Mozilla's Ubiquity gets faster, prettier

On Monday Mozilla released a new version of Ubiquity, the in-browser command line-like utility. While mostly a "stability" update, the add-on has undergone considerable cosmetic change as well, sporting a new dark plastic look. This look can be changed by anyone as part of a new styling system that uses simple CSS. Presumably, user-designed themes will go into an add-ons site as the product matures.

In addition to its new look, Ubiquity now borrows a few features from Firefox 3's "awesome bar." It remembers some of the commands you've used in the past and will let you hop to them right away when starting a new command. For instance, if you frequently use the integrated Wikipedia look-up, simply typing "w" into Ubiquity will pull it up as one of the top search options.

If you haven't yet tried Ubiquity I'd recommend giving it a spin with this update. It's come a long way since earlier releases and can be genuinely useful if you take the time to learn some of the commands. Future releases will no doubt smooth out that learning curve and make it a little easier for the less tech-savvy to approach. Along those lines, Mozilla is at work on a version that lets you pull it up and pick out menu commands with your mouse, just like a contextual menu.

The new version of Ubiquity has a dark plastic-like look and is much faster than previous versions. Click image for larger version.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

[spaceyguy]

The new design that they created just takes up too much taste in my opinion. Ive been using ubiquity for a while, and one of the things I liked about it, other then its ability to make browsing more efficient, was the compact and simple design. Personally, I would like to see what they do next as far as sharing themes.

[angry jubu]

Installed it, tried it, uninstalled it. Not ready for prime time. WAY more trouble than it's worth.

[edwink-devhd]

Ubiquity is definitely a great concept. If you are a feedly/google reader user, we have a set of ubiquity commands you can play with. see http://edwink.devhd.com/2009/01/15/preview-version-of-feedlyubiquity-is-out/ for more information.