On A Safari Hunt: The Shiira Browser

17 Feb 2006 Category: Features, Internet, Japan, Technology

On A Safari Hunt: The Shiira Browser

3 mac browsers - (left to right) Shiira, Safari and Firefox

If you are viewing this site on a Mac, chances are you are using either Safari or Firefox. However there is a new player in town, the open source “Shiira” browser, being developed by a small team of designers and engineers here in Tokyo. Currently at version 1.2.1, the Shiira project is shaping up to be something of a real contender to the two aforementioned big boys of the Mac browser league. PingMag talked to the Shiira project team leader, Kinoshita Makoto, about the project and his thoughts on interface design.

By Jon and Kyoko.

Thanks for meeting us Kinoshita-san! So tell me, what kind of people are you making Shiira for?

I’m making Shiira for all mac users - I want everyone to use it!

Of course, but for instance the Mac platform already has Safari. What’s the difference between say, a Shiira user and Safari user?

Safari comes with Mac OS as a standard, so naturally, it only offer basic features. Shiira aims to provide more advanced features for more advanced users - but at the same time it also covers all the features Safari has. I think the main audience is people who have “mastered” Safari and are now looking for something more meaty - those people will find Shiira very useful.

Geeks like me, then. There must have been a point when you decided Safari (the Mac platform’s main browser) was insufficient for your needs - is there anything you particularly don’t like about Safari?

Haha…well I don’t dislike Safari. I just look for more. In the case of Firefox, of course there are some good points and bad points, and it has special features such as tabs, unique RSS features and so on. If you are Windows user, Sleipnir is one of the most advanced browsers. Compared to those, Safari is just not good enough!

Shiira in action, looking at the Shiira project homepage

I guess you can summarise Shiira as having these 3 main attributes:

1) It’s a browser for Mac OS X users - mac users enjoy a fairly unified user interface. Applications don’t try to look too “different” to one another, as that can be counter-intuitive. Therefore Shiira too tries to offer a design interface similar to other OS X applications such as iPhoto and iTunes.

2) It’s a browser that gives a very “Mac-like” experience - mac users tend to expect a lot more from their applications and Shiira tries to provide this. One example would be the way we have used Tiger’s “Core Image” graphics architecture to create effects such as page transition effects which makes for a much richer browsing experience. You can’t replicate this kind of thing on Windows yet, at least not easily.

Shiira project’s team leader, Kinoshita Makoto

3) It’s an advanced browser. Whichever way you look at it, Safari is kind of basic. Shiira is more in line with the more advanced, customisable browsers such as Firefox, Opera and the aforementioned Sleipnir.

Thanks for the explanation. Sorry, but I have to ask…what does Shiira mean?

Ah, it’s the name of a fish, actually. In English I believe you call it a “Dolphin Fish“. I used to live by the sea and so actually most of the software my company - HMDT (Happy Macintosh Developing Time) - makes is named after fish or sea-related things. For example Coral and Jolla, named after La Jolla beach.

Ahaa all is clear now.

What are your future plans for Shiira?

Well we are going to be putting out incremental releases of the browser including a lot of stuff suggested by the users themselves. Also, we are developing Shiira 2.0 in the background - polishing the functionality and the user interface. Probably the number one aim is ease of use.

Excellent. So when it comes to making interfaces, what do you think are some important things to remember?

One of Shiira’s button themes

In general, I think user interfaces should not give users any unnecessary stress. In order to avoid that there are two things to remember.

Firstly, users need to be able to do whatever it is they want to do, immediately - they shouldn’t have to hunt around for things they want. Secondly, users shouldn’t have to spend time learning lots of fancy new tricks or new operations. In other word, the interface needs to be “obvious”.

Expanding on that, to achieve an easy-to-operate interface, you have to really understand the “sequence” of how people interact with things, taking into account factors like the frequency of that particular operation. Looking at the Mac user interface right now, you can choose how to use it from several different ways, for instance by selecting the top menu bar, or by the dock icons, or an application’s graphical toolbar and so on. What I want to do is if a user has to carry out an action frequently, I want to make it easier and quicker for them.

GarageBand’s dial control as an example of cognitive psychology at use in interface design

Going onto the second point, Kei Sakai - the user interface designer for Shiira - told me his ideas and he suggested that we should re-design the user interface based on cognitive psychology.

