… and extensions won’t ease the pain. Browsers have evolved to become the central way we do pretty much anything: shopping, scheduling, invoicing, monitoring, calling, texting, reading, watching, listening, writing, sharing: . Along the way, as billions of people were shifting to the browser as their main work tool, it started to show some weaknesses. you name it At , our sole & only focus is to ease our user’s workday. As part of that, we’re trying to identify the small defects in the browser that could help us refine our product. Station We quickly realised that After all, if so many people are proactively choosing to add a third party component to their main work tool, it must have some kind of usefulness… one of the best way to identify potential improvements in modern browsers is by looking at their most popular extensions. Let’s take a closer look. 1. Blocking ads & trackers Why it matters , users say security, focus & speed are their main motivation behind adblockers usage (privacy’s way behind). they want websites to load fast and they don’t want their focus to be disrupted, be it by a popup, a banner or a malware… When surveyed People are basically saying that they value efficiency above everything: Where it hurts Ads & tracking scripts help software providers earn money & improve their apps but this happens essentially at the expense of users: _Visual annoyance_The very characteristics that make ads more noticeable also make them more annoying _Increased page load time_Despite recent efforts to reduce the size of ads, lots of websites’ are still bloated with oversized banners & animations. _Decision fatigue_Advertisements force you, repeatedly & on a daily basis, to make micro-choices about wether to click or not. The more targeted the ad, the harder the decision: willpower is a muscle that ads tend to tire… Extensions that ease the pain , uBlock Origin, , , Poper Blocker, AdGuard Adblock Plus Ghostery AdBlock Users under medication 230+ millions 2. Screenshooting & screensharing He didn’t have the right screensharing tool Why it matters that individuals have internalised.Because we share so much content so often, our tools should be straightforward & easy to use. As work gets increasingly collaborative, the velocity & ease of content-sharing becomes a key success factor Where it hurts The browser, who’s the canvas for most our work tools, isn’t really helping us on that. _Too much friction_Natively, sharing a screenshot is a 6 step process: open your OS screenshot tool > take a screenshot > save it > share it > delete it **“**Can you send me that screenshot again?” No sharing history _No access control_Restricting access to photos after sharing them can sometimes prove useful (ask Kanye West, Joe Barton, Anthony Weiner & a couple of others…). Extensions that ease the pain Fireshot, Web Clipper, Nimbus Screen Capture, Web Clipper, Screencastify, MrColes FullPage Screen Capture Evernote OneNote Online Users under medication 25+ millions 3. Copywriting & spell-checking Why it matters Because it is representative of the inflation of daily interactions we have.We chat, mail, text & blog more than ever and it has a huge impact on our working habits. Where it hurts Producing texts that are well written & mistake-free at a high throughput -which is basically what we’re asked to do everyday - is a tremendously difficult task. _Spell-checking in context_Sometimes a word is not spelled correctly but quite often, a correctly spelled word is used in the wrong context. Those pesky ones are called “homophones” and we all fall in their trap: there/their/they’re, its/it’s, lose/loose… _Grammar checking_Most grammatical errors are benign but some of them can actually be quite complex to detect (subject-verb agreement, modifier placement, etc.). Extensions that ease the pain Grammarly & Hemingway Editor Users under medication _2_0+ millions 4. Managing tabs Sunglasses on heroic quest for survival Why it matters This is pretty interesting because it highlights a recent change that had a profound effect on our workflow: What previously existed in the physical world (the phone, calendar, rolodex, …) or as a desktop app (Photoshop, Office, iTunes, …) is now mainly accessed through a website. the amount of web-apps used at work is dramatically increasing. Where it hurts In spite of its many obvious advantages, this market evolution can be a real productivity killer if you don’t adapt: Multitasking has been proven to greatly reduce cognitive abilities & increase stress. Constant context-switching _Window overload & tab-fatigue_Having too many open windows further expands the time needed to find the right information. _Computer slow-downs_Because each open tab is an independent process, opening a lot of them puts a lot of pressure on your CPU. Extensions that ease the pain The Great Suspender, OneTab, Toby, Session Buddy, Tab Resize, New Tab Redirect, Save Tabs. Users under medication 15+ millions 5. Managing passwords Don’t worry, we all do… Why it matters Also related to the explosion of SaaS is the inflation of virtual accounts pretty much everywhere. on websites we don’t really audit. With our trust mostly driven by reputation or lack of time, securing credentials becomes crucial. We’re basically scattering huge amounts of personal & professional data Where it hurts The proliferation of logins induces multiple new challenges: _Increased attack surface_This one’s pretty basic: the more 3rd parties you trust with the storage of your passwords, the more you put yourself at risk. _Viral breach_Being lazy mammals, we tend to reuse the same password (or combination of words) on multiple platforms. Hackers, belonging to the same specie, know that & capitalise on previous breaches to steal multiple accounts of the same user. _Access management_With employee turn-over being at an all time high, keeping track of shared passwords becomes a necessity: off-boarding employees means revoking accesses; while welcoming newcomers requires creating new passwords. Extensions that ease the pain Dashlane , LastPass, 1Password, Keeper Security , RoboForm Users under medication 10+ millions The future Most of the features these extensions provide will be natively offered by your browser: if a pain is commonly shared by a large proportion of your user base, then your product should solve it by itself. Browsers already made a couple of steps in that way by integrating popup blocking, basic password management & spell-checking. Some of them, like Safari & Brave, went even further by blocking ad-trackers. At we think that’s not enough. By creating a one-size fits all experience, we feel that browsers loose their focus & efficiency. Chrome & Firefox are definitely incredible products but . Station a single software can‘t really provide a delightful experience for that many use-cases That’s precisely why we’re building a platform solely dedicated to work: an “ ” that will help the modern worker access his tools, switch between them & get stuff done. We still have a long way to go & our product is largely perfectible but we really believe that, by maintaining this focus, we could help millions of people get cozy at work 😊 OS for SaaS Thanks for your time! Dig deeper Most facts presented in this post are sourced from these reports & articles.If you which to learn more or make your own opinion, I think they’re a good starting point. - has for you to read. Context switching Larry Kim great insights - wrote on that topic. SaaS explosion Sam DeBrule really interesting stuff ’s taught me a lot. Adblockers’ usage - PageFair thorough report - ’s is a gold mine. Ads effect on page load Ad Lightning ad quality report published on that. Decision fatigue - The New York Times a long article - & Add-on platform. Extensions usage Chrome Web Store Firefox About Station Based in Paris, we’re whose sole ambition is to ease your workday. We’re laser focused on providing the best user experience on the “work hard” side; as others handle the “play hard” side better than us. a team of 9 Our only product is in one neat & productive interface. It has been thought & designed as a work-only, distraction-free platform that helps you get stuff done. a free desktop application that unifies all your web tools 🏆 We’re Product of the Year 2017! (courtesy of )👉 Product Hunt Give us a try!

Too Long; Didn't Read

Making security fun one episode at a time

Your browser has failed you

Too Long; Didn't Read

Georges Abi-Heila

About Author

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN...

Your browser has failed you

Too Long; Didn't Read

Georges Abi-Heila

About Author

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN...

RELATED STORIES