GOOGLE CHROME
Trust Google to first announce its new browser on the Google blog and then bring out a comic book, albeit technical, about the browser’s features and why Google has ventured into the realm of browsers.
Downloading and installation: The download file is a measly 474 kb and takes just a couple of minutes to download on a 256 kbps connection. As the installation begins, Google automatically downloads additional information from the Internet and sets up the browser on the desktop, all within 10 minutes. However, Chrome is now available only for Windows; Mac and Linux versions are expected soon.
New Features: The Google blog claims their idea was to develop from scratch a new web browser which is adapted to handle the needs of surfing the web in the present and is based on current application needs. Though most features seem “borrowed” from Firefox, Chrome comes with its own new features to boot.
Omnibox: Chrome merges the address and search bars into a single entity christened the Omnibox. The Omnibox not only contains suggestions for URLs, but also includes auto complete search suggestions from Google.
Downloads: Each download is loaded in the bottom of the webpage itself. No need to select specific folders as they are all saved in a separate folder in My Documents. Just click on the download icon to access the files.
More real estate
The most striking feature of Chrome is the enlarged cyber real estate space. Chrome does away with traditional browsers and sports a Spartan look, which does take some time to get used to. The tabs have been pushed right to the top of the page, with just an address bar below that and only the web page below. It reminds one of surfing in IE or Firefox in full screen mode. Chrome also bumps off all toolbars and menus seen in other browsers and just maintains two inconspicuous icons next to the address bar.
New tab design: The tab design is the most striking feature in Chrome. Here, each tab behaves as its own browser and each tab comes with its own menus and toolbars. Also, similar to IE 8’s colour coded tabs, Chrome places related tabs next to each other. Users can also play with the position of the tabs, move them around and even expand them to new windows. Moreover, everytime you open a tab, the frequently visited sites are displayed in a speed dial format.
Speed: With a special emphasis on speed, Chrome boasts of a new Java script virtual machine called V8. According to Google, existing Javascript machines were designed for smaller programs where performance was not too important. However, realisation that web applications now use a browser’s capabilities to the fullest, led to the invention of V8. Speed tests show Chrome is as quick as Firefox and leaves IE lagging way behind.
Desktop icons: A feature that exists only on the Mac-oriented Safari browser, the shortcuts option in Chrome allows users to create desktop, quick launch and start menu shortcuts.
Incognito: Similar to IE 8’s ‘in private’ browsing, Chrome allows users to surf the web anonymously. Interestingly, the incognito gives users the feeling of doing something clandestine as the window is darker and has a detective-like character in the top-right corner of the browser.
Task manager: The task manager allows the user to view what process is using how much memory to optimise performance. Also, in the event of a crash, the user can shut down the quirky tab through the Chrome task manager and not affect the other open tabs. To preserve Chrome’s stability, Google opens a separate process for each tab in the Windows task manager and an additional process to control the other processes.
Whether Chrome is a serious venture to up the competition in browser market or just another of Google’s experiments to test the playing field is anybody’s guess, but within just a few days of its release, Chrome is already shining.