What Will the Browser Look Like In Five Years?

macslocum writes "Opera's Charles McCathieNevile examines the most significant web browser innovations of the last few years, and he looks ahead to the browser's near-term future."

Comments

Well

[Monkeedude1212]

I hope it will have migrated off the desktop, off the smartphone, and onto some contact lenses.

*sigh* am I thinking a little too distant?

Re:Well

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just your farsightedness.

Re:Well

[poetmatt]

It still won't run flash well or be cross platform.

Re:Well

[dn15]

You joke, but I do think that the real difference will be how and where we use the browser. As smartphones and other mobile devices become more prevalent, the browser will be used less on the desktop and more on the couch, in the car, etc.

Some people don't like the idea that the iPad (for example) is locked down as much as it is. But that may be a blessing in disguise. If a huge chunk of web clients are locked-down devices that can only run one browser, web developers will find it harder to say that a specific browser is required. They'll have to distribute content in ways that work on all devices, rather than just pop up an alert telling the user to install XYZ Browser instead.*

* Fine, based on the way things are going they may just be able to say a WebKit-based browser is required.

Re:Well

[Jake Griffin]

Yes, I think that there would be a problem with contacts as moving your eyes would move the contacts along with them, so you really couldn't look at a different parts of the contact. You could only see the part that was currently in front of your pupil (and even then, there would be focusing issues). But glasses would work. I work for a company that creates little monacle screens for the military that work quite well actually. They use a series of lenses to make the screen appear farther than it is, which makes it much easier to read.

The literal answer

[VGPowerlord]

I'm guessing it will look like a window with a tab bar and 1-2 text boxes to enter in urls and search terms, with navigation buttons nearby.

Re:The literal answer

[eln]

Whatever it looks like, Opera users will whine that their browser looked like that first.

Re:The literal answer

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks, but I've already seen screenshots of Chrome.

With Firefox seemingly heading the same way it seems that every browser will look like Chrome. Hooray for variety and choice!

Re:The literal answer

[shutdown -p now]

Simply put, Firefox doesn't generally screw with my interface on Every. Single. Minor version change (in major.minor.patch versioning that is). Opera didn't through 9.2 either.

Heh, it just shows that you haven't been using it for all that long. Opera is notorious for major UI changes every now and then.

The trick is that, more often than not, it can keep customizations from previous versions. So you set it up once, the way you want it, and don't care about what they do.

The only catch is that betas usually install side-by-side with stable builds, not replacing them, and also use a separate directory for configs - so you have to copy the latter manually. If you only use stable releases, you don't even have to bother with that.

Surprising no mention of security

[Orga]

With the shit to more interactions with computer hardware, graphics card acceleration, offloading processing of certain code to the CPU I see this trend continuing but what impact is this going to have on system security. As more hooks go from the web into our computer hardware aren't we exposing ourselves to more and more risk?

HTML5

[Stan Vassilev]

http://apirocks.com/html5/html5.html#slide1

Re:HTML5

[clone53421]

Did you even read through it?

JS APIs - Web Storage

// use localStorage for persistent storage
// use sessionStorage for per tab storage
textarea.addEventListener('keyup', function () {
  window.localStorage['value'] = area.value;
  window.localStorage['timestamp'] = (new Date()).getTime();
}, false);
textarea.value = window.localStorage['value'];

Use case: Save email draft on the client side (crash-safe)

Future perfect.

[barfcat]

Three things I see happening now are 1) Displays getting bigger and bigger. 2) 3-D everywhere 3) Application integration with normal TV's. I think the next big thing in browsing will be developed for the TV user, like a widget for a web enabled Sony TV or something. I could see semething in the more distant future integrating the 3-d effect with touch/motion detection.

Re:Sunglasses

[sakdoctor]

I already wear sunglasses to browse the web, on account of all the flash and poor color choices.

Although this is an improvement over the 90s. Back then I wore a welding mask.

Re:Who? What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, opposed to Firefox, IE, Chrome, and pretty much any other browser out there, which you have to pay for. Oh, wait....

Even more interesting...

[drewhk]

When will browsers go away? Will they be replaced by something else?

Re:Even more interesting...

[linebackn]

My guess is the browser will be come the desktop for operating systems. The browser will no longer be a separate program you have to launch, but rather just a layer of the operating system. Think about when the last time was you used a computer and didn't open a browser window.

My Guess is that idiots that don't understand what a browser is or what a computer operating system is, or think there is nothing else you can do with a computer than browse the web, will keep spewing this kind of mumbo jumbo.

The computing universe does not revolve around web browsing. There is a significant design and implementation benefit by keeping the OS, shell, and browser separate. IE and Windows has proven why merging these a bad idea.

I often don't have a web browser window open, because I'm working on databases, word processing, graphics, file management, or playing video games - all of which *gasp* don't need a web browser window! And when I am doing those I don't want one!

I guess

[Krneki]

They will become the next layer, where we use our applications / games.

Hopefully the current OS-es will become irrelevant and we will fight over who is better: Firefox, Chrome or IE.

Firefox will be for geeks, who likes to customize their stuff.
Chrome will be the fastest and secure out of the box.
IE / Safari the one with the most aggressive marketing.

Re:I guess

[just_another_sean]

True, and I was being a bit facetious. But that said I am concerned that the problems they had in house are indicative of a particular attitude on security. I'm not writing them off just yet. :-) But I will watch them now for while as I have been doing to MS for, um, well it feels like forever with MS.

