Frameless 1.2

First of all, Frameless is a web browser, which means it will do exactly what any other web browser in the world does – get you to the sites you want to visit. What sets this tool apart from others, however, is that it was designed specifically for designers and developers who want to simply preview and interact with HTML prototypes on the iDevices.

That doesn’t mean, however, that this is a complicated tool that will make browsing the Internet difficult for the less tech-savvy users. What’s more, they may even enjoy the full-screen experience more than they do their regular browser. While the likes of Safari or Chrome will make things go full-screen, they’ll still leave the upper bar in full sight, containing the time, battery level and so on, which may prove to be distracting for some.

Framless UI

Basically, once you launch Frameless, you’ll experience websites like you would native apps – without status bars, or unnecessary user interface elements that we’ve all become accustomed to.

The tool is as easy to use as any other browser. You launch it, you type in the address and you visit the site. From the get-go, the site covers the entire screen and there’s a very thin line in the upper area where you’ll be able to see the loading progress of the page you’re on.

Gestures are everything

So, what happens if you want to go to another page or you’re tired of browsing this site? Well, the app comes with support for a few gestures that will bring down the browser bar and keyboard. For instance, you can swipe up, tap with three fingers or even shake the device for this to happen.

Swiping left and right will take you forward and backward in your session history, which makes the connected buttons that we’ve become accustomed to, completely useless.

Check your settings

Accessing the settings area of the app is done from the same browsing interface. Once you pull down the address bar and pull up the keyboard, you’ll notice a small icon to the left, right above the keyboard level.

Tapping on that one will bring up the Settings area, where you’ll be able to decide what gestures you want to allow the app to use. Therefore, you can shut down the three-finger tap or the up-swipe for the browser bar, and only use the device shake when needed. The same can be said about the browser navigation feature.

Frameless also comes with an iPad app. Along with this update, the app also received landscape and portrait orientation for a better fit on all devices. The web browser has also received some additional features, including inline media playback and a refresh button.

All in all, Frameless is a pretty cool browser for all users out there, be them site designers, developers or regular Joes. The security level with this tool is pretty high in the sense that there are no cookies, there’s no logging in or anything of the sort, just the stripped down browser.

The Frameless project is available on GitHub, so anyone can go check it out there and even create their own forks if they want to.

Add to watchlist:

Browser

• Opera Coast 4.10
• Opera Mini web browser 10.0.0
• Sleipnir Mobile 4.1.2