PARC's Popout Prism Aids Web Navigation

sulo writes "Popout Prism is a Web Browser that reduces the amount of time users end looking for information in Web pages. By creating visual "popouts" that emphasize critical elements in Web pages, Popout Prism draws users' attention to the right information." Not a very complicated idea, but one that could be useful.

Comments

OMG!

[pb]

I used Popout Prism on match.com, and those chicks looked *awesome*... Can I get some glasses that do this IRL, or do I just have to drink a lot of beer to get the same effect?

A good application...

[GillBates0]

for this would be cellphones or PDA's, which have displays that are too small to view normal webpages designed for larger displays.

If the user is looking for specific information/keywords that are too small to read on the display, the browser could "popout" a magnified/highlighted/easier to read version of the surrounding context.

And rather than coming out with a whole new browser, maybe it could be incorporated into The Google Toolbar or something similar....they've recently added new features to make searching within a webpage easier.

How long before this is hijacked for ads?

[Anonymous Coward]

If this becomes commonplace, the only thing it's going to really do is make popup ads into Popup Prism (tm) ads.

Oh, and it will probably suck more bandwidth to do it, too.

Re:um, clippy, could you give me just a few minute

[imtheguru]

Clippy: (after a lengthy pause): Seems like u are enjoying the asian schoolgirl sluts.

• Would u like me to:
• Order the full video
• Find similar content
• Set some mood music
• Minimise myself, coz u are shy

Prediction

[thung226]

IE developers will wake up and smell new advertising opportunity.

IE adds pop-out technology to browser

Websites start using new pop-out technology.

Mozilla/Opera adds following option:

File > Preferences > Windows > Turn off pop-outs

Going in circles is fun.

-n-

Use Opera to customize how websites are displayed

[Post]

Opera has a lot of neat features when it comes to finding the goodies on a page. E.g., you can force your own stylesheets on a page, even multiple ("User Mode"). So I have a standard b/w stylesheet that underlines and colors links no matter what the designer intended, and another one to switch off all images (except those that are links).

Also, you can zoom in and out pages: 25% gives a nice "thumbnail" style overview, while 400% should be enough for even the smallest, err, details. Bonus: Images and Flash movies are resized as well, so this is much better than IE's feature. Press "W" to move from headline to headline (assuming the designer actually used H1 and not just f****ng bold). Pressing [ctrl][j] brings up a window that shows all links on the page. Just select those you want and open them in a background window etc. etc.

And just pressing F12 will give you a Popup menu to switch off all that nonsense that often keeps you from reading: GIF animation, background Audio, Java, Popups ...

Also, Opera will allow heavy customization. Almost every element of the UI can be tweaked and moved around. Whether you want a minimalist, near-fullscreen browser or a large set of custom stylesheets, search engines etc. at your fingertips, new keyboard shortcuts or Google Toolbar style Bookmarklets: Just tweak a few INI files.

PS: If it's only highlighting you want: When you're on Windows, the Google Toolbar is very helpful. Also, there's Text Spotlight, which does the same thing system-wide, not only in the browser.