Currently just a “proof of concept” from Mozilla Labs, TowTruck is a service which adds real-time collaboration to any website.
Similar to what you’d find in Google Drive, the awkwardly named TowTruck works with just a snippet of JavaScript code, and allows for real-time authoring, messaging and voice chatting via Web RTC.
Mozilla’s goal with this project is to make it easier for everyone to work together on the Web — given how important remote communication has become, it’s great to see Mozilla developing an open-source solution. And because it’s open source, don’t be surprised to see customized TowTruck-powered features and services pop up.
You can view a demo of the service in action below:
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Mozilla warns that TowTruck is “alpha-quality software,” and in our own tests, we found the service to be clunky, yet promising. It’s particularly interesting that collaborators can stay connected while navigating separate pages of the same site. That said, there was just enough lag to make the experience feel heavy.
Try the service out for yourself via the link below and grab the code here.
For more on Web RTC, check out this plugin-free video chatting experiment on a Nexus 7.
Image credit: JOSEP LAGO / Stringer / Getty Images
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