Bubbles turns web apps into desktop apps

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Web services, Freeware, web 2.0

Bubbles turns web apps into desktop apps

by Brad Linder Feb 15th 2008

Like having Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Flickr, and other web services at your fingertips, but don't feel like keeping RAM-hungry Firefox open all day? Bubbles is a Windows application lets you run web services in their own individual windows, no Firefox, Opera, or Internet Explorer required.

When you first run Bubbles, you'll see a list of web sites which you can open with the application. You can also add any page you want just by entering the URL. You can start a web app by clicking the "Go" button and you should see icons for each application pop up in your Windows system tray. Click on one to bring up the web app of your choice. Clicking the X bar doesn't close the window, but minimizes it to the system tray. In order to really close a window you'll need to right-click on its icon and select close.

Bubbles appears to use less memory than Firefox when accessing some web pages like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail. But we noticed a window running Google Reader quickly grew to use 50MB. Overall Bubbles seems like a slick and easy to use alternative to Mozilla Prism. But there is room for improvement. For example, when you click on a link in a Bubble window, instead of opening a new Bubble, the program opens your default web browser, which sort of defeats the purpose if you want to do anything besides read web pages.

Bubbles has actually been around a lot longer than Prism, but it works pretty well with modern web applications and supports Greasemonkey. There's even a Gmail notifier that works even with the newer version of Gmail.

[Thanks Jim Mauro!]

Tags: bubbles, prism, web-applications, web-apps

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

James said 12:31PM on 2-15-2008

I don't know about you, but I absolutely cannot *stand* losing ~15 seconds of my life waiting for Firefox to open when I need to e.g. check my Gmail.

[/sarcasm]

Seriously, who the hell is this sort of thing targeted at?

Bob Sugar said 1:41PM on 2-15-2008

I haven't tried this, but Mozilla Prism is very cool. Granted it isn't for everyone, I for one prefer to utilize local apps rather than web based apps - but for things like Google Reader or say, Horde email - it is unbelievably useful. Give one or the other a test run, you may find some benefits...

Doug Weglarz said 2:53PM on 2-15-2008

I like it so far, keeping Gmail in the tool tray is great. I will try it out for other apps, but so far so good.

dancinbojagles said 12:00AM on 2-16-2008

I've been trying to log use this with Zoho, my internet office suite, but it's not allowing me to log in. Anyone else having a similar problem, like login boxes not appearing at all? I think I'll stick to Prism.

james churchman said 1:22PM on 2-16-2008

personally i love this concept

i use it all the time. keeps my general browsing away from dedicated online tasks that for me are like separate applications, not like "just another webpage"

(and as im a mac user, can applekey+tab directly into that "app", not have to go hunting for it in some tab lost away in my main browser, and can also launch them direct from the dock)

personally i use http://fluidapp.com/ - integrates well with the mac and uses webkit

james

Ohad Eder Pressman said 6:18PM on 2-16-2008

Hi all, My name is Ohad, I run 3D3R Software Studio, the company behind Bubbles.

Bubbles was conceived in 2006 due to the lack of enjoyment we had in using Gmail inside a Firefox Tab :-) It's grown quite extensively since then. Bubbles has a great API that allows you to do wonderful things with the OS, like accept drag-n-drop files, popup tray notifications, change your tray icon and a few more great things.

We're working on a new community site for bubbles that will be coupled with an updated release of the client. The site will be a central location for hosting what we call 'a Bubble' which is the little piece of greasemonkey-like code that makes a site Bubbles-Friendly. We were greatly inspired by userscripts.org

Thanks for the comments, and join our mailing list for more info when we release: http://3d3r.com/bubbles/

cheers,
Ohad Eder Pressman
3D3R Software Studio

Matidio said 7:50AM on 2-19-2008

The concept is not bad. But if you don't want to be beaten just at the beginning by apps like prism or fluid you should work on your web appearance.
A buggy application, a not working forum (a three liner sql error message since days), no help in view unified with a not responding contact address. Only some cryptic developer page. Nice impression.
Sorry, but how one should have confidence that this is not only a big bubble.

John Snow said 3:47PM on 2-17-2008

I really like the instant startup. But not sure how privacy/security is handled. How do I delete cookies? Does Bubbles use the same folder for its cookies as Firefox or IE, or is it a third location on disk to keep track of? How do delete form params such as passwords if I want to? Are there mechanisms to disable Java, JavaScript, pop-ups, etc.? How do I use Firefox extensions (like ad-block, greasemonkey, etc.) with Bubbles?

aangelaa999 said 2:08AM on 2-18-2008

This makes apples cyberdog look like it was very much before it's time.

Ohad Eder Pressman said 7:50AM on 2-19-2008

@Matidio,

thanks for the comment, even bashing is beneficial and we do our best to make the best of it.

we're putting in a lot of effort into our new web presence which is focused towards developers, and criticism helps us focus better.

once we re-open the site we'd love to hear more specifics on any bugs you may have experienced with the app, we are currently not aware of any bugs with the app and its JS engine.

the forum is disabled, not showing any SQL error when i last checked.

not sure what you meant with 'no help in view unified'. we take care to give personal attention to any person who takes the time to contact us, i would be more than happy to hear more about any email you may have sent and feel you were left with no response.

i'm most interested in your feedback on the API page, as we will naturally be redoing it. please let us know what makes you feel the current one is cryptic?

thanks,
ohad

Esteban said 12:20PM on 4-03-2008

I like so much Bubbles, but I realized that it uses Internet Explorer as a default browser. Is there an option to make Firefox the default browser?

I ask you that, because my web application runs better with Firefox than IE and Firefox has some plugins that I use with my application.

Thanks and keep working in bubbles!

Ohad Eder Pressman said 3:49PM on 4-05-2008

Hi Esteban,

We made a strategic decision to go with Internet-Explorer as a browsing engine. We're soon releasing a new version and site, so keep notice and you may have some good surprises coming your way.

best,
ohad

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters