Google Chrome

[ashort]

Two words:

Wicked fast!


More words:

Although...I haven't figured out how...and I'm not sure where to start...to import my Google bookmarks (added via the Google toolbar).  Seems like a no-brainer for a browser that Google has worked on for the last two years.  Dunno...just seems like I should be able to do that out of the box.

[lowpoly]

Firefox bookmarks and passwords are imported during first start (or was is during installation?). Can't help you with Google's.

Does anybody know how to switch off the 'most visited' overview when I create a new empty tab?

[xsphat]

can't wait to see this on Mac!

[bigpook]

can't wait to see this on linux!

However, I read somewhere the the EULA is somewhat evil. Let me find a link

heres a place to start

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/03/2130233

"All your base belong to Google"

[itlnstln]

Ars Techinca reported yesterday that Google is supposed to fix the EULA.  I hope so...

[bigpook]

I like google but I am cynical.
Even if they change the EULA, whats to stop them from using your data?
Yes, they may not be able to expose it to the outside world directly but they can still use it internally for marketing purposes. Which I suppose they are doing anyway with everything else that they offer.

[ashort]

All you have to do is pay attention to the ads on the right in Gmail to know that is exactly what they are doing.  Everyone who uses Chrome will have it phoning home for everything.  It's the ultimate spyware.  I wonder when it will start showing up as an Adaware or Spybot signature?  I hope not, I like it, it's FAST.

[Eclairz]

i've been using chrome heavily, but i find it doesnt work well with certain javascript sites something to do with in availability. Very quick but at this point it doesnt feel faster than anything else i tried with the exception of speed to open new tabs and start up speed is dramatically different. Anyway chrome a mix of firefox, opera and safari should produce some interesting competition. To be honest I just treat it as "opera" on steroids fast effective and powerful but also clumsy with certain pages that it cant load.

[bhtooefr]

I'm liking Chrome a lot on my ThinkPad, despite not liking that it doesn't use the standard UI controls and menus, and that it doesn't support the "hold-right-click-left" for back and vice versa for forward that Opera does - then again, I don't think anything does that.

Quite fast, and I like the behind-the-scenes design.

[xsphat]

mouse gestures in Opera is the coolest thing I've seen in a browser in a long time, I use them a lot.

[fkeidjn]

can't wait to see this on linux!

However, I read somewhere the the EULA is somewhat evil. Let me find a link

heres a place to start

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/03/2130233

"All your base belong to Google"

More like, "All your base are belong to Google"

I saw on my local news that that you have to be of "legal" age to use Chrome (i.e. 18 and over), otherwise, you cannot.

Of course Google is going to use and sell your data, like they've been doing since whenever, lol

[lowpoly]

I almost stopped using Chrome. It can't re-open a closed tab and it doesn't have Adblock. Can't live without these. I only use it for ebay now because of the speed.

[itlnstln]

I have Chrome and Firefox installed on my PC at work, so I can test cross-browser compatibility of my web apps.  One thing I noticed with Chrome is that some of the ASP.NET controls I use don't work properly (or at all).  Firefox and IE don't have any problems, though.  Weird.  It still seems that Google might have a few things they need to work out.

On a somewhat related note, Visual Studio 2010 is a lot more stringent on Web standards than previous versions.  Pages come out much better now; it seems that MS is gearing their Web tools for IE9 and better standards support.

[noctua]

I use the portable Version of SRWare Iron (Chrome without user-tracking) as instant option to IE. It has integrated Adblock, and for re-opening closed tabs i use the built-in history ;-)

http://www.srware.net/software_srware_iron.php

[kishy]

ah, the revival of a 2-years-dead thread.

Always interesting to witness.

I don't care for Chrome because of the largely minimalistic (oxymoron?) interface and because I pretty much depend on some of my Firefox extensions.

[ch_123]

I like Chrome for it's minimalistic interface. I mean, what exactly can't it do that FFx can't?

[kishy]

I think you meant "what can't Chrome do that FF can do"...

1) AdBlock Plus. If I lose the ability to block ads I'll just stop using the internet, there's no point anymore.

2) Split Browser. Open multiple instances of the browser engine in a single window, all on screen simultaneously. Buggy but works well enough.

3) Proper full menus and toolbar with lots of customization potential.

If Chrome has implemented these since I last checked it out I'd be curious to see how well they work.

[ch_123]

I'm pretty sure there's some form of ABP either in existence or on the way.

Multiple occurrences of the same browser engine in the one window? Why?

And I don't get the last one. I hate these ancient 'battleship style' UIs that IE and Firefox have. With Chrome, you get the same optionality in two drop down menus... Why do you need more?

