In the last essay: I wrote my vision is to build a meta-layer for all tools and content.

My Ideal Solution to Information Overload

“A meta-layer app” is rather a vague idea, building one is a very specific job. I started with the question: what are the core features “A meta-layer app” should possess:

• Spatial: Humans are spatial creatures, we experience most of our lives in relation to space. It is only natural for us to arrange our digital belongings in a spatial workspace as well.
• Everything in one context: Today, we open so many windows and tabs to switch between webpages, apps, and files. Context switching is particularly destructive because it takes a lot of time and effort to pick up where you left off and get back in the zone; In this meta-layer app, one should be able to put contents and tools in one space to avoid context switching.
• Cross-App Collaboration: Right now, collaboration happens in individual apps. Every app has its own team management. Data are isolated on each app. Moving data from one another can be only done by copying and pasting (ex: copying feature requirements from Notion to Figma). If collaboration can happen naturally across apps, data can be shared in a frictionless way, joint work can be more efficient.

After laying out these points, the solution finally came to me: A canvas app with web browsing and note-taking. This meta-layer app is almost like a meta OS specifically designed for productivity. The core features of an OS are able to run other software and provide common services. Note-taking is the most common feature for productivity apps, and a web browser provides the capability to open any web-based software.

In this essay, I will explain why I decided to embed a browser into a canvas and some challenges during implementation.

Tab Structure

The browser we have today is primitive. Its tab-based structure is problematic in today’s use cases. “Tab” was first introduced to modern browsers in 1998 by Pasadena software Adama Stiles in SimulBrowse. Before that, users were forced to open new windows when opening new web pages. The “Tab system” stuck new pages into a list of tabs on top of browsers (as it is in today's Chrome). Tab structure was thought of as a smart way to hide windows with a list of buttons.

The problem with tab structure is: information is highly isolated across tabs. The only way to transport information is through copy & paste; Users often found themselves frequently copying from one app to another, for example: copying tasks from Gmail to Todo Apps, and copying links for analytic charts to Google Docs. People are easily distracted when switching contexts, especially with all these notifications from different apps.

Tree Structure

Many apps and browser extensions are replacing tab structure with tree structure for browsers. Workana and Toby are two Chrome extensions. Their main function is to store a set of tabs in a group. You can then organize groups of tabs by naming, tagging, and even sharing. Vivaldi is one of the first browsers to implement a vertical tab in a tree structure. SigmaOS smartly integrated tab groups with a dual-window display.

All these apps share the same underlying structure for organizing tabs: tree. Tree structure is great for visualizing hierarchical relationships. The limitations of the trees are also obvious: Any leaf node can only have one parent. This means in products like SigmaOS or Vivaldi, any webpage cannot exist within two groups.