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Roberto Gómez

horbito NOVA - A new kind of web browser, made for the neoworkers.

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NOVA is a new kind of web browser designed for the way we interact with the web today, made for the neoworkers.
Turn any website into an app so you can start interacting with windows, not tabs. Welcome to the Operating System of the web.

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Roberto Gómez
Maker
Hello Product Hunt! We're really excited to share NOVA with you today and get all your feedback. Google Chrome was launched more than 10 years ago and it still works exactly the same way (although the way we work has drastically changed). We now live online and always work using our browser, we don't really use our OS anymore, our web browsers have actually become the real Operating System which we use to access the programs we need. If so, why doesn't it behave like such? Introducing NOVA, a web browser where you interact with your webapps using an OS-like interface, with icons, badges and windows. Add new apps using the App Store or turn any website you want into an app through Vintage Browser. Although the product is not finished (we want to add plugins support, SSO, cookie sync, better integrations...) we wanted to share our MVP with you ASAP to get the most feedback possible and improve NOVA as fast as we can. Please ask any question you might have, @javiergarmon and I will love to answer absolutely any doubt or suggestion you might have! Thank you!
Şerban Cârjan
@javiergarmon @robby2023 Hi, first of all congrats on the concept, I think browsers are due a refresh (no pun intended). I installed the Windows 10 version and the first thing I got is a login prompt, with no way to go around it. I feel this was not communicated at all in the presentation or on the website, and also nowhere does it say why I -must- have an account. Especially since it's an MVP, It would be nice if access is unrestricted, so as many people try it out. I don't want to create an account for no reason, so I'll wait until there is more information about the authentication requirement, or (preferably) there is a way to skip it.
Javier Garmón
Maker
@robby2023 Thanks @serbancarjan ! We've been thinking a lot about this first initial sensation. NOVA is based on horbito (which is free too) and for having a Cloud based environment it's neccesary to have an account in the service. As you has metioned, that first impresion is tough. We're going to work on that ASAP. Thank you for your feedback!
Franz
@javiergarmon @robby2023 Hi Guys! I just LOVE the presentation of the product & the design of the app. I installed Horbito nova, but it looks more like a new OS rather than a new browser. Am I wrong?
Chris Messina
@javiergarmon @robby2023 I mean, site specific browsers have been around for a while... so I'm struggling to imagine how you call this is "the first web browser where you interact with your webapps using an OS-like interface, with icons, badges and windows". @iTod built his own browser generator called Fluid 11 years ago...
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@javiergarmon @franz1 Thank you so much Franz!! It does look more like a new OS indeed, it's a web browser with an OS-like interface. Instead of accessing the apps through a URL you would add them using the App Store or turn them into apps using "Add to taskbar" inside Vintage Browser. Then, when you boot NOVA you would open and interact with the apps in a very similar way you would use a compuer. We believe it makes much more sense to interact with webapps this way today instead of the traditional way of changing through hundreds of tabs.
Jake Tran
is this a chromium based? what about apps that would work better with extensions on chrome? does this support that? EDIT: I am enjoying it so far, but please find a way to manage the taskbar, or at least allow me to drag and drop. Managing the taskbar and windows is lil bit nightmare here. Also, please allow managing cookies and history as well, or maybe an omnisearch to look for history and windows/ tabs management. Also, I use Google to log in to Raindrop and Raindrop failed to open the login window of Google. Spotify is unable to play music in there. Any fixes?
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@jake_tran Hello Jake! Yes, we're based on Chromium so every webapp will work as fast as it does in Google Chrome. We're currently working on supporting plugins from the Chrome Store, which plugins would you love to have available? You can manage the taskbar using right click over the icons and selecting (remove from taskbar or move up/down), same if you right click over the icons in the launchpad (add to taskbar). We know drag&drop would be more convenient but we wanted to launch the MVP as fast as we could!
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@jake_tran Regarding the Google error while trying to log in to Rainfrop I'll report it to my team so we can discover what's happening. About Spotify, we're having issues with DRM but we've already managed to talk with Google to get Widevine support so it will be fixed in a few days! :)
Jake Tran
@robby2023 Hi there, thank u for replying. For now, I just uninstalled it because its still not responsive enough for my daily usage (I'm a Windows user btw). But I am very looking forward to it. The reason that I do, and also prefer this over Station.io because you guys don't forget the root: that it is still a web browser. The problem w/ Station is, there are times, I still need to wandering around the web, and go to pages that are not necessarily apps. So kudos for you guys add tabs to apps and still have a browser in there And also, because of my fast workflow, I find the current interactions for managing taskbar is still a burden for me, since I add like tons of apps on it. Maybe also considering tab and bookmark management since I could easily open 20+ sth tabs lol. However, i think i already subscribe to you guys, so I will keep an eye on this closely. For plugins, for now, I would probably need adblock, some security plugins, and official plugins that support all the apps in your app store. Yes, I know its a tall task but keep em' coming lol.
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@jake_tran Amazing feedback, you're awesome! Everything you mentioned is actually in our product roadmap so we'll slowly get there. I'm sending you a message right now because I would LOVE to test with you new ideas or features and get such an amazing feedback.
The4lbe

Great tool!

