Mozilla Launches Snowl 0.3 for Firefox

Mozilla's messaging add-on experiment has reached its third iteration with the release of Snowl 0.3. The add-on aims to unify online conversations no matter where their original source is, be it an RSS or Atom feed or Twitter. The latest version brings an experience better integrated with Firefox and also makes several changes to the list view to allow for easier subscribing.

“We’re pleased to announce the release of Snowl 0.3, the third major release of the messaging-in-the-browser experiment. This release features closer integration with Firefox’s existing feed functionality and many improvements to the list view to make it easier to subscribe to and follow feeds,” Myk Melez wrote on the project's blog, while also reminding users that this was still pretty much a work in progress. “[D]on’t forget that this is a labs experiment, not a finished product, and there are bound to be bugs and other issues. Post your thoughts on Snowl to the discussion group, and file bug reports on the problems you encounter.”

Launched more than a year ago, Snowl aims to make it easier for users to engage in online conversations, which, because of the nature of the Internet, can be spread across several sites and methods of communications. With Snowl, users can put all the pieces together, regardless of where they originated, but, for now, it only supports RSS/Atom feeds and Twitter as sources. In the future, it will also include support for social networks, discussion forums and others.

The latest version replaces Firefox's default functionality when handling feeds by showing them in the “river of news” view rather than the regular feed preview page. It also automatically detects identical RSS and Atom feeds and selects one. The list view comes with a series of improvements and new features and it allows users to delete messages and create custom collections and also provides collection filters and an unread-message count.

Mozilla Snowl 0.3 for Firefox is available for download here.