Mozilla Prism 1.0 Beta 4

Mozilla Prism is a powerful tool that lets users access their favorite web applications from system taskbar or dock.

Prism is an application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.

Prism is designed to create a better environment for running your favorite web-based applications. Much of what we used to accomplish using an application running locally on our computers is moving into the web browser. Thanks to advances in web technology, these apps are increasingly powerful and usable. As a result, applications like Gmail, Facebook and Google Docs are soaring in popularity.

Unfortunately the web browser, which was originally designed for reading documents, is not an ideal environment for running applications. It is frustrating and time-consuming to wade through a mass of browser windows and tabs just to find your email client. Unstable applications can slow down or crash your entire browser. And many of the conveniences offered by modern operating systems are unavailable to web apps running in the browser.

This is where Prism comes in. Instead of running all your web apps in the browser, Prism lets you run them in their own window just like normal applications. A single faulty app or web page can no longer take down everything you are working on. In the future, we will be releasing web app bundles from the Prism developer community that let you customize your application to use many of the operating system features common to a desktop application.

Prism is based on the same world-class browsing engine as Firefox to ensure maximum compatibility with the entire range of applications available on the web, today and in the future.

Features of Mozilla Prism 1.0:

• Access web apps from system taskbar or dock
No more wading through web browser windows and tabs just to read your email or check your Facebook feed. Prism apps run directly on your desktop and can be accessed just like any other application. On Windows, you can launch applications from the Start menu and then access them in the taskbar. On Mac, you can launch and access applications from the OS X dock.
• Tray icon and dock menus
When you do something often enough, even a single extra step can be a major hassle. With Prism, the most common features for an application can be added to a tray icon or dock menu. These features can then be accessed in one step, providing significant time savings.
• Associate applications with browser links
Some browser links cause an application to run rather than opening in the browser. A popular example are mailto: links that open your mail client and fill out the recipient (and optionally the subject line) for you. Until now, you were out of luck if you use a web mail client, but now Prism lets web apps handle these links just like traditional desktop apps
• Rock solid web app stability
Modern web browsers are pretty stable, but then can still crash due to a rogue application or elusive bug. Prism apps run separately from the browser, so they stay up even if your browser doesn't. Separating apps also reduces browser load, improving performance and stability.
• Run applications automatically when your computer starts
Some web apps are so important that we want them running all the time. For some users this might mean Gmail, Facebook or Flickr. With Prism you can set an app to run automatically whenever your start your computer.
• Minimize to tray
Is your desktop cluttered by too many running applications? Prism apps can be configured to minimize to the system tray on Windows so they stay out of the way when you donʼt need them. Accessed to a minimized app is still only a single mouse click away.
• System tray icon and dock badges
On Windows, the system tray icon can be changed to give information about application status (e.g. adding a star to show that your web mail has new messages). On Mac, a badge can be added to the dock icon for the same purpose.
• Popup alerts
Applications can be configured to display popup alerts for certain events. For example, your web mail could display an alert when a new mail arrives.