The way things are going

[just_another_sean]

I'm worried that it will simply display the MOTD about being a good citizen, reminding us not to violate copyright and then pointing us to our assigned task for the day. Oh and it will have ads for entertainment content, mountain dew and viagra. Mandatory ads that is (as in no need to click here, we will simply deduct it from your account, thanks).

Re:The way things are going

[value_added]

I'm worried that it will simply display the MOTD about being a good citizen, reminding us not to violate copyright and then pointing us to our assigned task for the day.

I'm afraid it's too late to worry. I'm just waiting for the day when the MOTD you're worried about is preceeded by scrolling dmesg output and a login prompt. ;-)

What will the desktop look like in five years?

[webbiedave]

Let's ask the makers of OS/2!

Re:In five years...

[Jeng]

So you are saying that it can be dumbed down more?

Your comment actually makes no sense. It's only been since Firefox* came out that there has been any innovation in browsers. Before Firefox became popular the web browser was as dumbed down as it gets. Forward, back, home, and a place to enter in a url. Now we have tabs, we have ad blockers, we have good functional add-ons.

The browser has been getting more complex with new functionality and Joe Sixpack has been loving it.

* I'm sure someone will point out the innovation came out in other browsers and Firefox was just the first one that got wide appeal**.
** As in you would recommend it to even your non-technical friends.

This is offtopic,

[gzipped_tar]

but that guy's family name looks like a CamelCasedClassName ;)

Re:In five years...

[Richard_at_work]

Ahem, Opera had 'tab' functionality before Firefox, and I think you are either forgetting or are blissfully unaware of the Netscape-IE browser wars of the 1990s, with new tags and functionality left, right and center from both (some of which the other browser adopted and become standard, some of which weren't and some of which we all wish weren't).

You probably don't even want to know that the whole Ajax thing didn't really even come of age until Microsoft released XMLHttpRequest with IE from version 5, and this was adopted by all browsers eventually (and even MS standardised it as a Javascript object later on).

Virtual!

[Thanshin]

It will look like flying through buildings made of data.

YES, YES IT WILL!

NaNanananananana I can't hear you nanananananaana

Future Apple browser

[Anonymous Coward]

It will have no buttons or any other form of input, it'll be a window to Steve Jobs browsing the internet. This is Apple's quality control in action, you'll never see any crap sites anymore.

Re:In five years...

[clone53421]

Yes, his comment probably would have been better stated if he had left off the footnote entirely and simply said:

It’s only been since Firefox came out that there has been any innovation in browsers that many people actually use.

That way, you both disqualify Opera and at the same time you state why it was irrelevant. Win-win.

Exactly the same?

[will.perdikakis]

I have a feeling that the browser of the future is going to look like the browser of the present, just without the IE logo. Third-party browsers like FF and Chrome are rapidly gaining market-share and, for the most part, provide a superior browsing experience.

like a smartphone app?

[peter303]

At one time browsers were supposed to the universal interface for most data-delivery internet applications. Yet they are being bypassed for custom applications written for mobile devices. I guess mainly because they dont utilize screen real-estate very well, a precious resource on mobile devices. They have too much decoration on the edges, unpredictable screen placement, lack of touch-interface gui's etc.

My prediction is they will be scripted, browser environment for the mobile device, which would provide a app-like feel.

Chrome

[Enderandrew]

Firefox and Safari and Chrome seem to be meeting in the middle in a basic design with one entry field and very few buttons. Whether tabs are on the bottom or top, people want a streamlined experience.

As for the rest, well I remember in 1996 when people were suggested VRML and 3D web was the next big thing. I imagine the web is largely going to look the same in 5 years except for ads. Pop-ups, pop-unders, peel-away ads and such will be joined by even more annoying ads of the future. Thankfully I block all of them.

Re:Come on moderators

[eln]

Actually, I'm old enough to be a 15 year old's father, but I always appreciate it when people underestimate my age. Also, if you don't think Slashdot has anything in common with 3rd grade recess (especially the politics section), you're either new here or you were never in 3rd grade.

Re:Firefox from 2015...

[Mister Whirly]

And the 75 Opera users will be sure to point that out ad nauseum.

I predict same old same old.

[linebackn]

Oh, let me see, I predict that 5 years from now, browsers are going to be about the freaking same. Perhaps, as usual, with a few more useless bells and whistles nobody really needs but some PHB though would be cool.

Why? Well, a browser is an application that retrieves web documents, renders them on your screen, and enables you to navigate through them using hyper links. Nothing more, nothing less. It won't make your toast and it won't replace your operating system. People may try things like that but then it's not just a browser any more, and it is usually a bad idea.

The basic functionality of a browser really hasn't changed much since Tim Berners-Lee released his "World Wide Web" browser in 1991. Feel free to try and come up with something new that meets the needs of the world better. I dare say there is room for improvement, but I just don't that kind of innovation happening much any more - people just keep trying to shoehorn "applications" in to something that is only meant to render documents and keep scratching their head as to why that doesn't work very well.

The nightmare scenario

[Animats]

Here's the worst case.

Web browsers are still around, but they're used only to look at junk sites. All commercial content is locked into "applications" for phones, tablets, and TVs. The content provider has complete control - the user can't skip ads, can't prevent the content owner from knowing what they're looking at, and can't save the content.

Bots run by the MPAA, the RIAA, News Corp., Apple, and Google constantly troll the remnants of the free web, searching for commercial content and sending out goon squads to take it down.

It will look like

[hduff]

what it already looks like: shitty web pages.

Nathan Explosion is smiling

[Quiet_Desperation]

Metal!