I’ve been a Firefox-user ever since it was still in pre-1.0 beta and still called Phoenix. I was a frustrated switcher coming from the much lamented Microsoft-based browser Internet Explorer and absolutely loved what Firefox stood for — simplicity and speed. Those were the key characteristics I held on to during the years to follow. Firefox 1.5 was awesome and Firefox 2.0 was a natural evolution but brought along its own set of frustrations, like general instability, severe memory leakage. The ability to spruce up your browser any way you wished with help of some add-ons was extra nice, but added more and more complexity to the pretty basic utility a browser actually is. Firefox 3.0 is a huge improvement over the lackluster 2.0 incarnation, but still…
Just weeks after Google announced its entrance to the web browser space, it launches the much anticipated Chrome browser. Ever since it’s arrival it’s been all over the tech news, and has generally been well received, despite it being extremely stripped-down. And in my opinion, it’s tight user interface is one it’s biggest changes to survive and become the preferred browser amongst the tech-savvy. Of course, I might be wrong, yet I’ve moved Firefox aside and made Chrome my main browser.
ArsTechnica has a great hands-on review on the Google Chrome browser if you’re interesting to know all there is to know about it in detail. For now, Google Chrome is Windows-only, with Mac and Linux version coming down the pike soon.
Crisp UI
In my opinion, Google Chrome sports a beautifully simplified user interface that’s fits into Windows Vista or XP natively. In Vista it adapts the OS’s translucent windows frame (or chrome), while its window turns opaque and bluish in XP.
(click for bigger view)
Mozilla once promised a native look on every platform when it commenced its development of the Firefox 3.0-branch, but soon backed out, holding up the excuse it wanted to retain a unified/recognizable look across the board. They did, however, make FF look pretty native on the Mac. And to me that’s total hogwash, since in this day and age, UI interface is more important than ever, since in many cases it will differentiate products from each other.
Chrome blends in instantly with the pristine look of Google’s web-services like Gmail and Google Calendar.
Lack of Bookmarking
Yes. This is a feature (to me), since I hate bookmarking and all the management that comes along with it. I’ve grown to resent Firefox’ own bookmark management system and have tried [online] social bookmarking sites like Delicious.com and Digg. It’s just annoying. I was delighted to see Chrome has absolutely no provisions for bookmarks, except for the familiar star-icon next to the omnibar (I’ll get to that in a minute). Google says they’re working on more sophisticated system for managing those pesky bookmarks, but I’d encourage them to do the opposite. Just leave it out.
Speed
Chrome, like Apple Safari, incorporates the WebKit web rendering engine, which makes it inherently faster than most other browsers out there. By having JavaScript V8 built-in, Google claims web apps will run significantly faster. I can vouch for the fact that pages load much faster than in other browsers, although I haven’t found a way to scientifically measure this. You’ll just have to take my unscientific word for it.
Each tab in is also runs in its own process, thus taking advantage of the multi-threaded/multi-cored processors in the contemporary computers of today. The only other browser that I know of that does this too is Internet Explorer 8 Beta, though I haven’t had the chance to look at it yet. And furthermore, a malevolent script in a particular tab will be unable to crash your whole browser, since scripts are only capable of working within a single tab.
Note: Tabs can be dragged between and out of windows, which is quite neat.
Compatibility
From what I’ve heard, Chrome is compatible with more web pages than Microsoft’s latest iteration of Internet Explorer, which is in beta right now. I personally haven’t noticed too many glitches, apart from some minor things with Google Analytics and some YouTube videos not coming through right away. It blows my mind to know that Internet Explorer is so patchy compatibility-wise, since IE is the most used browser on the planet. I’m sure this’ll rapidly change, though.
Incognito Mode
Similar to IE8′s InPrivate mode and Safari’s Private Browsing mode, Chrome also allows you to surf porn without leaving a single trace on the PC your using it. Porn, obviously, isn’t the only use for it.
To use this feature, you will need to create a new Incognito Windows from the document-button in the upper right hand region of the browser. A cute spy icon will appear in the chrome thereafter. No passwords, history or caches will be kept after you decide to kill the window and resume with your on-the-record web surfing. Neat.
Omnibar
Every traditional web browser in the space has adapted the paradigm of having two boxes anchored in the UI, one for the URL and the other for searching the web. Google, being the main player behind search, decided to melt the two into one, and dubbed it the omnibar. Besides being a two-in-one kind of thing, it also makes attempts at guessing what you’re going to type. To do this, it combines Google Search and suggestions and mostly does a good job. Also, while you browse the web, it’ll remember every page you’ve visited in case you may want to there once more. In that case, just typing the first few letters of either the URL or name of the website will suffice for Chrome to auto-complete and save you time. Nice.
Download Manager
Google’s take on an integrated download manager is — again — very minimal. Downloads are confined to tabs, as everything else, and uses a visual cue to guide your eye to a bar that runs along the bottom of the window. As you click on files, downloads are queued down there, and meanwhile, your files are stored in your usual download folder. Like the tabs, these downloads can be dragged out of the Chrome frame on to the desktop or any other folder. Doing so will store the download there, instead of the default storage path (usually Users/You/Documents/Downloads).
Home Tab
Similar to the omnibar, Google tries to guess what users want by creating a dynamic homepage, based on previous browsing habits. The Home Tab is a webpage on which the nine most often visited websites are listed in a grid, much like a similar feature in Internet Explorer 7. On the right, Google lists recently closed tabs and recently bookmarked sites.
Microsoft has ben slapped for doing similar things in the past, since people don’t like third-parties meddling. It does need taking used to, admittedly, but if you give it a chance, it does prove handy. If you have a web-based homepage, like me, you can still use it since it’ll most likely appear in the home tab.
If you despise this feature, it’s easy to switch it off.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of good in Chrome. So much so that Google was able to persuade into using it full-time. On the other hand, I’d be a complete zealot if I didn’t recognize the fact that Chrome isn’t perfect. Far from even. Therefore I’ll be dedicating a second part to this review and it’ll cover ‘The Bad’ side of Google browser.
See you soon.
