Top ten feature requests

[Ken Case]

I'd be happy just to know what else is on the list! It's tough knowing which boxes to tick on the voting ballot when they aren't labeled :-)

OK, here are the top dozen feature requests for OmniWeb:


Add a conventional tab bar (#12937)
Incremental page search (find as you type) (#15247)
Add the ability to block or disable Flash, QuickTime, other plug-ins without requiring regex (#4965)
Undo support for closing tabs/windows (#13237)
Support multiple logins (username/passwords) per website, autocomplete logins (#13995)
Provide some way to sort (reorder) bookmarks permanently so they appear sorted in the menu (#240)
Lock status bar icon should show site's security info/certificate (#16051)
Allow moving/dragging tabs from one workspace to another, deleting them, etc. (#13082)
Bring back the bookmarks drawer [bookmarks sidebar] (#13035)
Confirm Quit dialog box, optionally only when edited forms exist (#3581)
Suggested improvements for URL autocomplete matching (#7404)
New tabs should open up as a child of, or next to, a root tab (#17671)


Wow, bug #240! That's an old one, I wonder if there are any older unresolved requests in the database… Yes, there are, though none of them have many votes:


Scheduled / prioritized downloads (#182)
Want to assign window size to specific URLs or automatically resize windows based on URL and/or store window size in bookmark (#235)
Untitled but bookmarked pages should use bookmark label for Window menu (#236)

[PhilMac]

Excellent, Ken! Thanks!

1) To quote myself (this being a more appropriate thread for it): have you considered implementing some method (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_system) of literal voting for new features, like WordPress (http://wordpress.org/development/2009/07/2-9-vote-results/) did once and Dell (http://www.ideastorm.com/), Second Life (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Issue_Tracker#Vote_for_issues), and Moreover (http://blog.moreover.com/2009/01/21/your-uservoice-heard/) do continually?

2) Any chance of you also revealing your top dozen priorities? :)

[JBB]

Here's one: open all changed bookmarks in tabs. This seemed so obvious to me that I wonder if I just missed how to do it (other than going to the bookmarks window, sorting based on change status, selecting the ones that have the changed icon, right clicking, and selecting open in tabs). I think there should be a direct way, and since this is such a nice feature, it should be easy to access.

[Drayon]

Ken Case: OK, here are the top dozen feature requests for OmniWeb:


Add a conventional tab bar (#12937)
or resizable Sidebar for Tabs instead of draw


Incremental page search (find as you type) (#15247)
I don't mind the current system if it included a more obvious focus on the result and in the case where there is only ONE result that the system beeps or does something to alert us instead of nothing. Sometimes it is hard to find a result in a large page and if there is only one which does not move the page in case of another result it is difficult to know if there was only one result and to locate it. Nice page wide 1 line thick highlight or similar.


Add the ability to block or disable Flash, QuickTime, other plug-ins without requiring regex (#4965)
Site Preferences? Yes great. Do SitePreference HAVE to be in the main OW.plist? I'd hate to loose all my site preference if i need to delete OW's preferences and start a fresh new file. Mind you I've not had OW preference corruption.


Support multiple logins (username/passwords) per website, autocomplete logins (#13995)
Does this include AutoFill/AutoComplete forms upgrade? I'd love that this was a dedicated database stored. Not tied to OW main preference.plist. In case preferences get messed up, in case we delete preferences we loose all Autofill/AutoComplete and Site Preferences info, I don't love that idea. I'd love Autofill/Autocomplete preference to allow better management in a way we can resize the data list full screen if necessary and select multiple items incase of delete.


Allow moving/dragging tabs from one workspace to another, deleting them, etc. (#13082)
In Workspaces Panel? Yes Fantastico


Suggested improvements for URL autocomplete matching (#7404)
Nice, I have gone into great detail on this.


Scheduled / prioritized downloads (#182)
This maybe one I mentioned. The details I requested involve providing the user custom values for Download Bandwidth. If my connection max's out at 150kb/sec I need to cap this at say 135kb/sec so that a large 'Mac OS X Combo updater' download does not saturate the connection which prevents anyone else from using the network.

Not in list:

Disable Auto Page reloads.

Also a setting to Prevent pages automatically reloading. Major annoyance for example, a currency convertor xe.com. I try enter some data into a form an the page reloads an before I finish and zaps all my data, try again get almost to the end to convert a currency an the page loads again. dumb Dumb DUMBER!! haha

Save as PDF - Command+Option+Shift+S
Please add this to the 'File Format' List in a Save Dialog rather than obscure hidden key command.