[kishy]

I'm pretty sure there's some form of ABP either in existence or on the way.

Multiple occurrences of the same browser engine in the one window? Why?

And I don't get the last one. I hate these ancient 'battleship style' UIs that IE and Firefox have. With Chrome, you get the same optionality in two drop down menus... Why do you need more?

ABP would be nice, and it's ultimately the biggest thing that keeps me with FF.

Split Browser I use more often than one might expect. In particular, pages where things are likely to happen on their own - for example the web IRC interface, Facebook, and sometimes I'll have one of these side by side with geekhack or VCF, so I can keep my eyes on both at once.

Gimmicky perhaps but I find it helps my productivity, or whatever it is I accomplish on the computer.

Chrome looks like a photoshop plugin from the nineties, disregarding my OS. Also, you can have a minimal UI in Firefox.

CAN have a minimal UI...but the user isn't forced to. I reduce it from its default form, basically eliminating the bookmarks toolbar by placing it beside the menus, but I do like a full browser UI.

[itlnstln]

The only thing I find really lacking in Chrome is the search box.  Otherwise, it works well enough.  I agree with Webwit that I don't particularly care that it doesn't look like a native app, but I do like some of the attention to detail in the animations of opening/closing tabs, etc.

[ricercar]

Chrome is a non-starter, an unusable application because Chrome windowing doesn't follow OS norms. When cascading windows in Windows, Chrome doesn't resize properly, and there was something aberrant Chrome does in MacOS that I didn't find acceptable.

Anyone who writes applications for major operating systems needs to understand the norms for those OSes.

[itlnstln]

Chrome behaves fine in Windows 7, FWIW, but I agree, they need to make it look more native and behave properly in all OSs.

[ricercar]

Here's another reason why Chrome is a nonstarter:

Google has "perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute" anything you ever post with Chrome.

Citation:
The 5 most laughable terms of service on the Net

What, don't you read your contracts before you agree to them?

[kishy]

Reminds me of Facebook's TOS before they did damage control and reworded it so the simple people would feel secure and the people who actually pay attention feel even more concerned.

[ricercar]

Yah, Facebook owns your posted photos forever. See previous citation.

[kishy]

Yah, Facebook owns your posted photos forever. See previous citation.

And your name, and your posts, and the info that can be determined about your interests based on things you become a fan of, and where you'll be Saturday night because of an event you RSVP'd to, and so on.

That's why I'm a piece of cake on Facebook and I get really, really mad when someone puts a photo of me (which is actually me, rather than cake) on Facebook.

Not that I think I'm all that special...I just thing there are some things in life you DO really, truly own, that nobody else can take...and these are the types of things you do.

[ch_123]

The only thing I find really lacking in Chrome is the search box.  Otherwise, it works well enough.  I agree with Webwit that I don't particularly care that it doesn't look like a native app, but I do like some of the attention to detail in the animations of opening/closing tabs, etc.

You do realize the URL bar IS the search box, right? You can set up a default one (usually Google) so that typing a query into it gives a result, but you can set up hotkeys for additional ones, so typing "w Chrome" into my URL bar gives me a wiki search for Chrome.

In fact, I find it really annoying to use a browser that doesn't have that feature any more... Which means that I generally bounce between Chrome, Opera and Rekonq for KDE.

Here's another reason why Chrome is a nonstarter:

Google has "perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute" anything you ever post with Chrome.

They ditched that clause years ago. I remember all the hubub surrounding it and it's removal.

[itlnstln]

You do realize the URL bar IS the search box, right? You can set up a default one (usually Google) so that typing a query into it gives a result, but you can set up hotkeys for additional ones, so typing "w Chrome" into my URL bar gives me a wiki search for Chrome.

I am aware of the "Omnibar," but old habits die hard.

[Zalusithix]

I'm pretty sure there's some form of ABP either in existence or on the way.

Multiple occurrences of the same browser engine in the one window? Why?

And I don't get the last one. I hate these ancient 'battleship style' UIs that IE and Firefox have. With Chrome, you get the same optionality in two drop down menus... Why do you need more?

Chrome has an "ad-blocker" which is essentially an ad-hider. Due to the constraints of the plugin API currently, they can't make a plugin that actually stops the ad from being requested. All it can do is hide the fact that it actually did get the ad. So it looks the same on the surface, but bandwidth wise, it isn't.

Split browser is handy for comparing things side by side with no window borders to worry about. You can do a 4 way split if you're so inclined and not have to fuss with resizing one window when you resize an adjacent one. It's not a feature many would use every day, but it's nice to have the ability to do. And that's the beauty of Firefox's current level of extensibility. If you want to do it, you can,  and there's probably already a plugin to do it for you.

