Browster, a very nice FF plug-in

This morning I discovered Browster, a Firefox (and Interner Explorer) plug-in which makes browsing any page containing links (such as a search engine page, or this BBS), really easy. In the past I've usually right-clicked on a link and opened the page in a new tab, but with Browster installed you just mouseover the Browster icon in front of or above a link and the page opens automatically in a new window a bit smaller than your browser window ... move the mouse pointer off the page and the window closes.

According to the information I've seen, Browster works only with FF and IE, so those of you using any other browser are probably out of luck. For those using FF (or IE), I urge you to give Browster a try.

 

Good Morning Jim

Must say a very unique plugin. It is fast .. at times almost to fast.
It really changes how you use your browser.
For myself, I'm still in "Wow, this is so different, not sure what to think.

Pro's
Fast, fast, fast.

Cons
The "Lighting Bolt" can be some what distracting (on non-search engine views).
Does not "mark links" that you have already viewed it, so your "whats been viewed progression gets mushy.
When hovering over a link, must choose a "far page edge extreme of link" to have pop up window as large as possible.
Does it / should have a way to NOT have plugin active on domains of your choice.
The install program automatically loads plugin into IE6 and Firefox. Should probably reboot computer after install. I did not. Firefox locked up first time I loaded. Eventually got control back, rebooted, works fine.

Will leave it on my computer for a computer for a couple of days and see if I become addicted or frustrated. I think this is one of them programs that have a "love it - hate it" following.

 

Hi Dennis,

I didn't reboot, but had no problems with either FF or IE.

You shouldn't see the lightning bolt icon unless you hover your pointer over a link (on non-search engine pages). If you're just "passing by" the link, the icon should be gone before you're even aware of it.

I'm used to that behavior on search engine pages. I've been in the habit of opening links in new tabs and, when I close the tab to return to the search results page, the link is unmarked.

I agree that the size of the window shouldn't be related to the location of the link on a page. Personally, I'd prefer to have a window only slightly smaller than the browser window, with just enough space showing to be able to close the window.

The developers are looking at a number of suggested improvements, including fixes for your particular concerns.

The FAQs answer a lot of questions, and there's a Forum, too.

 

I installed this after finding it over on digg, and it seems to be pretty nice. It started right away for me, no problems with having to reboot.

It's especially nifty if you do alot of image type searches. Or visit pages with images or the like.

It's currently on my test box, and I'll likely leave it for a while, been about a week now.

 

There have been variants of Browster's with different focuses. I am using the Tab Preview which does pretty much the same as Browsrer on an existing Tab. It is customizable, but, mostly illegible.