Mozilla has launched Mac and Linux versions of Prism. What's Prism again? It's a stripped down version of Firefox that essentially lets you load a single web page at a time. No tabs, no useful URL or navigation buttons. But Prism can come in handy if you like to keep a single web site like Gmail open all day, since it uses fewer resources than Firefox.

The Linux build that we tested was a little wonky. Pressing F11 fails to make a window fullscreen. And Prism didn't seem to notice that Adobe Flash was installed, which made it pretty difficult to run certain web apps.

All in all, for a 0.8 release, we're not complaining. But there's still some work to be done.

[via Chip Cuccio]

Oh experimental applications, they grow up so quickly. It seems like just last week we were telling you about Mozilla WebRunner, a stripped down version of Firefox with no tabs or URL bar. And now WebRunner's all grown up and has a new name: Prism.

OK, all grown up might be an overstatement. But Mozilla has outlined their goals for the simple web browser: to let you access web applications without firing up Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, or whatever it is you're using to read this site.

Here's how it works. You download and install Prism. The first time you run it, a window will pop up asking you for a URL, name, and where you'd like to "install" the application. Installation basically means creating a shortcut on your desktop, Start Menu, or Quick Launch Bar. To "uninstall" a web app, just delete the shortcut.

While you could argue Prism is just a glorified way of making desktop shortcuts to web pages, something we've been able to do for years, it's a bit more than that. Because Prism doesn't feature all the bells, whistles, toolbars, and add-ons of Firefox, it's a very light weight browser. And if you just want to access Google Reader, Gmail, or Zoho, that might be enough.

Eventually, Mozilla may integrate Prism with Firefox. In other words, there would be a toolbar menu that says "make this a desktop app." Any time you visit a website that you want to open with Prism in the future, you could click a button to activate the Prism settings menu.

While Mozilla, Microsoft, Opera, AOL, and others keep pushing out new web browsers with all the latest and greatest features, sometimes you need something a bit simpler. You know, like a web browser that can only open one page at a time, has no tabs, no sidebars, bookmarks, add-ons, or even a URL box.

No, seriously. That's exactly what WebRunner is: the simplest web browser you've seen since... well, ever. (Well, unless you count text-based browsers like Lynx). This Mozilla project can render pretty much any page or content that you can access in Firefox. But it comes without any bells and whistles. At all.

In fact, it's probably best not to think of WebRunner as a browser at all. Rather, it's a lightweight tool for accessing web-based applications. Like Google Docs & Spreadsheets, but wish you didn't have to leave it open in a browser tab all the time? No problem, just fire it up in WebRunner and think of it as a standalone application that only works when your computer's connected to the internet.

You load websites by clicking on WebRunner "bundles," which are basically zipped archive files holding configuration data, icons, and scripts. You can create your own bundles or download existing bundles for most Google services (Reader, Mail, Docs, Analytics) and a few other sites like Twitter and Facebook.

[via CyberNet]