support in Netscape 4 & even early implementations of FF had roaming file support. At this point in time it's slightly buggy in implementation but the idea is good. The only issue I've with it that whose sovereignity lies when I upload my whole browser settings to Google.
Anyway let's go on with the actual implementation & we have rest of time to argue/discuss & know more about it. It also gives a rundown on how to install Firefox extensions.
First go to this link you'll come across this web page
Clicking on googlebrowser.xpi would take u to this next page
Clicking on Agree & Install would would make the web page look like this.
Notice the yellow band on the top. Click on the Edit options to reveal this window
Add the address of the site which u want in the whitelist. In this case it's tools.google.com & click on Allow.
Again one is thrown back to the Agree & Install web page. This time click on Agree & Install reveals this new window
To see the extension if it's installed go to Tools > Extensions . The Extension Manager/List window will pop up . Go down & see the extension as can be seen here
Restart the browser for the extension to complete the installation.
After restarting the browser you come across this in your face window
Take a moment to read through the contents before clicking on Next as it has some privacy issues. Satisfed with contents clicking on Next gives you this Window
To go further you need to either have a Google Account or create a Google Account. As creating an email account is not part of the tutorial we'll skip & assume that the user has an gmail account. Enter in the account details & you're presented with another window which has 2 choices as can be seen here
Clicking on Standard will take you to this window
while Advanced will take you to this window
which lets you granualary choose what to store as well as encrypt or either of the combinations of things.
After making the choices/combinations & clicking on Next brings you to the same window as shown earlier
This PIN or password is what will be taken to retrieve your browser settings elsewhere hence be careful. Use a mixture of letters & nos. to make it a tad difficult process
After this is over three windows pass by rapidly :-
Now browse whatever u want to. At any point the extension is supposed to keep a track of if u add any new bookmarks & stuff & keep it synched.
Now for other computers the 1st thing is they need to have FF 1.5.0.4 installed on the machines. As shown in the 1st part the installation procedure will remain same upto a point. Remember this picture
Till here the things are the same. Now as we've already made an Googlebrowser account we just need to enter in the PIN as shown here
Clicking on Next will result in a series of statements floating by in a window
and finally you get the finish box
Now restart the browser again & see browsersync sitting pretty in the right hand top corner
As you can see in case if a session has crashed it gets saved in browsersync
That's about browsersync. It has lot of potential but somethings need to be cleared up.
1. The UI could be made more user-friendly. It still is confusing for first time users.
2. The code needs to be made free or open. Right now it's only installable from the site. Once the xpi is downloadable & free or open then people are able to hack into it & make it more pretty, stable & secure.
3. The extension appears & disappears during sessions
4. No upgrade path. It's only with 1.5.0.4 & it's tightly integrated with that version. This needs to change.
All in all a good extension having birth & hence having birth pangs. Hopefully the developers & team at Google will realize & do the needful. Enjoy