In a WWW world run rampant by Internet Explorer and Firefox users(Sorry Opera and Safari), Google has decided to make its entry into the fray with the introduction of a new browser based on some common concepts taken from everyday users that they probably talked to. The most salient features of this browser are mentioned on the website.
www.google.com/chrome
However, I would like to talk about my experience with this browser and to be fair and honest I have to really talk about the current dominant browsers versus this browser so here goes.
Screen Space saving with a smaller address location bar and larger browsing space
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Now, lets be honest, this is achievable on both Firefox and IE with full screen mode and some extensions/themes in Firefox even allow minimalistic space usage for the end-user. Wonder what made Google claim this. Oh wait it only take 15 MB to run. I'll get back to that in a minute.
Incognito mode
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Safe browsing has become a huge concern with all web-browser developers and even companies like Apple have integrated this into their browsers to move into the new generation. 15 MB once again duh how could we forget.
Better integration with Google Apps
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Oh no, now they really have us. But wait most other browsers work pretty well with Google web-apps. Is there something we are missing here? Maybe a more seamless and better performance out of the applications integrated into the browser will be seen. I give Google a cookie here they might actually have something.
Inspect Element Window
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This window is truly a useful concept introduced by the browser and I will say that this scores Google brownie points in the web-development department. It gives load times and resources used along with the underlying HTML code to the end-user for performance rating and debugging. Very useful and yes I know that FF does offer something similar but its a bit different here and represented with time graphs which I know FF offers as well but not with such a low memory usage.
Tabs above the search bar
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I will say that this is neat but I do not think this is going to sway the minds of other web-browser users. Strange I know but this was one of the features mentioned on the website. From a UX (User Experience) POV, I am more concerned about whats on the page rather than where the tab sits. I remember seeing a browser extension that let tabs sit below the page (less intrusive if you ask me).
That's all I can really talk about for now till I start running more heavier stuff on it. Apparently, the Java is supposed to kick the nuts out of most other browsers but with the issues that Facebook presented today, I hope that Google transitions out of the Beta phase faster than Google Talk ever did lol (oops its still there). As for the memory issue, its a little ridiculous to imagine this being a browser for the common man throwing away IE and FF, there are just too many websites out there that depend on MS Technology (ASPX) to make users run to GC and FF well there is a reason why its considered a faster browser than IE and it certainly ran GC into the ground today when I tested it on a simple website for load times both locally and on the server. Another reason for no memory woes is that todays rigs come with 1GB or 2GB standard, sure it makes loads of sense when you are just checking your email or doing some simple browsing but with more websites using more stringent features, I think that 15MB for crash purposes and browser control makes no sense.
I won't say that GC is a bad browser but for a power user, it offers absolutely nothing that the other two browsers already give you neatly packaged. I would like to see Google add more extensions/apps and maybe tweak it some more to bring it out of the Beta phase into a much better competitive mode. I think they can afford to bump up the memory usage to 50MB and still get away with being more lightweight than FF/Opera/Safari but they need to think about the moving markets.
Good job Google is all I can say but you have a little ground to cover before you catch up with IE and start showing some real competitive edging where its truly required at this point in time. I'd like to see a new browser with more and better features if it can be made and it seems the boys at MS and Mozilla are seriously running out of steam for new ides. IE will only survive with its new active page slicing and other silly security tricks, FF has a slight advantage with the open source developer market and some really nifty extensions that are saving it over IE. Nevertheless, the fight has now begun and I hope we get a good browser out of it.
Oh, FF is still my favorite browser (listing table)
Browsers in fashion of overall performance (2GB/AMD Chipset)
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- Firefox 3
- Firefox 2
- Safari
- Internet Explorer 6
- Internet Explorer 7
- Opera
- Google Chrome
- Internet Explorer 8
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- Firefox 2
- Safari
- Firefox 3
- Google Chrome
- Internet Explorer 6
- Internet Explorer 7
- Opera
- Internet Explorer 8
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- Google Chrome
- Internet Explorer 6
- Firefox 2
- Internet Explorer 7
- Internet Explorer 8
- Safari
- Firefox 3
- Opera
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- Firefox 2
- Firefox 3
- Opera
- Internet Explorer 8
- Internet Explorer 7
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- Firefox 3
- Safari (Well nothing really affects it)
- Firefox 2
- Opera
- Internet Explorer 8
- Internet Explorer 7
- Google Chrome
- Internet Explorer 6 (oh god the popups)
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- Firefox 2
- Firefox 3
- Opera (Widget Engine is simply awesome shame its a memory hog)
- Internet Explorer 8
- Internet Explorer 6
- Internet Explorer 7
- Safari
- Google Chrome
Music Listened to while writing this post - From Here to Eternity - Iron Maiden
Mood - Bit Sick But Nothing A Shot of Whiskey Won't Fix
1 comments:
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Good one..
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