New version of Chromium social Web browser launched

PanARMENIAN.Net - RockMelt, the "social Web browser" built on top of Chromium, the open source version of Google's Chrome browser, has now partnered with Facebook on a new version, RockMelt Beta 3, ReadWriteWeb reported.

The updated software includes over 31 new features. When Facebook.com is detected, RockMelt will deliver a more streamlined appearance where certain Facebook features are removed from the website and displayed within the Web browser itself.

According to RockMelt, one of the biggest feature requests was for tools to manage Facebook friend requests, messages and notifications right in the browser. This is now a notable new addition in RockMelt 3, where all three can be found at the top-left corner, similar to Facebook's own website. You can also confirm friend requests and compose messages within the browser.

Facebook Chat has been improved too, with a revamp of the "Friend Edge" - the feature which displays user’s friend list alongside the browser window. Now this Friend Edge offers an expandable view where user can see friends' full names and pictures or even search the list by name. You can also scroll through the list or move the list to the other side of the browser if you prefer.

In total, there are 31 new features in the update, including the following: brand new friend ridge, expandable view with names and favorite status, scrollable friend edge, swappable friend edge and app edge, friend search in friend edge, chat status can now be changed to online / offline even easier and etc.

Despite its high-profile backers - RockMelt was funded by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreesen - it's not the first company to attempt a "social" Web browsing experience. Flock, a one-time up-and-comer in this same space recently failed, and support for both its Firefox and Chrome-based versions was shut down in April of this year.