All of a sudden, visual search previews are the hot feature of the week. On Monday, RockMelt unveiled its new browser in private beta. One of its main features is how it handles search from the browser search box. When you type in a search, results are displayed in a column overlay with each underlying page preloaded so that it appears in the main browser window when you click on each result.
Today, Google responded with its own official launch of Google Instant previews, which it has been testing for months. Maybe the timing is just coincidental (yeah, right). But Google rolling out search previews takes it from a quirky feature of a browser most people can’t even download yet to a mainstream search experience. You can check out Google’s instant preview feature here until it rolls out everywhere.
But who does it better? Google’s previews seem to load faster, at least for me (and I am on a very fast broadband connection). But squinting at an image of a site where you can barely even read the words doesn’t really help me out. The RockMelt method actually loads the site. Maybe calling it a preview is not technically accurate, since you actually navigate to the site, but it is so fast that it feels more like a preview. You can see the difference in the screencast above. Or check out the screenshots below for how each preview looks for the same search result on Rockmelt and Google.
Which method do you prefer?
Erick has been discovering and working with startups his entire professional career as a technology journalist, startup event producer, and founder. Erick is President & Founding Partner at Traction Technology Partners. He is also a co-founder of TouchCast, the leading interactive video platform, and a partner at bMuse, a startup studio in New York City. He is the former Executive Producer of the DEMO conferences and former Editor-in-Chief of TechCrunch (where he helped conceive, lead and select startups for the Disrupt conferences, among other duties). Prior to TechCrunch, which he joined as Co-Editor in 2007, Erick was Editor-at-Large for Business 2.0 magazine, and a senior writer at Fortune magazine covering technology.
At TechCrunch, he oversaw the editorial content of the site, helped to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produced TCTV shows, and wrote daily for the blog. He joined TechCrunch as Co-Editor in 2007, and helped take it from a popular blog to a thriving media property. After founder Michael Arrington left in 2011, Schonfeld became Editor in Chief.
Prior to TechCrunch, he was Editor-at-Large for Business 2.0 magazine, where he wrote feature stories and ran their main blog, The Next Net. He also launched the online video series “The Disruptors” with CNN/Money and hosted regular panels and conferences of industry luminaries. Schonfeld started his career at Fortune magazine in 1993, where he was recognized with numerous journalism awards.