Build Date: Thu Oct 9 11:51:00 2025 UTC
Lynx is still cool, especially at work
-- Bakunin
Skins! For Browsers!
2000-04-11 02:10:14
"Welcome to Fruity Gum," it says above the web browser's address bar. The "back" and "forward" buttons are red and white squares that look like Chiclets. And the icon loading the bookmark file is an orange circle with yellow arrows pointing in all directions, over a purple-and-red honeycomb pattern.
They're skins, ladies and gentlemen. Skins! The preview version of Netscape 6 and various versions of Mozilla now includes the ability to change around the color scheme, icons, and other attributes on the interface -- just like the countless skins for mp3 players! (Their design strategy is simple: Why just have an mp3 player when you can have an mp3 player that displays a picture of Christina Aguilera or the Mountain Dew logo while it endlessly scrolls the titles of your mp3s.)
The browser skin I've tested most is "Fruity Gum," based on an earlier skin called Aphrodite that Open Source coders developed. It's the browser of the future -- fulfilling that long-standing wish to replace the standard-issue green with -- something else! The thing I like is when you hold your mouse over the buttons, grey vertical bars move across them. And at the bottom of the menus, Alphanumerica's developers put pictures of dragons holding office supplies. Just because they could.
The people behind "Fruity Gum" call it a design that "might not make your surfing experience any more useful, but it will certainly make it more fun." (For some reason, the page announcing the skin even linked to "CareBearDragon.com.") Right now it's nearly impossible to use if you want to do anything other than marvel at the interface -- all your bookmarks become illegible. But no matter how stupid it may seem, the novelty is there.
Soon we'll see browsers with anime and headshop psychedilia, as "browser skin authoring tools" let everyone try their hand at design toolbars. Browser designers will find themselves competing with the authors of GeoCities web pages about Knight Rider desktop themes. And everyone will be yapping about how the user interface is finally more DIY. Some people are saying this is a bad thing that will destroy user interface design as we know it -- but the ability to switch skins is already being coded into future versions of Mozilla. For better or worse, they're here.
I've seen the future, and it's skins.
T O P S T O R I E S
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
Delusional rich man tries to fire town staff
"I'm mayor now" said write-in mayoral candidate and founder of Pirate’s Booty Snacks Robert Ehrlich after losing the election for Mayor of Sea Cliff, NY. Then he tried to take over the Village Hall and fire everyone. (More...)
Musk claims Xitter security is staffed by idiots
Earlier this month Xitter experienced a massive outage. In an interview, Musk told Fox Business that he believes the attack came from "IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area." (More...)
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Ideas have taken horrifying shape and rooted into our modern reality. (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
Boo-zho-lay for you, Pigdog reader! Another fine Spocktail of the week is available for you. And this week's offering is EXTRA special and fancy, since it celebrates the birthday of Pigdog's own STAR TWINS! (More...)
The Ancient and Correct Sake Ceremony
Many Americans have learned to appreciate the delicate, sophisticated flavors of Japanese food and drink, along with the beautifully refined rituals of Japanese dining. San Francisco, as a gateway between East and West, has especially benefited from the flowering of Eastern consciousness in America. It is hardly possible to walk down the street without stepping on somebody's sushi. (More...)
Three Days and 25 Spocktails: A Cautionary Tale
Johnnie Royale picked me up from the dental surgery. I felt warm, safe, cradled in the anathesia's loving embrace. The pharmacy downstairs gave me a bottle of Vicodin and a few instructions: take it with food, don't mix with alcohol, don't operate heavy machinery. I put it in my pocket and we left. "Do you want to go home, or do you want to go to a bar?" asked Johnnie. (More...)
Pigdog dispatched special correspondent Ratsnatcher for a holiday reconnaissance of America's frozen hell. After ten days of silence, our shortwave radio cackled with Ratsnatcher's static-filled transmission. (More...)
