Impression: Google Chrome – light but empty for now
By Mike Ferro
Chrome is Google’s foray into the Web browser arena. The browser has been praised for its incredible speed and stability in contrast to other browsers out there. The browser may be quick but does it have the features to compete with Firefox or Internet Explorer?
Chrome is Google’s project to take a piece of the Web browser pie. Supposedly, Chrome is not meant to directly compete with Mozilla’s Firefox but to enhance and open up the Web to the end users with Site Specific Browsing (SSB) capabilities. Both companies have been known to have different mission goals, but I can’t shake the feeling that they are encroaching upon the same territory.
One of Chrome’s touted features is the capability to blur the lines between Web applications versus desktop apps with SSB. This is achieved by Chrome’s streamlined capability to easily become a desktop Web application platform. Web pages can be turned into applications that can be executed off the desktop on the fly.
I have been using Chrome for a while to get the feel for the new browser. The browser feels surprising light as it will open up in an instant upon execution. The tabbing design is excellent as well as the related tabs open up around the source tab instead of popping up at the end of existing tabs. I also like the location of the tabs as it makes the browser look less cluttered than it actually is.
One of my biggest dislikes with Firefox is the memory issue. In Firefox if you have more than 10 tabs open the browser visibly starts to lag. However, I have found that Chrome can handle over 20 tabs without serious performance issues. Since I am a tab junkie this is definitely a plus for me.
However, there were some things with the browser that could use some improvements. For some odd reason there is a slight delay with the Web page painting onto the screen when switching between tabs. This has nothing to do with the number of tabs open but seems to happen randomly.
There is also a no tab session save feature in Chrome yet. From what I understand Chrome will support custom third-party extensions in the future so this feature may be coming soon. However, it does not seem to be available out of the box.
Chrome is not fully compatible with many of the media centric sites out there. This may very well be an issue with third-party site support as it is so new. However, it’s not like Google can’t pick up the phone and get these guys on board as this could be a serious deterrent. Regardless of the speed of the browser, if it can’t play videos properly, end users may think twice about loading up Chrome next time around. Chrome is very promising and I can see it taking a sizable chunk from Mozilla and Microsoft’s business in the future.
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on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 7:06 pm
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Read more entries by Mike Ferro.
Stumble It!
May 3rd, 2009
Chrome needs to have easy to install addons like adblocker etc.. And also needs to make the browser not shutdown immediately on some sites.
May 3rd, 2009
Chrome needs to have easy to install addons like adblocker etc.. And also needs to make the browser not shutdown immediately on some sites.
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!
May 3rd, 2009
Chrome does have “tab session save”. In all versions, you can change your startup page to “Restore pages that were opened last”, and in the current Dev channel release, if you start the browser on the New Tab page your last session should be available with a single click under the “Recently Closed” section.
As for playing videos, ensure you have installed Flash 10 (NPAPI). Most problems people have with video playback turn out to be Flash issues (especially with Flash 9), not Chrome issues.
May 4th, 2009
Exactly where is the RSS support for Chrome?
Also, I’ve noticed that Chrome is unable to open some download files in Excel. IE8, and Opera don’t have as much difficulty. For that reason my default is Chrome but I usually have Opera or IE8 open as well.