Pros:

Its dynamic, quick and helps me get my shit done more efficiently

Cons:

I haven't found any yet. If there are some, I bet devs will get it sorted in no time.

Roberto Gómez
Maker
Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm sure you'll find some improvements as you use NOVA, please don't hesitate contacing us so we can improve the product!
Jorge Fernández

Really cool video :O

Pros:

Great to get back to this UX based on frameworks or windows. Is comfortable to manage my web apps this way and say goodbye to chrome tabs.

Cons:

It would be wonderful to use this UX to make easier drag and drop things from one app to an other!

Roberto Gómez
Maker
Thank you so much for your feedback Jorge! That would be an amazing feature, being able to drag&drop from one app to another is definitely our final goal, really exciting!
Jose Manuel Hernandez
IMHO, this product is just what the market of Web browsers need. It has a neat interface (similar to others like shift or station) but adds incredible value on how windows are managed. Pros: Clearly is a good approach on how the future of Web browsers will be. I really like the introduction of windows again cos I am pretty tired of tabs or other products which doesn't allow me to multitask as I would like to. Cons: Until now, not a single one. I've downloaded the app for Windows 10 and both onboarding and first minutes with Nova have been so impressive.
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@jose_manuel_hernandez Wow, thank you so much for your feedback! Please give us all the feedback you can as you start using the app more often, you can find me at rgomez (at) horbito (dot) com
Fraser Smith
Before tabs, before Chrome, there were... wait for it... windows! I can't try this because it's not available for Linux yet, but from the video, it looks a lot like Franz/Rambox/Wavebox etc. etc. With added windows. I'm not entirely convinced but I will keep an open mind and give the Linux version a go when it's available.
Javier Garmón
Maker
@frassmith sure, we'll release a Linux version ASAP, the demand is really high! Before tabs, windows were the only option indeed. NOVA allows you to have contextual windows for every app. For example, your Gmail app is in a window but you can have several tabs inside Gmail app. It allows you to create contexts for your work. Also we believe this is a good solution to don't get lost in a sea of tabs and create a browser that adapts to your workflow and exalt your most used apps/websites.
Maitane
@javiergarmon This is an interesting idea, I'm giving it a try. :) You mention having several tabs for each app window. How can I open a second tab in Gmail app, for example?
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@javiergarmon @maitane Use the click from your mousewheel or cmd/ctrl + click and it'll open a new tab with the link
Maitane
David
How does this compare in memory usage to something like Station? I find that app to quickly move up the ladder in terms of RAM usage and it made me quickly delete it from my computer. It's a great idea but if it slows down my computer overall, that's a deal breaker.
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@davidj Our current users have been really impressed with the overall performance our NOVA, we're based on Chromium and the nature of our browser makes you use less tabs/windows which means less consume! If you suffer any high memory usage please contact us.
David
@robby2023 That's great, I'll give it a go!
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@davidj How did it go? Are you happy with the RAM usage?
Thibaud
Hey, love the idea. I've been using Station from quite some time now, how is this any different/better ?
Roberto Gómez
Maker
@tgerin Hello Thibaud! IMHO Station has the same issue than Shift, they're awesome products but feel like a walled garden. What we've tried to do in NOVA is to enable you to literally change the way you interact with any website in the world, working as a web browser and not having to leave the app at any time to use Chrome, Firefox, Safari...
The only thing that sucks about browsers like these is you lose all of your Chrome extensions...which for me is a deal-breaker.
Javier Garmón
Maker
@oldenglishd you're right. NOVA is based on Chromium, so we're working really hard to bring extensions to our browser. Please, stay tuned ;)
William Felker

This reinforces the same thinking that has led us down the computing rabbit hole we are in today; we have created a divide between programmers and users. I would love to see products/projects that give people agency to create in the digital world, not just *consume*.

Pros:

The video production quality is great.

Cons:

The video makes the claim that this is a new browser, but its just chromeOS running on Mac or PC. This is not new.

Roberto Gómez
Maker
Hello William, I don't really understand what do you mean. As we say in the video, NOVA is "a new kind of web browser", it doesn't look like a traditional browser but it's definitely one. We know at first it can be weird because we're not used to interact with websites through apps and windows but for us it makes much more sense than doing so in a traditional manner. Regarding being a "chromeOS running on Mac or PC" I don't really get the comparison due to chromeOS being a version of Google Chrome in fullscreen, it's like saying "it's just Chrome running on Mac or PC". Best, Roberto
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