San Francisco — Yahoo has unveiled an improved version of its “Google Gears” competitor — BrowserPlus, which enables web applications developers to use it on their own Web sites, rolled out two cool new features today: Enhanced drag-and-drop file uploads and desktop notifications.
Yahoo claims that it has improved its BrowserPlus technology for more sophisticated Web applications and now empowers other Web sites besides its own use it, the company said.
BrowserPlus is akin to Google’s Gears, is software that can be plugged into a person’s Web browser to make Web-based applications work more like native desktop programs.
BrowserPlus provides a plugin framework for creating Web applications that contain desktop capabilities; the browser programming environment can be extended with JavaScript APIs to access desktop facilities. An update to the freely available platform was released late last week.
In a blog detailing the improvements, Lloyd Hilaiel, a member of the BrowserPlus team at Yahoo, cited drag-and-drop capabilities for files and folders.
“What is better about the upload? To begin, it is quite simple for end-users to select the files they want to upload,” Hilaiel said. “You can drag and drop files or folders directly into your Web browser. An enhanced [File Browse] implementation supports file multi-select as well as folder select.”
One key feature, the file uploader, for example, means that rather than jumping through tiresome requirements to upload photo, video, or other file to be uploaded, users can just drag photos from their desktop into the browser. You can try the PhotoDrop demo for yourself; it is a compelling illustration of the idea that the wall between the web and the desktop is collapsing.
An additional is desktop notifications tool, allows an in-browser email service, for example, could let you know when you have a Web-based e-mail, calendar, or instant messaging even if it is not open in your browser at the time.
Desktop notifications in BrowserPlus offer Web sites an unobtrusive hook to inform users about important events or content changes, Hilaiel said.
For the uploading of photos, Yahoo has added a component to manipulate images on the client before uploading. “Once the content is selected and the image is ready to upload, our service includes a progress bar that shows accurate upload progress,” said Hilaiel.
The company also claims BrowserPlus as a suitable plug-in framework: once users have it installed, people can let Web sites add new abilities to their browsers without having to restart their browsers. Right now, though, only Yahoo may supply the plug-ins.
Current BrowserPlus plug-ins include features to enable image editing, drag-and-drop operations, PStore for storing data, and an interface for an operating system’s text-to-speech engine.
Also this release includes backing for the Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and Firefox 3 browsers. It runs on Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 with Intel processors and also on Windows Vista and XP.
Yahoo debuted BrowserPlus in May, but it released a new version quietly on Friday. New features include some ability to store data on the user’s computer, and “playful support for motion sensors…on specific laptops,” Hilaiel described in a blog posting Monday.
BrowserPlus was explained by a Yahoo representative as an attempt to make time spent in the browser more efficient and fun. It is focused on making Web plug-ins easier and safer to develop and use. Yahoo has set up an online developer center for BrowserPlus.
Yahoo seemingly is hoping the new features will increase adoption of the software. “It makes it possible for anyone to use BrowserPlus on their own Web site to implement better in-browser uploading and desktop notifications,” Hilaiel said. Previously, BrowserPlus only would work with sites such as Yahoo’s Flickr.
Those who are interested can try it out at: Yahoo’s BrowserPlus developer site, also newly launched.