Friday, December 5, 2008

Google Chrome

Good
  • Application shortcuts
  • Fast
  • Minimalistic design
  • Crash control
Bad
  • No add-ons
  • Spyware (rumors)
  • Minimalistic design
I'm sure we all have seen or heard about google's new application "Chrome". "Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier". At first I thought google was trying to compete against Firefox which isn't easy because of Firefox functionality and the thousands of add-ons to extend. That why I downloaded it and check what kind of new things it offers.

As says on the page Chrome offers "sophisticated technology" so let's compare these technology with the one f




One box for everything
Web search. Web history. Address bar. Suggestions as you type. One unified box serves all your browsing needs. Thats the first thing google mentioned. It works really easy just type in a word if Chrome can find it in your history it goes to that site, if not it googles the word. Firefox also have this feature and it work quite the same.


Chrome


Firefox


New tab page
The send feature Google mentions is "New tab page". Every time you open a new tab, you'll see a visual sampling of your most visited sites, most used search engines, and recently bookmarked pages and closed tabs. Hey! Firefox doesn't have this feature so 1-0 for Chrome right? No not exactly, a quick search in Firefox's add-on database results in a similar add-on called Speed-dialer which shows your favorite pages in the same layout as Chrome.


Chrome

Firefox



Application shortcuts
Another feature Firefox doesn't have is the Application's shortcut. Use web apps without opening your browser. Application shortcuts can directly load your favorite on line apps. This means you can open your favorite web application or website without the GUI of a browser. This is a pretty neat feature that firefox doesn't have and i couldn't find an add-on right away. So 1-0 for Chrome!


Dynamic tabs
Google also have Dynamic tabs! It sound cooler that is actually is. This means you can drag tabs out of the browser to create new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you wish -- quickly and easily. Firefox has the arranging part not the dragging out for a new windows part. Also with Firefox it doesn't look so smooth. Further this feature is not that interesting so we'll go on.


Crash control
This feature is cool and we need Firefox to have this really quick. Google says that every tab you're using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won't take anything else down. If it really does work yay! for Chrome!



To bad i couldn't test this feature because i don't know a website wich crashes my browser. But i don't really think it will work mostly the website causes the whole application to a crash and if this isn't the case with Firefox I don't know.

Incognito mode
When you are browsing in Incognito mode your leave no traces so you can easily visit your secret websites! Again a cool feature firefox doesn't have... by standard, the add-on "Stealther" does exactly the same.

Safe browsing
Not a very existing function. This function generates a warning page if you enter a phishing or a virus infected site. Firefox has this feature too and also IE7 I think. I did my best but i couldn't find a phishing or an infected site so i don't have a screen shot of the page.

Instant bookmark
This one is just to make the list look longer i mean c'mon? Every browser has this. They even all have stars to do it. So maybe more luck on the next one.


Import settings
Another list extender. Every browser has this.


Simpler downloads
And the final sophisticated feature is the downloads, they open as little bars at the bottom of the browser.



An add-on for firefox does this too.


Conclusion
After checking and comparing all features of Chrome with Firefox I changed my mined. Google isn't trying to compete with Firefox and if you think about it why should they, they are partners. I think they are trying to beat Internet Explorer which is also a hard job because IE comes with windows. Chrome is a simple clean browser which could beat IE6 easily. Personally i think Chrome could beat IE7 and IE8 too. For the slower computer Chrome is a good alternative to IE6 but Firefox's standard aren't that high either. Anyway, this browser does what is has to do.

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