November 14, 2000

1:08 PM

Wired reports:A browser which displays six webpages simultaneously as though they were the inside walls of a cube. I wonder what the creators take with their tea?
posted by geir (15 comments total)

I don't know, but I want to try whatever it is they're on.
posted by mikel at 1:15 PM on November 14, 2000

Wow, what a great way to shrink the viewable area of my browser.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 1:16 PM on November 14, 2000

Their slogan sounds straight out of 1998. "We have to include 'information superhighway' in our mantra, dammit!" "'Visual' would sound good too... and maybe, uh... 'interface'!"
posted by hijinx at 1:20 PM on November 14, 2000

"It concentrates information," Rosen said. "It's a much more efficient way of looking at information." without being able to understand it...
posted by john at 1:20 PM on November 14, 2000

Um, excuse me folks, but that's 5 pages, not 6. The 6th "wall" is invisible so you can see inside the cube.
posted by Outlawyr at 1:33 PM on November 14, 2000

The first time I saw this interface was in Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I thought it was quite brilliant. It will work well in an augmented reality-type setup. More intuitive than tabs, I'd bet.
posted by sudama at 1:41 PM on November 14, 2000

My favorite quote: "While the pages were unreadable . . ."
posted by grimmelm at 1:45 PM on November 14, 2000

I'm curious: has anyone seen an example of a 3D metaphor for web browsing (not gaming) that they feel really *worked*?
posted by scottandrew at 1:47 PM on November 14, 2000

the only thing i ever saw that made much sense was something apple tried a while back called "hotsauce." it worked in sort of a 3D environment with related subjects clustered together. they 'bloomed" as your pointer came nearer to show relationships. but when you clicked a link you were stuck back on a flat page.

considering the makeup of typography and reading over the past few thousand years, that's probably not such a bad thing.
posted by patricking at 2:08 PM on November 14, 2000

yuk.. didn't notice the screenshot before. it is pretty clear that the Zelda subscreens inspired this "browser". it feels sort of claustrophobic -- I'd be interested to know what linux heads (who are used to managing multiple virtual desktops) think of this interface.
posted by sudama at 2:09 PM on November 14, 2000

I'd be interested to know what linux heads (who are used to managing multiple virtual desktops) think of this interface.

This linux-head turned off the multiple virtual desktops because they were too confusing. :-) my opinion of this cube-browser: yaaaawn.

-mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 2:28 PM on November 14, 2000

This head actually runs brainware 1.0pre4, but regularly interfaces with X11 windowmanagers, which have the multiple desktop thingy.

Imo, they're really useful, if used sparingly. Multiple monitors on the other hand, are the greatest things since sliced bread, and should be overdone as much as possible.
posted by fvw at 3:16 PM on November 14, 2000

Yes yes yes! multiple monitors! Especially because some of us Linux-heads can treat virtual desktops as one Uber-desktop! I can't wait until I can afford to wallpaper my dorm room walls with monitors.Is that wrong?
posted by parvati at 3:43 PM on November 14, 2000

"Flipping from Web page to Web page gets tiresome, doesn't it?" No it doesn't. Please go away.
posted by thirdball at 5:46 PM on November 14, 2000

Note to self: design a PDA in the shape of a cube, consisting of at least 5 screens.
posted by gluechunk at 10:10 PM on November 14, 2000