As for me? I cant live without a tab tree, and Chrome doesn't have them, or even the ability to do it yet. I can have dozens of tabs open. Heck, during research periods, I can have well over 100 open. A tab tree allows me to keep my browsing history easily navigated. And no, bookmarks and other such workarounds don't cut it. I can switch between tabs with no delay and be exactly where I need to be on a current page. Hell, I can have the same page open in two tabs with each focusing on a different part if I so choose. Tree tabs + session management = bliss...

[EverythingIBM]

I got so mad at chrome when I used an earlier version:
#1 it wouldn't work properly with my scrollpoint pro, I could only scroll down and not up.
#2 text had no AA, it was all blocky.
#3 google monitors your activity.
#4 no integration with windows 7.

So, I'll have to stick with IE and firefox. I like the integration functions of IE in windows (like the little cool green bar that fills up when downloading files).

[ch_123]

#3 google monitors your activity.

...

So, I'll have to stick with IE

One of my friends had a joke about this... "Internet Explorer lets your computer browse the internet, and the other way around!"

At least I can read the source code of Chrome to see if it is actually spying on me.

[gcogger]

Chrome is a complete non-starter for me as it doesn't do mouse gestures...

[kishy]

You can view the source code for IE.

You just need to break into Microsoft's top-security vault.

[ch_123]

Well, you can always disassemble the code. I'm not sure why you'd want to though... Unless you were planning hacks of course.

[kishy]

Planning? It's implied, isn't it?

[microsoft windows]

Internet Explorer is old and clunky with poor security and a clumsy interface, but it's by far the fastest browser.

[kishy]

Loading initially? Sure...

Page rendering, not so much.

[HaaTa]

uzbl is faster on intial loading, (un)fortunately not Windows compatible though.

[Zalusithix]

Of course, on a modern day system, the speed at which the browser initially opens means absolutely nothing. They're all instantaneous. Page rendering accuracy, javascript performance, security, stability, and extensibility are the only things that really matter now. Even something like memory usage doesn't matter much these days given the abundance of cheap ram and 64 bit operating systems.

[ch_123]

Internet Explorer is old and clunky with poor security and a clumsy interface, but it's by far the fastest browser.

Fastest for trolling perhaps.

[ch_123]

I like the integration functions of IE in windows (like the little cool green bar that fills up when downloading files).

Btw, Opera does this, and I'd surprised if the latest versions of FFx didn't do it too. Chrome will probably support it in their next release.

[Zalusithix]

The current version of FF does not have that functionality, though it will be coming in the 3.7 branch iirc. Along with tabs showing up as windows when you hover over the taskbar icon. Granted, with the number of tabs I have open, I'll be disabling that option pronto.

[ch_123]

Ah, Firefox 3.7, aka. Firefhrome...



People can say what they want about Google, but they sure gave browser design a well-needed kick up the arse...

[itlnstln]

People can say what they want about Google, but they sure gave browser design a well-needed kick up the arse...

Google did a great job with the fit and finish of Chrome.  The "animations" and the attention to detail were very nice; it makes IE and Firefox look clunky in comparison.  That said, some of the rendering/interaction quirks are still too much.  Hopefully they get some of that worked out soon.

[kishy]

Ew, no menus...

One thing I can never forgive MS for is the removal of menu bars from their "intended" layout of windows in Windows.

[itlnstln]

Unless I misunderstand what you said, IE allows you to add the menu bar back to the top of the window.

That said I think you are talking about Chrome not having a menu bar.  This kinda goes back to them making Chrome not look like a native app.

[kishy]

Yeah, I believe you still can get traditional menus back, even in Vista/7's explorer windows. I mean the fact that MS is implying the optimum window layout will not have menus (except for example Office, where it works so damned well), and that we'll see them gone forever pretty soon.

[EverythingIBM]

Ew, no menus...

One thing I can never forgive MS for is the removal of menu bars from their "intended" layout of windows in Windows.

Blah, that's what I hate about the new apps as well; it feels like you're boxed in. Like a mac... no opportunity to see all the details, you're constricted to an over-simplified piece of garbage meant for people who can barely hold a mouse or press a key.

[ricercar]

One thing I can never forgive MS for is the removal of menu bars from their "intended" layout of windows in Windows.

You mean the Vista UI paradigm? What a crock of blown asswind. That was a ****up of incalculable devastation. You DO NOT EVER disrespect the investment a customer has put into learning your UI, not without obvious reward.

[itlnstln]

I like the ribbon, so there.  The Windows 7 UI is MUCH better than XP.  The only thing I don't like about Windows 7 is the Network settings.  You have to dig through too much crap to get to the network properties that only needed a right-click in XP.