Prism beta brings web apps to desktop

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 11 May 2009 at 17:33

Mozilla has released the first beta of Prism, a tool that allows users to turn any web application into a desktop app.

The Prism beta is a standalone application, though the company has already committed to folding it into whatever version of Firefox follows 3.5.

It works simply enough. Users enter the web address of the app they want to run through Prism into a dialog box, add an icon image and click where they want it to appear - whether that's the desktop, quick launch, start menu, or all three.

Clicking on the newly created icon will then run that app through Prism, stripping away the browser's clutter and giving it a pseudo-desktop feel. Unlike the similar feature in Google Chrome, however, the beta also features tray icon notifications, allowing it to alert you when a new Gmail message arrives, for example.

Mozilla's released a Prism API, which will allow developers to create Prism-specific features for their web applications. These could allow apps to access the machine's graphics hardware or local storage.