Because I build websites, I have several browsers to test with: IE7, Firefox 3, Opera, and Safari. I have always been happy with Internet Explorer, particularly version 7. But several people keep telling me I should use Firefox and, since I installed Firefox 3 a few weeks ago, I have started using it more, and have even set it as my default browser for previewing and testing web pages.
One thing has been bugging me though - I suppose it must just be me but, although I really like working with tabbed browsing, with Firefox 3 I keep inadvertently closing the tab I'm reading. That's very irritating, and I don't think I did that with FF2... And FF3 has a tendency to be left running in the Applications list, so it won't re-launch without resorting to Task Manager and Ending the process.
I don't usually touch any software that is in beta (test) mode because it often causes unexpected(?) problems with other applications or even the operating system. But as I'm a bit of a fan of Google, products I thought I'd have a go with Chrome.
The download was seamless. Installation went as planned - quickly and trouble-free. Then I launched Chrome and wondered where everything was. There was a clue that I'd read somewhere that, when you want them, the tools are easy to find. I am amazed at how that could possibly work. But it does. The screen is very clean and tidy. The tabs are right at the top of the screen. There are no text menus but right-click (which seemed obvious) on an an icon here or there, and everything I've needed so far, is where I felt it should be.
Remember when you first used Google search? I remember thinking, and others saying "it's as though they know what you were thinking about when you started the search." Chrome has that same eerily "just right" feeling, to me.Two things stand out (apart from the clean screen and the lack of menus and toolbars - nobody expects the Spanish inquisition) is that I have watched in amazement as many people "mis-use" the address bar in Internet Explorer, thinking that data entered there would be used to search for a website.
Well, apparently, for many people that's the intuitive thing to do (in the absence of any Browser Schools). And with Chrome, that's exactly what happens! Put "Fred Bloggs" into the address bar and, if it can't already find that among the websites you've already visited - like FF3 does, it uses your text for a Google search.
And it is noticeably faster than Firefox 3. Going back to IE7 shows it to be very slow by comparison, subjectively. And the screen is smoothly Opera-like. There are some good techie reasons why it's fast, apparently. But all I care about is - it works, I like the look and feel, I like the speed, I really like the 9-most-visited-sites feature showing on your own home page.
If you want to risk the beta, give it a go. If you don't want to risk the beta, keep your eye on the news, the real thing can't be far off. My opinion so far is that instead of thinking, "Yes, is OK," I was immediately really impressed with Chrome. I can see it will be my no.1 browser of choice very soon.
P.S. I created this entry via Chrome. I did have a bit of trouble uploading the image into Blogger, but I found a workaround. And I've signed up to have Google track what's going on, to help development, so we can hope that they're working on it right now!
Posts
