Google Chrome

[andrew.]

Google has just come out with their new internet browser called Chrome. It is still in beta so it does crash randomly sometimes, but I haven't had any real problems. It looks like a very good competitor to Firefox 3, Safari 3, and IE 7/8. It boasts some good features that may or may not be found in other browsers like:

* being open-source
* including a JavaScript Virtual Machine built from scratch
* movable tabs that have the ability to be their own windows
* a privacy mode like InPrivate for IE8 and Private Browsing for Safari.
* great adware and malware support by making each windows in it's own "sandbox"
* searches Google instead of going to the Rogers search for 404 pages (this alone is good enough for me to switch)



Check it out and give it a try!
Download Page
Wikipedia Article about Google Chrome

I'd really like to know what you guys think about Google Chrome. I know that I am really loving it right now, but the only problem that I had was when I tried to download a file from an FTP server, it gave a "File not found" error, but Firefox downloaded the file instantly.[/list]

[rdrake]

I like it, but until it supports extensions and has a StumbleUpon button I cannot use it.

[Amailer]

I like it, but I find that the "address bar" is getting a tad annoying.

[Clayton]

Amailer @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:14 pm wrote:

I like it, but I find that the "address bar" is getting a tad annoying.

What exactly do you find annoying about it?

[Amailer]

On say a darker page, while going on a link it pops up and my eye is always drawn towards it.

[Tony]

andrew. @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:41 pm wrote:

* searches Google instead of going to the Rogers search for 404 pages (this alone is good enough for me to switch)

Well that's a DNS server setting, not the browser (that is, Rogers didn't "hack" your copy of Firefox to display ads). You can easily replace your own DNS settings to point to the same location as Chrome does, and get the same behaviour our of your existing browser.

[wtd]

It's worth mentioning that the rendering component of Chrome is none other than Apple's WebKit.

That said, I have a pretty hard time seeing what this does better than Firefox, Opera or Safari, especially since it's only available on Windows.

Maybe their ideas about additional security are neat, but only really a pressing issue on Windows anyway. Of course if the same thing can make it easy to prevent poorly coded websites from blocking other tabs, that'd be great, and I can only say that it's such an obvious idea that I'm surprised Google got to it first (though I doubt they'll be the last).

[Insectoid]

Oy, you didn't give me any credit for mentioning this in the first place! (check the shoutbox, I posted that before this thread existed).

I haven't tried yet (happy with FF) but may eventually (I'll download it to the school server once the student accounts are up).

[jernst]

Seems to work nicely so far, I'll give it a try for a while and see what happens

[Zeroth]

... Its not Apple's Webkit. Webkit is an independent open-source project, designed to be easy to use, efficient, and standards compliant. Apple does use it in Safari, yes. But its not their project.

I'm interested to see what happens. I really, especially, want to see the performance of their V8 engine. As well, the memory management ideas are pretty good. I know, only for windows. I can't wait for the Linux version... which hopefully comes out very soon.

I do want to say that the entire reason Google did this is to spur better performance, both in standards and in javascript, so they can push better and better web applications. And for once, I would LOVE for one tab's javascript to not block or slow down the javascript on another page. It would improve my browsing experience ten-fold.

As well, security IS important, no matter what OS you run. Another layer of security, properly done, is nothing but good news. Especially if Linux gains exploit support.

Oh, and a mad props to Scott McCloud for yet another awesome comic.

[andrew.]

Tony @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:43 pm wrote:

andrew. @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:41 pm wrote:

* searches Google instead of going to the Rogers search for 404 pages (this alone is good enough for me to switch)

Well that's a DNS server setting, not the browser (that is, Rogers didn't "hack" your copy of Firefox to display ads). You can easily replace your own DNS settings to point to the same location as Chrome does, and get the same behaviour our of your existing browser.

Yeah, but the way that chrome works is that it doesn't change your DNS settings, but when you type something that's not a URL, it automatically searches Google for it instead of trying to look up that URL. I don't know if I am explaining what I mean correctly.

[rdrake]

It also uses the mighty V8 JavaScript engine, which seems to be insanely fast.

And yes, WebKit was a fork of KHTML by Apple who turned it into an open source project which they no longer completely control.

[wtd]

rdrake @ Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:13 am wrote:

And yes, WebKit was a fork of KHTML by Apple who turned it into an open source project which they no longer completely control.

Not sure anyone else contributes as enthusiastically back to it.

http://webkit.org/blog/

[Tony]

andrew. @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:57 pm wrote:

when you type something that's not a URL, it automatically searches Google for it instead of trying to look up that URL.

Got it.

I do this with Firefox's bookmarked/keyworded (there's some other name for this feature) search
-- right click on the form field -> "Add a keyword for this search"
-- name -> something to organize your bookmarks
-- keyword -> a keyword. I use a first letter of the service. That is: Google -> g

so when I type

code:

g some keywords

it loads a Google result page for "some keywords"

code:

w tacos

Is the wikipedia article for Tacos.

etc. I think the keyword for wikipedia articles is even more awesome than Google searches.

[btiffin]

I probably won't try it until they announce a GNU/Linux version.

I polled Don't Care - but I do kinda - especially if it allows PC manufacturers a chance to rethink the Windows lock in contracts.

Konqueror all the way baby (or FireFox, well Ice Weasel under Debian, when absolutely necessary). The aforementioned 404 snag that Rogers uses to "enhance" the surfing experience being a critical decision maker for using Konqueror.
Add

code:

[KDE URL Restrictions] rule_1=open,,,,http,www20.search.rogers.com,,false rule_count=1

to your ~/.kde/share/config/kdeglobals and/or konquerorrc to disable the snag by informing KDE that it is a disallowed URL. You get a popup error box, but at least the location bar stays put. As I said before in another thread, I don't mind ads, it's the location bar overwrite that gets me all annoyed and in a fightin' mood.

Cheers