Mozilla's Ubiquity add-on for Firefox, the so-called "command line interface for the web" has been updated. The new release features substantial interface and speed improvements, and it's an essential update for anyone who considers themselves a web power user.
Ubiquity, which we looked at in-depth on Webmonkey a few months ago, is an experimental add-on created by the engineers at Mozilla Labs. Simply put, it's a command line user interface for the open web at large -- it allows users to manipulate web services by typing commands into the browser using plain language.
You can grab the brand new Ubiquity 0.1.3 from Mozilla's development wiki. But with a version number like that, you should exercise caution -- it's still in the pre-release stage.
The new user interface makes Ubiquity a much more powerful everyday tool. In the new version, just start typing something and you'll immediately see options to Twitter, search and e-mail, even if you haven't typed any of Ubiquity's keyboard shortcuts for specific services. The add-on will remember the services you use the most and bring those to the top. Frequent Twitterer? The option to tweet will always appear at the top of the list, as it did for me.
You'll also notice the new interface is much faster and more responsive. Live results are pulled in quickly, especially for web searches and maps.
The biggest change is that the add-on simply looks nicer:
The maps interface, which you bring up by typing "m" and an address or location, is especially elegant:
If you don't like the new look, this update includes the ability to skin Ubiquity however you'd like using CSS. There are instructions on the Mozilla wiki. Dig in to your about:config file and search for Ubiquity to see where your skins live and to try out the five or six skins that are installed with the update. A browser restart is required every time you swap skins.