I’m not an expert on this subject, but for example look here (points to GarageBand - the software we are using to record the interview with), there is a dial interface in GarageBand. If you see this dial, you can kind of guess “ok, I have to grab this and turn it right/left.” That’s because you are already very familiar with dials in the real world and know their function and how to use them.

Applying that kind of thinking to the screen, users don’t need to stress themselves out by interacting with something that is strange to them. We should embrace these kinds of “natural” user interface objects for users. Don’t make them “explore” or have to think “what’s that?”

Shiira is an open source project - are there any other open source projects by other people that you admire?

I always have a interest in BSD as a Mac OS X developer. Darwin - the open source base of the mac operating system - is based upon BSD. So, I keep my eyes on that. And of course Linux.

Recently there have been news reports saying Apple now have so much control over the world of legally downloaded music that they are slowly becoming a “dangerous” monopoly. Do you agree?

Kyoko talks with Kinoshita-san

Monopoly, huh? (laugh) Well, I’ve been using Macs for about 10 years now. I think it depends how you look at things. I mean if you look at it from one side, it is 100% monopoly because Apple is only company who make Macintosh with Mac OS. However if you change your angle and see this topic from the Windows point of view, Mac’s market share is still very low.

But Apple is definitely getting stronger with iTunes. I think the main controversy about iTunes is that iTunes’ market share has become so big that it’s shutting out other music services. The iPod and iTunes Music Store are inseparable, and other companies cannot produce devices for the iTunes Music Store, nor can they produce software for iPod. I guess these conditions sort of create a monopoly. However, again if you change your perspective - for instance just looking at it as simply a “Network Music distribution system” - Apple is not blocking anything from coming into that field.

Sony Walkman and the music distribution site, “Mora” are teaming up. And KDDI and Lismo are teaming up for cellphone music distribution. So, there is competition out there…

The almighty iPod

From a developer’s point of view though, I’m very much tempted to make software for the iPod. I admire the iPod as a well-built device. However this cannot happen because Apple won’t allow us to. I also wish we could use iTunes’ DRM (Digital Rights Management) software, “FairPlay”. But FairPlay has not been released for third party use, and is only for Apple.

HMDT is a desktop software company - how often do you use web applications? Some people are saying that one day, all our applications will run from the web…

I just started using mixi (the Japanese equivalent of myspace, friendster etc), but that is about it, really!

Do you have any plans to make web applications?

I’m not planning to develop web application, but I would like to develop more desktop applications that utilise web applications. For instance, I developed an application called iCart. Using iCart, you can search through Amazon using a regular desktop application, and buy stuff etc - instead of using the website.

But…why?

One of HMDT’s other projects - iCart, an application that allows you to shop at Amazon

Haha why? Well, I am reluctant to say this to you, Jon! But…well, I think HTML design can be beautiful to look at, but is hard to control. I can create a desktop application that is much more versatile. For example I have greater control over how I list data - by price, by genre etc - you have more choice than on the website. Also with iCart you can always see what’s in your basket (it’s on the right-hand panel of the screen constantly) and there are no annoying “flashy” promotions, trying to get you to buy things you don’t need. I cannot say much yet, but Shiira 2.0 will have new features in a similar vein to this.

Sounds good to me. What else are you doing other than developing desktop applications?

A gift from Kinoshita-san - Programming Dashboard, a book he wrote on development for Apple’s Dashboard

I write articles about programming for magazines and for websites. I’ve even published a few books so far. This book here came out last May, “Programming Dashboard” (Dashboard is a feature of Mac OS X) - Jon, this is for you!

Wow, thanks so much! I wonder what I can make with this…a pingmag dashboard widget!? Thank you very much for the interview, Kinoshita-san!

51 Comments

  1. I think Shiira is interesting, but like Camino and even Safair it has one flaw compared to Firefox. It is relatively easy to switch between the first three to the others because they lack extensions. I have soooo many extensions that I love in Firefox that unless there is something amazing in the other browsers its a hard to swap to them. Even if they had the extensions, it would have to be great to want to have to find them all again, make sure they meet my needs like the old ones, and THEN install them. Passing bookmarks for example should be streamlined better.

    Posted by: Dave on February 17th, 2006 at 10:43 pm

  2. I’ve been using Shiira for the past few releases and have found that the most recent release is a pleasure to use. It has become my default browser now. Congratulations to the developers for a fine product!

