14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla is yet again looking ahead and trying to shape the browsing experience, adapting to the latest online trends. It is working on integrating identity features into the browser and, now, Mozilla Labs is announcing another similar project, dubbed Contacts, which, predictably, adds a contacts manager to Firefox. The idea is to make the browser a gatekeeper of sorts between your data and websites and online services.
"Today, we’re announcing the release of an experimental version of our new Contacts addon. With Contacts, we’ve enhanced your browser by making it aware of your online contacts and friend lists. You can then search and browse your contacts in the browser, and a website can ask for permission to access them through an API," Michael Hanson, a principal engineer at Mozilla Labs the foundation's experimental arm, wrote.
"Why is this information important? Address books and buddy lists have become an integral part of how we manage our relationships online. Your email addresses, twitter handle and openID are used in hundreds of ways as you connect, follow and share online," he explained the reasoning behind the move.
An experimental, pre-alpha build of the upcoming feature is now available in the form of an add-on. It is more of a proof-of-concept at this point, but there is some functionality that you might find useful, if only for testing purposes. There are four main components to the prototype Contacts add-on, Mozilla says.
First, there is a database to store all the contacts information locally, which also syncs with online services to keep the list updated. For now, it works with Gmail, Twitter and the Mac OS Address book. As the tool matures, plenty of other services should be supported, but, until then, Contacts also comes with a generic import tool so you can add more contacts information from desktop apps or web services.
The third component is an email auto-completion feature, which allows users to automatically fill in email addresses on sites without sharing the complete contacts information. Finally, Mozilla is also providing a JavaScript API for websites so they can add functionality to access the browser-based address book. Don't expect to see this on too many sites until and if the Contacts feature gets some traction, which is not likely to be soon.
Mozilla says there is a need for this kind of functionality in the browser, which you control and can trust more than various online services and sites. The reasoning is the same as with the recently launched web identity add-on for Firefox and it makes sense. More and more websites are reliant on this type of information. There are several web services that cater to this, Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, OpenID to a degree, and others, but you can only trust them so far.