[Morto]

Hello Ken,

This is nice! I like being able to comment on your top ten..


Add a conventional tab bar (#12937)

As long as the existing thumbnail / drawer implementation remains then feel free to make others happy. But the tabs drawer implementation is the #1 thing I love about OW. Whenever I use a browser with a conventional tab bar I spend the whole time thinking how much it sucks.

Incremental page search (find as you type) (#15247)

Yes, this would be nice. I do like the Safari implementation, but the FF one is good as well. This would be a nice-to-have.

Add the ability to block or disable Flash, QuickTime, other plug-ins without requiring regex (#4965)

My ideal solution would be to have a checkbox in the Site Preferences that lets me turn on / off Flash the same way I can turn Java on and off per site.

Provide some way to sort (reorder) bookmarks permanently so they appear sorted in the menu (#240)
Bring back the bookmarks drawer [bookmarks sidebar] (#13035)

I do not have any problem with the bookmarks implementation as it is.

Lock status bar icon should show site's security info/certificate (#16051)

Yes!

Allow moving/dragging tabs from one workspace to another, deleting them, etc. (#13082)
Confirm Quit dialog box, optionally only when edited forms exist (#3581)
Support multiple logins (username/passwords) per website, autocomplete logins (#13995)
Undo support for closing tabs/windows (#13237)

I can see these being handy, but have never wished for them myself.

Suggested improvements for URL autocomplete matching (#7404)

Sure, though I do not know what the suggested improvements are..

New tabs should open up as a child of, or next to, a root tab (#17671)

This would be great. Yes, please.

Overall, I would pick #4965, #17671, #16051, #15247 in that order, as features I would want.

And if I could, I would like to toss in my own pet features and / or vote for others:

1. Being able to disable automatic page reloading (as another poster said) would be excellent (looking at you cbc.ca/news).

2. A Go button. Seriously! I know it's so Netscape4, but I'm serious. I have a modbook (http://axiotron.com) that doesn't come with a keyboard, and sometimes it just happens that I copy / paste a url into the address bar, and then have to open up the onscreen keyboard, click the enter key and close the onscreen keyboard. A Go button would save me the hassle and would be a nice addition to the list of Navbar buttons.

3. A Service that Searches in Google with Omniweb. I can open a URL in OW, but Searching with Google gives me Safari.

It is nice to see that OW is still getting some love from OG.

[JKT]

I have to say that I am astonished that there isn't a request for an option for site specific preferences to be much more granular than they are, by working with more than just the top level domain. That seems (or seemed) to be one of the more frequent ones made on the mailing list and forums.

[troyb]

I have to say that I am astonished that there isn't a request for an option for site specific preferences to be much more granular than they are, by working with more than just the top level domain. That seems (or seemed) to be one of the more frequent ones made on the mailing list and forums.
It's just beyond the top dozen. Depending on how you count, it's tied for number 14:

14. Allow Subdomain specific preferences

[skellener]

I prefer Omniweb's tab bar/drawer just the way it is. That's one of the key reasons I use Omniweb. If I wanted a tab bar like the the other browsers, I'd use one of the other browsers.

Is it possible to set up contextual search with the new Snow Leopard Services? That way when you right click the search option would be there.

[Handycam]

Add a conventional tab bar (#12937)

yes, please. or a method like Opera where it can be moved or converted to tabs or previews. Their method is ingenious IMHO.

Incremental page search (find as you type) (#15247)

Find as you type is less important to me than just improving find to be more like modern browsers, especially Safari.

Add the ability to block or disable Flash, QuickTime, other plug-ins without requiring regex (#4965)

Yes, as a site preference. Again, see Opera. They have a site pref "load plugins"

Undo support for closing tabs/windows (#13237)

Yes

Support multiple logins (username/passwords) per website, autocomplete logins (#13995)

Not a priority for me, personally, but sure why not.

Provide some way to sort (reorder) bookmarks permanently so they appear sorted in the menu (#240)

This would be nice, except I use Bookdog once in a while to sort them.

Lock status bar icon should show site's security info/certificate (#16051)

Whatever

Allow moving/dragging tabs from one workspace to another, deleting them, etc. (#13082)

Bring back the bookmarks drawer [bookmarks sidebar] (#13035)


Not important to me

Confirm Quit dialog box, optionally only when edited forms exist (#3581)

Only important to me when downloads are active

Suggested improvements for URL autocomplete matching (#7404)

Yes, like FF or Opera would be nice.

