Founder and CEO
At the age of 18, I learned how to code and designed Xtravo Browser for Windows OS. The product is now available on GitHub. It was South Asia’s first web browser and grew to 5 Million users.
Xtravo Browser
Overview
I developed a web browser based on personal necessity, addressing the limitations of existing browsers at the time. Prior to the advent of Chrome, many browsers lacked focus on speed and were often bogged down by cluttered interfaces. Recognizing this gap, my design aimed to offer a streamlined, hassle-free layout, prioritizing speed and user efficiency. This project was a response to the need for a more user-centric browser experience, one that was fast, clean, and intuitive, aligning with the emerging demands of modern web users.
Goals
The browser's design prioritizes a minimalist interface and lightweight application, aimed at enhancing speed and reducing third-party installations for a streamlined, user-friendly experience.
Research
I conducted a comprehensive review of the top three browsers at the time, supplemented by 30 interviews with industry leaders. This research aimed to evaluate user-friendliness. The feedback consistently highlighted the demand for a cleaner UI, streamlined navigation, consolidated settings, and an expanded browsing view. Additionally, users frequently described browser installation experiences as cumbersome and complex.
User Requirements
The interviews validated the problems I was facing a user which enabled me to jot down user requirements:
Simple User Interface
Robust browsing experience
Light-weight application
Make settings experience straight-forward
No add-ons feature
No third-party tool needed
User Browsing Experience Flow
To enhance the user experience, I leveraged a storyboarding tool to prioritize a key feature: robust browsing. In the development of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with limited resources, it became clear through my analysis that fast browsing was an essential feature. This insight was reinforced by user feedback, which indicated a common behavior among users: frequently visiting the top websites in their region and returning to their last 10 visited sites based on browsing history.
Realizing the impact on user satisfaction, I proposed preloading these top websites upon initial installation of the browser. This strategy was aimed at significantly enhancing the user experience, fostering repeated use of the browser. Therefore, it was imperative to ensure that upon subsequent openings of the browser, the user's top 10 most recently visited sites were preloaded, thereby streamlining their browsing experience. This focus on user-centric design was pivotal in shaping both the initial and ongoing user experience with the app.
Concept Design
The primary objective of the design was to create a simple and user-friendly interface. A key aspect of achieving this was to ensure a wider viewing area, allowing users to focus more on the websites they visit rather than the toolbar. The final concept, represented in Fig 2.0, successfully met these criteria by offering an expanded viewing area and a more streamlined UI compared to Fig 1.0, which featured a separate control-menu at the top of the toolbar.
Visual Design
When the visual design phase began, it became apparent that certain features, though not explicitly mentioned by users, were essential. These included the 'New Tab' and 'Tab Control' functionalities. After incorporating these features into the design, the next phase was development. This process took nine months, involving coding in C# and utilizing open-source libraries.
The final product was softly launched on Nov 12th, 2008. In the initial months post-launch, it garnered positive reviews from multiple news agencies, reflecting its successful reception in the market.
