I’m embarassed to admit that I didn’t even know that Google was looking into the browser game, so you can imagine my suprise when I see “Google Chrome” on the Google Products page (and my suprise at the very fact that I was suprised). Given the proliferation of browsers out there I was rather skeptical. Well, I gave it a try and I find that, in spite of my better judgement, I approve. They really have something here! Its really “stripped down” but remains very functional which is almost a new niche in the bowser market.
Chrome uses tabbed browsing like all the modern browsers. What makes it special is that it puts them in the title bar. With them at the very top they’re easy to find and access. It also makes use of the typically wasted space that is the titlebar. Under the tabs is a single toolbar. With back and forward buttons, a refresh button, an optional “home” button, an address bar preceeded by a bookmark button. Following the addressbar there’s a section to control the current page (new tab, zoom, and encoding) and the browser (options, history, etc.) The “address bar” is actually a misnomer, as it really is an everything bar. If you type a URL you go to the URL, but if you type a search you run a search in the default search (Google, to their credit, does not force Google Search on you).
Below all this is the website, displayed using as much of the screen as possible. Thats all. No poliferation of extra toolbars, no clutter of a dozens of mini aps and plugins, just a clean and simple browser. I actually found it relaxing to use. For folks who are new to computers this bowser would be a revalation, as there is less to be confused by.
Though the simplified nature of the bowser is the main draw (for me), there are some really cool features in addition to this. Opening a new tab is informative as it lists your most visited sites, most recent bookmarks, and gives you access to your bookmark bar. It lets you create “application shortcuts” so you can open your favorite web apps without opening the browser at all. This is a really promising feature that has interesting implications.
Perhaps most cool of all, each tab is its own separate existence. This has multiple implications. You can rearrange tabs so there in a more useful order. You can click and drag tabs from one open browser window to another, you can even drag a tab to the desktop to open that tab in its own window, As a librarian, I can appreciate all this flexibility. I can think of numerous situations while working with a customer that it would be nice to be able to move things around and pull things out. Coolest of all. If one tab crashes, only that tab crashes, and the rest of your tabs continue to function properly. Thats something that anyone can appreciate.
There are a ton of other features, more than I can really get into, but there are numerous reviews out there that can give you a fuller idea. My bottom line is this. Internet Explorer is okay, but it doesn’t really inspire me. FIrefox is great in many ways, especially its support for customization, but it can get very overwhelmed by this customization. One finds that it gets really old to have things in your face all the time. Chrome offers a new streamlined and browsing experience in the “less is more vein”. While I’ll need to live with it for a lot longer to be sure, I think that Google has a serious challenger in the bowser world in the form of Google Chrome.
