 Do you need another
browser on your desktop computer or laptop computer? Google thinks so. A few weeks ago, the Company released the first version of Chrome , what it describes
as “a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to
make the web faster, safer, and easier.”
I'm not sure about the
faster, safer, and easier part but Chrome is a very interesting piece of software.
And although it's a beta (as
most Google applications are), it's quite usable. It won't replace Firefox,
Safari, Opera, or Internet Explorer – at least not yet – but Chrome
does show more than just a little promise.
According to Google , Chrome was created to reimagine the Web browser – to build a Web
browser from the ground up that realized the software that you use to access the Web isn't just for viewing
static text and graphics but to actually work with today's dynamic Web. As the
folks at Google said, Chrome is
“not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications,
and that's what we set out to build.”
Of course, there could be
far more to it than this. Some commentators believe that this is the next step
in a plan by Google to make the operating system obsolete, and to actually turn
the Web into the operating system. This has been a dream for a while, but many
people (including at least one
blogger at Linux.com think that if
anyone can make this a reality, Google can.
Regardless of Google's
motives, Chrome has disrupted the Web browser ecosystem. And, in my opinion, in
a good and very interesting way.
Chrome is based on a
technology called WebKit .
WebKit is a light, very fast, Open Source framework for implementing the
functions of a Web browser. WebKit is widely used – most notably in
Apple's Safari Web browser, and
offers excellent support for Web standards .
What WebKit brings to the
table is fast and efficient interpretation of Javascript (a commonly-used
scripting language on the Web), as well fast rendering of Web pages. On top of
that, WebKit offers excellent support for Cascading Style Sheets (a way of applying formatting to Web pages), as well
as Scalable Vector Graphics (a file format for static and animated diagrams).
Chrome's technology
enables it to render both simple and complex Web pages faster than Safari,
Firefox, or Internet Explorer.
Chrome is a seeming
contradiction in terms. It uses advanced technology, but its interface and
feature set is (in many ways) somewhat minimalist. Regardless, the feature set
packed into Chrome is interesting.
Chrome basically does what
any other browser does – rendering Web pages, running Javascripts,
supporting multimedia, enabling multiple tabs in a window, and the like. But
some of that, it does in a much better way.
As mentioned earlier,
Chrome's interface is very minimalist. There's no menu bar or icon bar. You
right-click in the browser to get
a menu, or use the two icons in the top right of the browser's window to access the basic functions of Chrome.
Like what? Like work with the browser's options, copy/cut/paste content, view
the source of a page, or create new tabs and windows. You can also get a list
of sites simply by typing a term – for example, laptop bags – in the browser's address bar.
To be honest, the
interface is confusing at first. It's not like any other browser you've used.
However, after working with Chrome for a few minutes, you get the hang of it.
Chrome's developers seem
to have put security at the forefront of the browser. Not only does the browser warn you about potentially dangerous sites, it also isolates processes within
the browser. Each time you open a new tab, that tab acts as if it's the only
process running in your browser. It has minimal, if any, interaction with the
operating system or with other tabs. So, if you run into a site that's ready to
deposit some malware , adware , or anything else nasty on your computer, the tab
rendering that site is isolated from other processes. The nasty payload from
that site may run, but only in the isolated space of that tab. Once you close
the tab, the nastiness no longer exists as far as Chrome is concerned.
One side effect of the
isolated tabs is that Chrome mimics having multiple browsers running
simultaneously, without the overhead. This is great if you use Web applications
and have multiple accounts with them. For example, I have two Google Docs accounts – a personal one and one for my company. There are times
when I need to share information between the two accounts. With Chrome, I can
log into both accounts simultaneously and copy text between them. With any
other browser, I'd need to copy whatever I needed to  copy, log out of one
account, and log into the other one.
You can also browse in incognito
mode. This mode leaves no tracks – the browser doesn't track which
sites you've visited; the site you visited might log your IP address, though.
Why you'd want to use incognito mode is your concern … To do it, just click on
the Control the current page icon on the upper-right corner of
the Chrome window, and then select New incognito window.
On top of that, Google
maintains blacklists of Web sites that have been flagged as potential sources of phishing and assorted Web-based evil. Chrome regularly
downloads updates to this list, and warns you when you're about to hit one of
those sites. You can choose to go there or
avoid it.
 Another feature is speed dial .
This is simply a visual list of the Web sites that you've recently visited or
which you frequently visit. Just click on the rather-large icon and you're
taken there immediately. This has been part of the Opera Web browser for a while now, and you can get a Firefox add-on to do the same thing. As with Opera, this is a
default behavior for Chrome.
A previous TechTip looked at how to turn Web applications into desktop apps using software
called Prism. Chrome takes this one step further and integrates a technology
called Gears . Using Gears, you not only turn the Web application
into a desktop shortcut, but you can also use that application when you aren't
connected to the Web. Gears stores all of your data offline and synchronizes it
when you reconnect.
To use this feature, click
on the Control the current page icon and the select Create
application shortcuts. On the dialog box that appears, select where
you want to put the shortcuts and then click OK.
Note that Gears doesn't
work with all Web applications. It can be hit and miss to say the least.
Beyond what's been
mentioned, though, Chrome lacks a few important features that its competitors
pack. Sure, it has great security and supports downloads, bookmarking, and
multimedia. But unlike, say, Firefox you can't change the look and feel of
Chrome or extend it using add-ons. Well, that isn't quite true. Some
enterprising users have simple plugins for Chrome. They're not plugins in the
truest sense of the word, they're
more like bookmarklets .
These plugins can do things like back up
user profiles or Greasemonkey scripts . You can learn more about them here . Or, you can do a Google search .
 Right now, only the
Windows version of Chrome is officially available from Google. Linux and Mac
versions are under development. However, the folks at CodeWeavers (who make CrossOver Office ) have released CrossOver Chromium for both Linux and Mac. It's essentially Chrome for Windows with a
wrapper that enables you to run the software on the other operating systems.
CodeWeavers put it together as a proof of concept. It works, but it’s
definitely not perfect — the browser can be a bit slow and font rendering
is often idiosyncratic. Still, it gives Linux and Mac users a taste of Chrome
without having to get all techie and try to compile the browser's code.
It could mean sweeping
changes in the way that we view and use the Web. Or, it could mean nothing. My
opinion falls somewhere in the middle. If nothing else, Chrome offers more
choice in the Web browser world. If it retains its pep and zip Chrome could be
a very viable competitor to Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. Especially
if the promised versions for Linux and Mac OS appear soon.
Some people fear that
Google will play the features game and bloat Chrome. If that happens, then the
browser will definitely lose some of its appeal.
If nothing else, Chrome is
shaking up the Web browser ecosystem. It could force its competitors –
Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera – to up their game. If that
happens, then users will definitely be the winners. |
The interface
