[vox] Web Browsers for Kids

[Dave Margolis]

On Dec 20, 2006, at 9:12 PM, Micah Cowan wrote:

> I'd be interested in finding a Firefox-like browser that disables
> opening new windows and tabs, fills the entire screen (ideally),  
> and if
> possible allows restricting access to specifically enabled sites.
>
> I have a 4-year-old and 6-year-old, both of whom are starting to enjoy
> web access to sites like pbskids.org. I don't want them to be able to
> click links to get to any sites we haven't checked out; and I've  
> noticed
> that at least one of them tends to end up with 8 open windows  
> sometimes.
> I obviously don't want to edit /etc/hosts or do anything that will
> restrict other users like my wife and myself.
>

As a father of two myself (8 and 3), I have some experience with this.

At pbskids.org, they do a nice job of keeping the games in a single  
window.  This is new.  At one point every game opened in a new  
(usually pop-up) window and I would see the same problem you are  
describing - new windows all over the place.  It's tough to teach a 4- 
year-old about alt-tab and the meaning of focus.  At nickjr.com (for  
example), there is definitely a problem with multiple new windows.

I don't know of a way to get off of pbskids.org and onto an offensive  
site.  On the other hand, nickjr.com has all sorts of ads that can  
lead the kids to all sorts of new, questionable places - such as the  
sites for McDonalds and other (IMO) nasty corporate sponsors. The  
place you start off really makes the experience work.  pbskids.org  
and yahooligans (kids.yahoo.com) have proven themselves to me as safe  
places to start.  I've been frustrated with most other kid-oriented  
sites.  For example, my 8 year old likes lego.com, but that site has  
both the new window problem and the offsite link problem.

No technology can replace direct supervision.  I'm not preaching  
here; I've learned this through a lot of trial and error, always  
having to resist the urge the plug the kids in and go do something  
else.  That doesn't mean you can't get some work done on your laptop  
while you glance over every now and then to make sure they haven't  
found their way over to onto some other site you don't like.

This whole scenario has become more of a problem as my older son has  
become able to take real advantage of the power of the "real" tools  
like wikipedia and Google.  Instead of giving him my layman's  
definition of what DNA is (this is real example from this morning),  
we look it up together.  Sometimes this kind of exercise requires  
braving the less kid-safe sites...

> I'd also be very interested in a desktop environment built for  
> kids, so
> that they can pick their favorite apps, but can't interact with the
> desktop or delete files accidentally.

I second the vote the Kiosk tools in KDE.  I built a very specific  
and refined e-mail station for my mother-in-law out of an old laptop  
this way.