New tabs should open up as a child of, or next to, a root tab (#17671)

Personally, I'd rate this higher. Less important to me that next to/child of is that closing a tab returns you to the tab the last had focus -- not the tab next to it.

[marlwin]

or resizable Sidebar for Tabs instead of draw

This is my number one, the drawer is too hazardous, less flexible and it can't decide to fix left or right. For me the drawer is inapropriate for the behavior I except especially if you use windows at maximum size. What happens if you just want to only change the width of the tabs ? You need to resize the window and the drawer. A sidebar eliminate one action.

Otherwise I'm all for number 5 (this is a serious problem for me in OW, I need to open safari for multiple logins) and 8.

[rutherdbrown]

Thanks a lot people.. omni group forums rock... u r the best...

[robotank]

I agree with a lot of these feature requests. I just want to add another vote for the current implementation of tabs. Choice is, of course, always good, but please, whatever you do, don't remove the tab sidebar. Visual tabs are so much easier to navigate because you can see what's on the page. Also, everyone knows that vertical space trumps horizontal space in a web browser :)

[garfield]

Add a conventional tab bar (#12937)
As an option in the Preferences would be great.

Incremental page search (find as you type) (#15247)
And with better highlighting would be great.

Undo support for closing tabs/windows (#13237)
Yes

Support multiple logins (username/passwords) per website, autocomplete logins (#13995)
Would be cool if a prompt came up that said "Login with..."

New tabs should open up as a child of, or next to, a root tab (#17671)
Again, as an option would be fantastic


I'll be editing this post with suggestions of mine as they come up but the list covers most of them.

[skellener]

I agree with a lot of these feature requests. I just want to add another vote for the current implementation of tabs. Choice is, of course, always good, but please, whatever you do, don't remove the tab sidebar. Visual tabs are so much easier to navigate because you can see what's on the page.Yup! Main reason I stick with OmniWeb (along with the fact I used to use it way back on NeXTSTEP) is the visual tabs on the side. Works perfectly fine on my 24" iMac at home and my dual monitor set up at work. I do understand about the need to conserve space which is why I use Safari when on my 10" netbook. But when you have a nice big screen, OmniWeb's visual tabs rock!

[rmathes]

what about performance?

Right now, the thing that is making me consider switching to Safari is it’s just a lot faster than OW. A LOT faster. I’d REALLY like to stay in OmniWeb, have used it as my default browser for years, but it’s falling behind re performance.

Also, any plans to add tagging functionality to bookmarks? For me, this would be very helpful. If not, there is currently the ability to add keywords to a bookmark entry but I see no facility for using that data element. Being able to search bookmarks by keyword would be a nice way to leverage data you already allow for.

[rzigweid]

For pure performance I might agree with you, however, one of the things I am also concerned about is memory utilization. In this, OmniWeb actually seems to be doing better than Safari.

With three windows and maybe 15 tabs, Safari's currently using a stupendous 612 MB right now. OmniWeb seldom takes more than 500 for me, and that's when it's been up and running for a few days.

I'm going to be trying one of the sneaky peaks I think and see if the performance is still that much different.

[rmathes]

right now I have 21 tabs open in Safari, the number of tabs varies but it’s been over a dozen for awhile, and it’s been open for several days. It’s using 284 MB of real memory.

I haven’t had any memory consumption issues with Safari. Now, I'm running some adblock stuff and a ‘click to flash’ app that requires clicking on a flash application to run it, so maybe that helps.

[rzigweid]

right now I have 21 tabs open in Safari, the number of tabs varies but it’s been over a dozen for awhile, and it’s been open for several days. It’s using 284 MB of real memory.

I haven’t had any memory consumption issues with Safari. Now, I'm running some adblock stuff and a ‘click to flash’ app that requires clicking on a flash application to run it, so maybe that helps.

Hrm. Interesting. It's something that I'll have to monitor. Though I'm the sort that keeps trying Safari and other browsers and ends up back on OmniWeb because of the feature set. To me, OmniWeb a better total package than the other browsers. If all 10 of these get put in, I'm a super happy camper.

I'm trying the latest SneakyPeak now. I'm hoping perhaps that some memory issues are also addressed either through the webkit upgrades, or things the Omni Group have identified.

[rmathes]

believe me, I would be VERY happy to switch back to OmniWeb. I like the feature set and the look and feel a lot, much better than any other browser.

But compared to Safari, it’s performance had just gotten unacceptably slow. I did some informal timing tests, loading various web pages in both browsers. Safari consistently loaded 30-40% faster than Safari, for me.