Hello everyone!
We are proud to announce a new desktop application we have been working on named Deckr. Deckr supports macOS, Linux and Windows.
Deckr is unlike most other desktop apps. It has one innovative and unique difference. The user interface for Deckr is accessed from within the web browser.
This is accomplished by installing the Deckr browser extension. The Deckr extension replaces the web browsers default “New Tab” page with the Deckr user interface. Now anytime you need to access Deckr, just make a new tab and it appears. The New Tab page becomes the portal into the Deckr desktop application.
The browser extension can be found in the Chrome and Firefox app store and installs easily with one click.
The Deckr desktop application has no user interface of it’s own (except for a small icon in the menubar). It runs silently in the backgound. You can think of it as a private cloud server providing data to the browser extension. In this way your data stays local to your machine. It’s fast and private by design.
Why is this a good idea? First of all, convenience. The web browser is easily the most popular desktop application and adding Deckr to the browser means you don’t have to open another app to access it’s features.
A second reason is that most of Deckr’s features involve opening browser tabs, saving bookmarks and other web related tasks. It would be cumbersome to continually switch between Deckr and the browser. The innovation is never having to leave your browser!
So, we like to say Deckr is a desktop app inside your web browser. Having a desktop app in the browser has some unique qualites not found in pure Javascript based web apps or extensions.
- Your data stays on your computer and not on a remote cloud server.
- Creating an account and signing in is not required.
- The desktop app is a natively compile app, so it runs faster than a Javascript web app. Many interesting features wouldn’t be possilbe running in pure Javascript because of speed and performance issues. For example image conversion or an AI chatbot.
- There are some limitations on what can be done running Javascript in a browser. We side step these limitations by doing the work in the desktop app.
WHAT DOES IT DO?
So after that long explanation of how Deckr works and why, you must be wondering what does Deckr do?
We have big plans for Deckr, but for this first release Deckr’s main feature is bookmark management. Additionally there is an RSS feed reader and a bunch of other useful utilities.
Our bookmark manager is designed to be simple. Just drag and drop icons to different collections we call ‘Decks’. But Deckr is more than just simple bookmark management. We host a ‘deck store’ where you can share and download decks.
Our hope is that sharing decks becomes a new way to find and share quality user generated content online not censored or filtered by “Big tech”. The internet is huge and has incredible content, but finding quality content is still a huge problem. Deckr’s aim is to help solve this problem.
In it’s current form, it’s incredibly useful, but this is just the beginning. We have other features coming in the next months. For example and RSS feed reader for news, and AI chat bot, and more features traditionally found only in desktop apps. We want to bring desktop app functionality to the web browser so you don’t have to launch and switch to other apps. Deckr is always one click away.
TIPS
The Deckr app puts a blue icon in the menu bar so you know it’s running and you can quit it if necessary. Click the icon for a menu of options related to the app.
Turn on the “launch at startup” option. That will auto launch Deckr after restarts to be ready at all times.
The Deckr app and browser extension will auto update themselves, so you never have to worry about having an older version. Install it and forget about it.
WHO ARE WE?
We’re the same team behind Path Finder for macOS (https://cocoatech.io). We are a small remote only team working on innovative desktop apps since 2001.
MORE INFO:
Check out the website for help, documentation and FAQs. Also join our Discord channel to talk with other Deckr users.
This is our first release and we are looking for feedback from the community. It’s free to install and use unrestricted. But we do offer the option to buy a license key if you would like to show your support, help fund development, and avoid nag messages. Your avatar also gets a blue check if have a license key.
We would appreciate it if you install it and give it a try. Love it or hate it, send us feedback to deckr@cocoatech.com. We’d love to hear what you think. We want user feed back to drive development.
Have fun, and thanks for trying Deckr,
– The Deckr team