PC Tonic

Mozilla Prism is a relatively new tool that allows you to run websites as independent “WebApps” from your desktop.

Mercy, not another bring-the-internet-to-your-desktop thing!

If this is what you’re thinking after reading my Adobe AIR post yesterday, please be patient. Mozilla Prism, formerly called WebRunner, adopts a different path from AIR in desktop-tizing your online life. It’s still pretty much in the closet (beta, that is) and you have to be a bit brave to try it out. However I have got to liking it for the past few days, and after reading this post, you may start using it too.

Installing Prism
Prism is cross-platform, meaning it will run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. If you use Firefox 3, you can simply add Prism as an extension too.

[Windows]
You can directly download the .exe file and run it to install Prism. Older versions of Windows (ME, 98, 95) may have compatibility problems.

[Linux]
If you use Ubuntu 8.04, open Add / Remove Programs and then follow the instructions in this screenshot to install Prism.

If you are using Debian Linux or any of it’s derivatives (including older versions of Ubuntu), simply download this .deb file and then open it to start installation of Prism.

In other Linux distros, you can install Prism from the source file.

[Mac OS X]
Download and run this file to install Prism (I am not a Mac user, so can’t help you much).

Caution : As mentioned Prism is still in beta, and you may face some issues. I have tried it on Windows XP Pro SP 2 and Ubuntu 8.04 with no problems so far.

Let’s Get Started
Now that Prism is up and running, let’s put it to useful work. Prism supports “web bundles” or “WebApps” that have a .webapp extension (very much like .air for Adobe AIR). There are a limited number of such official .webapp bundles available right now, you can find the list in this Mozilla Wiki page : WebApps for Prism. Just double click on any one of these bundles (say Gmail) and your browser will throw an option to open it with Prism. Select “Yes”, and you’ll get something like this :

Just do any changes you want and you’ll have the Gmail icon sitting right on your desktop (or wherever you put it)! Double click it and the Gmail page will pop-up in a pseudo-browser like window.

Create your Own Custom WebApps!
One great feature about Mozilla Prism is that it goes beyond the list of available WebApp bundles. This means you can create a WebApp of ANY website you want! To do this, open Prism and then enter the URL of the website whose WebApp you want to create (say PC Ton!c). Fill in the additional details, and your custom WebApp will be at your service.

Uninstalling a WebApp
To uninstall any WebApp, you simply have to remove it’s shortcut from the desktop, Start and Quick Launch areas. In Ubuntu, you can also uninstall community provided WebApps from Add / Remove Programs.

Bugs / Issues
So far, Prism has been running very smoothly on my Ubuntu 8.04, courtesy the watchful eyes of the Linux community. There hasn’t been any issue in Windows XP as well, expect that the Prism installer doesn’t have an icon!

Limitations
The window that runs these Prism WebApps, is horribly out of features at the moment. There aren’t even navigation buttons to move back and forth between web pages! Thankfully, there are some add-ons available to pimp it up, but they just didn’t open up on my desktop (neither Windows nor Ubuntu). It was probably because of some server problems, and they will likely show up on your PC.

What’s the Catch?
1.Needless to say, Prism is very useful in uncluttering your online life. Instead of managing a hundred different accounts from a single browser, which can drive you to insanity, you can simply create independent apps for your various accounts and pop them up as and when necessary.
Prism can also be useful when other persons share your computer. You can keep your data secure by using WebApps (either make them “Hidden” or store them in your personal folders) while others use the web browser.

2.Linux users can install the web version of Google Talk via Mozilla Prism. If you on Hardy, open Add / Remove Programs, select “All available applications” and search for “google talk”. Alternately, just fire up Prism and fill up the details as shown below:

It looks and works just like the native Google Talk client for Windows, except that voice chatting and file transferring features are unavailable.

How is Prism Different From AIR?
I am sure many of you must have already figured it out yourself. For those who haven’t, here are the major differences :

1.AIR apps are “true” standalone tools. They have got their own features and don’t just mimic the accounts they are meant for (for example, Google Analytics AIR is strikingly different in looks and somewhat in features from the Analytics website). Like any other software, you have to uninstall them using an uninstaller.
On the other hand, Prism WebApps are single files, which point you to the website that they are built for. You can simply delete these files whenever required.

2.Adobe AIR apps are limited in number, about 140 at present.
Supported Prism WebApps are limited as well, but you can easily create your own custom WebApps as shown above. Unless you’re a geeky programmer, you can’t do it in AIR.

Mozilla Prism is yet another step towards the ever mingling of our desktop with the internet. However, it needs to get out of beta and provide some jaw-dropping features, before it can become a force to reckon with.

Have you tried out Mozilla Prism? If yes, how would you rate t and what improvements do you suggest? If not, do you plan to try it out anytime soon? Feel free to let us know by dropping a comment in this post.