14 DAY TRIAL // Concerning the visual aspects available in Vista, the OS has brought huge improvements in this respect compared to what is available in XP. One of my favorite features is flipping through the various windows in the taskbar. In Vista the visual of the pages is much better as you get a look at the entire page, no only at the name of the application. However, if you are looking for more than a simple 2D look at the opened windows, you should try flip 3D in Home Premium, Business and Ultimate editions of Vista.
If your computer is not running these versions of Vista I think you should at least experience 3D web browsing available both on XP and Vista from spacetime.com. The application is absolutely free of charge and is currently in beta state.
SpaceTime 3D is a web browser that provides you a 3D experience with web browsing. Forget about tabbed browsing and thumbs of web pages when hovering your mouse over tabs. Get a full, three dimensional view of your searches and move them in space the way you like it.
Judging by the interface of the application, it seems that sky's the limit as all your windows are displayed on a sky background with clouds slowly moving from left to right. For greater flexibility in going from one page to another, SpaceTime 3D is equipped with a timeline, available in the lower part of the screen, containing all the pages you open. The thumbs make it easy for you to go directly to one page without having to flip your way to it.
The application also allows you to perform searches on several of the most popular engines on the market. In the upper part of the screen there is the search bar that allows you to look for items on eBay, Flickr, Google, Google Images, Yahoo!, YouTube or Amazon. Simply choose the search engine, input your search query, and press Enter. The results of your search are displayed in 3D visual stacks. Flipping through them is done with the same ease whether you are using your mouse or the Tab control on your keyboard.
The arrow keys are reserved for different tasks like moving around the space to reach other search stacks or zooming in/out the search results windows. Combine them with Ctrl to spread the 3D windows on the screen or to move them up and down the screen. As far as I can tell, Shift key is simply speeding up the moving of the tabs in the 3D environment.
The movement options in the SpaceTime3D allow you to Walk, Slide, Fly, Examine, Pan or Jump. The modes to use the movements are either Collision or Gravity. Depending on the type of movement you choose, the 3D tabs will respond differently to displacing them. Regardless of the mode or type of movement enabled, holding Ctrl and clicking and dragging with your mouse pointer from the menu bar of a window will result in moving it about the application screen.
Besides the gorgeous looks and the flexibility given by 3D, SpaceTime can also function as a regular browser. Bringing a tab in full screen (that is the only way of navigating it) is done by a simple double-click. In almost an instant, the tab will be opened and you can freely navigate it. The functions available are the basic ones and there is absolutely nothing to flip your mind off.
You have the address bar in the top left hand corner and the usual options of the context menu. Moving to another tab is a bit difficult as you will have to press the Go Back button in the right hand upper corner of the screen. In case you have toyed around with the tabs dragging them all over the place you may find yourself in a bit of a problem. There is no order on the screen and the tabs are just thrown around. Finding the one you need could take some time. SpaceTime 3D comes with a Straighten Up option which I think should fix the problem. But given the beta stage of the program, it is not working properly at this moment.
Bookmarks are an integral part of a web browser and any browser supports them. In SpaceTime 3D things are bit more difficult as the only way to append a favorite is through the context menu's option. Also, there is no way to remove obsolete links from the list directly from the 3D browser. Managing them is impossible and all you can do is open them. There is no possibility of categorizing them and create folders to store them.
However, accessing them is quite easy. Notice the top right hand arrow on the screen? That is the key to opening the URL history, searches, pictures and favorites/bookmarks. The searches made in the browser can be deleted from this side panel (at the bottom there are the Rename and Delete options), but not the bookmarks.
The Preferences window of the application generally deals with performance options and the quality of the 3D rendering on your computer and almost none of the regular settings you would find in a regular browser are present. Instead, there are lots of options for enabling the best visual experience.
Some hidden features of SpaceTime 3D include the ability of displaying images on your computer in 3D mode (simply drag and drop them in the window) and searching any specific domain (command line hacks). The results will be displayed in visual stacks.
The Good
SpaceTime 3D is the newest technological stretch in what concerns web browsing. The idea behind the project is absolutely fun-tastic. All your searches are organized into stacks in a 3D environment. The flexibility in handling them is astonishing.
The Bad
It is in beta stage, so there are lots of things to straighten up. There is no use in enumerating all of them as they will most likely be fixed in the final version. But reorganizing the 3D tabs is one feature that should work no matter what. I am sure that everyone will get carried away with playing with the tabs and moving them from one place to another, throwing them from one side to another, but when it comes to serious business you will have to know exactly where that tab was jettisoned.
Careful with those resources. Unless you have at least 1GB of RAM and 128MB on the graphic card I suggest you stay away from it.
The Truth
It is as visible as the light of the day that the software is in beta as there is a lot of work to be done in order to achieve a full-fledged application. Until all is fixed enjoy the 3D experience provided by SpaceTime 3D. It definitely is not a waste of time. The rating will be left to default as it is still a work in progress.
I recommend installing it just for the fun of it as no actual work can be done with it yet. However, it makes searching for the right item in eBay a heck of a lot easier.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