    Posted by: gregor jamroski on February 18th, 2006 at 10:28 am

  3. Be the best !!!!!Wagering Online

    Posted by: wagering on February 19th, 2006 at 8:54 pm

  4. I’m testing shiira now, thanks :D

    Posted by: Stephan on February 19th, 2006 at 9:40 pm

  5. Hello from me !!!!!Wagering Online

    Posted by: wagering on February 20th, 2006 at 5:49 am

  6. These photographs capture the zenith moment in a physical process utilizing primordial destructive elements (fire, heat, light) and technology. This process mirrors the intention of the work: an exploration of the themes of birth and death, beginning and ending, transcendence, and the transference of energy.

    Posted by: John Zoller on February 20th, 2006 at 3:24 pm

  7. Verry nice!

    Posted by: Innet on February 20th, 2006 at 4:21 pm

  8. I’ve been a fan of Shiira for quite some time now, so it was great to finally see something on the browser’s creator(s).

    Posted by: Jason on February 28th, 2006 at 2:20 am

  9. I just hope they implement “session saver” functionality soon–right now a shiira crash when I have 10 tabs open is really a pain. Saft does this for safari, FF has the sessionsaver extension.

    I have my fingers crossed!

    Posted by: adin on March 4th, 2006 at 9:57 pm

  10. Great to know the man behind Shiira. Lovely interview.

    I am fairly a new Max OSX user, never satisfy with safari, tried Camino, and than tried Shiira. But Shiira crash quite often. So now i am flocking again :).

    I will wait for a better Shiira. I love Shiira interface much.

    Posted by: Kuswanto on March 9th, 2006 at 6:33 pm

  11. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" » Archive » On A Safari Hunt: The Shiira Browser [...]

    Posted by: ncus nyeroscos » Interview with the mand behind Shiira on March 10th, 2006 at 6:20 pm

  12. [...] There is also an interview with the developer of Shiira, Kinoshita Makoto over at PingMag. LINK [ Shiira ] Technorati Tags: Apple KHTML Mac OSX Safari Shiira Software Web Browser Web Kit // Used for showing and hiding user information in the comment form function ShowUtils() { document.getElementById(”authorinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(”showinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(”hideinfo”).style.display = “”; } function HideUtils() { document.getElementById(”authorinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(”showinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(”hideinfo”).style.display = “none”; } [...]

    Posted by: Shiira, yet another Web browser. at Blog . Jiboneus on March 13th, 2006 at 1:01 am

  13. [...] I came across the Shiira Browser through PingMag, and had such a good initial reaction to their funny anime inspired browse logo face-off, that I downloaded and installed it. Initial reaction - pretty fast, some neat features, I’m tempted to switch. [...]

    Posted by: the adventures of teapot the cat » Blog Archive » Fire vs. Water : Shiira Browser on August 8th, 2006 at 5:24 am

  14. I’m really glad Shiira has been released in English - I’m dying to try it!

    I’m not really a Mac fan but as a Web Developer I try to keep upto date with browsers and rendering. Someone recently showed me Omniweb and the new version of Safari and since then I’ve beed addicted to trying out Mac browsers.

    Posted by: Leyton Jay on January 23rd, 2008 at 10:20 pm

  15. we loved shira.. thanks shire..

    Posted by: kurye on February 22nd, 2008 at 7:21 am

  16. I’ve just recently started trying out Shiira. I must admit, it is a very nice browser. I have been using OmniWeb quite a bit lately but it unfortunately costs money and is not open source. Shiira offers features similar to those I enjoyed on OmniWeb and is open source.

    One question, though. About iCart, the preference panel calls it a plug-in. Does that mean that Shiira has some sort of an architecture for plugins similar to Firefox’s extension architecture (as opposed to the Netscape plugin architecture used by the QuickTime plugin and other similar plugins)? If so, where can I find out more about it? That feature alone would allow Shiira to replace all of my other browsers.

    Posted by: Daniel on April 10th, 2008 at 12:58 am

  17. I’ve just recently started trying out Shiira. I must admit, it is a very nice browser. I have been using OmniWeb quite a bit lately but it unfortunately costs money and is not open source. Shiira offers features similar to those I enjoyed on OmniWeb and is open source.

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