[uf-discuss] Mobile browser with support for microformats

[Zachary Carter]

I just tried Mosembro out on my G1 and, while the browser is a bit
quirky, the concept is executed really well.

The user installable script idea reminds me of what Mozilla is doing
with Ubiquity and their mouse only interface[1].

[1]: http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/can-ubiquity-be-used-only-with-the-mouse/

Best,

Zach Carter
http://zach.carter.name



On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 3:48 AM, Mr. Meitar Moscovitz <meitarm at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 7, 2009, at 5:01 PM, Aleksander Kmetec wrote:
>
>> Hey, everyone!
>>
>> I was hoping you could give me some feedback on my proof-of-concept mobile
>> bowser which is called Mosembro.
>
> Hi Aleksander,
>
> Hearing about Mosembro is *the* reason I downloaded the Android SDK. ;) So
> at least in concept, my feedback is purely positive. I like this idea a lot.
> It's one I might call "brilliantly obvious in retrospect." (A compliment.)
>
>> It is meant to demonstrate how taking advantage of embedded semantic
>> metadata (in this case microformats) can help us build a more user-friendly
>> browser for mobile devices. Since mobile devices are much more awkward to
>> use than full size computers, even simple things like automating a task
>> which would otherwise require you to copy some text from one app to another,
>> can make a huge difference.
>>
>> You can have a look at it here:
>> http://lexandera.com/mosembro/
>>
>> Regards,
>> Aleksander
>
> I'm curious, do you describe or document the microformat that Mosembro uses
> to provide its "consistent site-wide search" functionality anywhere? I'm
> having a look around and playing with Mosembro in Android's emulator now,
> but I can't seem to find mention of this idea anywhere on the Microformats
> wiki or the mailing list archives, and my Java knowledge is way too poor to
> efficiently go code diving into Mosembro's sources. I also tried to locate
> the address of the "Mosembro Demo Page" to see if I could view the source,
> but alas, I'm not seeing an option or that.
>
> (Note that it's very possible I'm simply overlooking something, as is this
> is the first time I've ever seen Google's Android interface.)
>
> Moreover, the idea of extracting a consistent search interface (perhaps with
> a standardized microformat) is appealing to me since many sites provide
> their own search forms but their locations and visual appearance varies
> wildly from site to site (and even between a single site's redesigns). On a
> mobile interface, it is often a nuisance to try and find the search
> functionality for each site. Therefore, a consistent UI presented by the
> user agent itself is preferable, as long as it can plug the entered text
> from the UI to the web site's own search field (which I am assuming is the
> point of what you describe possible in Mosembro, yes?).
>
> Has there been discussion about a search microformat for functionality such
> as described above before? If so, is someone able (and willing) to point me
> in that direction so I can read up?
>
> Thanks very much!
>
> Cheers,
> -Meitar Moscovitz
> Personal: http://maymay.net
> Professional: http://MeitarMoscovitz.com
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