Review: Facebook fans will ‘like’ RockMelt browser

By ERIC CARVIN

Associated Press

NEW YORK

There’s a lot to keep track of online.

You probably have a Facebook account and an e-mail address or two. You might use Twitter or another service to share your news. You follow the news and browse the Web.

I’m always looking for ways to wrangle my tangle of online accounts.

That’s what I was hoping for when I tried RockMelt, a new Web browser backed by Marc Andreessen, who was behind the Web’s first commercial browser, Netscape. RockMelt aims to bring together social networking, news feeds and Web browsing.

Does it do the job? Mostly, if you rely on Facebook for social networking.

RockMelt, which is available on an invitation-only basis for now, is built on the same foundation as Google Inc.’s 2-year-old Chrome browser. For general browsing purposes, you can expect Chrome’s pros (speed, stability) and cons (some sites don’t work).

Once you install RockMelt, you set it up by giving it permission to integrate your Facebook account. You don’t need to create a new account the way you do with Flock, a competing “social browser” that’s been around for five years. You can then choose to add Twitter and Gmail accounts. RockMelt stores information in the “cloud,” so your settings will automatically follow you to other computers.

On the right of the main browser window is what RockMelt calls the App Edge, where buttons offer access to social-networking sites and other websites. On the far left side is the Friend Edge, a column of buttons representing Facebook friends. Above the Friend Edge is your Facebook profile picture — click to send a Facebook status update or tweet.

The buttons in the App Edge point out unread updates or Gmail messages for each account at a glance, an approach I like. However, to actually read Gmail or see private messages sent through Facebook and Twitter, you must still go to those sites. Eric Vishria, and co-founder of RockMelt, said updates will address this.

For most websites, clicking on the App Edge button calls up a rectangular panel where you can read the latest posts. Similar panels appear for search results and chat sessions, allowing you to chat and browse without disturbing the main browser window.

The panels start out anchored to the side of the browser, but you can click and drag to make them separate browser windows.

I like this approach, but the panels have no “X” button to close them. To make them disappear, I had to find a blank spot in the main browser window and click. This slowed me down until I figured out that I could also hit “Escape.”

Google search results, meanwhile, were annoying for another reason: If you accidentally click in the main browser window, the search results panel vanishes.

The App Edge reveals a key difference between Flock and RockMelt: Flock integrates social networks and other website updates into one stream, while RockMelt gives each feed its own button.

You can drag a link from the main browser window into the Friend Edge to share it; you can also click on a friend’s name to launch a panel where you can chat, write on the person’s Facebook wall or see and comment on their recent posts.

This is an improvement over Flock.

Flock released a major upgrade Dec. 1. I like the way it lets you create custom groups of friends from different social networks. On RockMelt, only Facebook friends are included in the Friend Edge, and you only have two choices for how they’re displayed — everyone online at the moment or all the friends you designate as “favorites.”

From RockMelt’s address bar, you can search the Web and your list of Facebook friends. RockMelt could do better here; in Flock, an address bar search also checks tweets and people you follow on Twitter.

RockMelt performed smoothly overall, though it did crash twice. Sometimes I’d click a button and nothing happened. Sometimes the App Edge vanished.

RockMelt’s biggest shortcoming is its inability to sync with networks other than Facebook and Twitter. Vishria said more will be added, but for now, Flock is several steps ahead.

So should you try RockMelt? If you rely on Facebook for social networking, sure. You’ll find this a fast, stable browser rich with Facebook-friendly features — more than are available on Flock, though the gap is narrowing with the latest version of the latter.