Flock: Update Brings new Interface; Functionality

Flock, a Firefox-based web browser that focuses on browser integrated web services (blogging, uploading, etc) has received a significant update. The integration of these services has earned it the nickname: “Web 2.0 Browser”.

From it’s release Flock has gotten flack (and lots of it) for being buggy, but recent updates have effectively resolved and silenced those problems. Unlike Firefox, Flock comes full of tools for bloggers and social networking users, from the start.

The newest release (0.9) comes with significant tweaks to the interface and finally promotes its social side without having to dig through menus and sidebars. All of the social features have been grouped on the left side of the screen in three sections. The first section focuses on aggregated items, with the new iGoogle competitor, “My World” and the media bar.

The media bar allows you to search popular picture and video site like YouTube and Flickr without having to actually visit the site. Flock fans who can still remember the old look will notice that the bar has been given a visual refresh. The results also loads within seconds, which is nice given the short length of our attention spans.

The next section focuses on social networks by allowing you to enter your account information into Flock for an integrated experience. Finally, the last section is specifically for blogging; the two buttons create a blog post and upload files respectively.

For bloggers, you’ll be happy to know that the blog editor has been significantly overhauled and now offers better features like tagging and more editing options. It is still compatible with the popular blogging platforms in use today.

The biggest difference from the update is stability. The occasional spinning beach ball or the “unexpectedly quit” window have taken a step down. Frustrated Firefox 2 users might find the Flock browser as the perfect alternative because it offers most of the features in Firefox, as well as being more stable and responsive.

Flock has always been a social browser, and with the newest update they are finally promoting it. The new interface puts the social aspect of the browser on top priority. The Flock browser is free to download from the newly redesigned Flock website.