So I’ve uninstalled it, installed it, uninstalled it again and then re-installed it once more.
Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but that’s my litmus test if I’m a little too confused on my like/dislike of an application. I learn its features, use it for a while and then junk it for a couple of days. If it turns out that I can live without it then I go on with my life, if not then I reinstall the application and use it forever. However, if I’m still confused, I do the install-uninstall cycle all over again. Crazy.
hehe.
It just feels so weird having 4 (Four!!!) browsers in my Mac. Sure, I do compatibility tests to ensure my web applications behave as intended in various browsers, both Firefox and Flock however use the same engine so there’s really no need to test on both. But… I still end up using Flock.
I tried using plugins that provide the same (additional) functionality that Flock provides. They’re… “ok”. Sage gives me my news feeds, FlickrFox allows me to browse photostreams in a sidebar, Performancing helps me blog (and it even has more features than Flock’s blogging tool) yet there’s something about using Flock that makes it different. hmm, I think that’s it – User Experience.
That little orange button that tells me when a Flickr contact has published a new photo (like this one and this one) satisfies my need to know what my friends are doing and at the same time saves me time by not having directly go to the site just to check it out. And in my busy schedule it somewhat helps in reminding me too that, yes, I do have friends. 
Same orange button applies to the News feeds that I subscribe to, this one reminds me that the world continually revolves outside my office walls. 
The layout and the way things are presented is also very appealing. Take for instance the photostream topbar, compare it with FlickrFox’s layout and you’d see the elegance behind Flock’s design. News feeds too – a simple enhancement of adding favico’s beside the site name improved its readability.
What can I say? I think the Flock guys got it right – specially after version 0.7.1 when Flock gave users the option to install FireFox plugins that were not tested in Flock yet. So now my browser provides me with a great user experience plus I get to use those cool Google plugins like Google Toolbar, Google Notebook and Web Comments.
Cool!
Now if only they’d integrate more with Google as opposed to Yahoo….
Blogged with Flock
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