Sending initial buzzes throughout the Blogging World , Google finally launched their Web browser named ” Chrome” (beta). It was a hasty launch as some information about Chrome has already leaked over the net and to prevent damage to their plans Google had to launch it prematurely, Whatever be the past , at present it’s out and it looks wonderfully simple and clean with focus on Speed and browsing . Although lack of extensions and non-availability of Linux and Mac versions is a big negative but it is in beta and we can hope these issues resolved soon .
What we can easily make out is that Google has done nothing radical or innovative but it has taken the best of all the browsers currently in Market and put it in a better and useful way .
More specifically: (Views of he3ald)
* They didn’t create a new rendering engine, they used an existing one(WebKit)
* They analyzed Safari’s neat GUI tricks and implemented something even better.
* They added an IE8-like domain highlight in the URL.
* They got the Firefox’s Awesome bar and improved it.
* They got Opera’s Speed Dial and improved it.
* They got IE8’s one-process-per-tab architecture and improved it.
* They didn’t think of a JavaScript JIT first, they just made it widely-available first.
* They didn’t think about merging the address bar with the search bar, Mozilla announced it first, but Google released it before they did.
* Safari 4 allows users to create shortcuts for their favorite web app’s, but unfortunately it’s only out for developers…
Here is a snapshot of this minimalist beauty , You can download Chrome from here .
Now once installed here are some unique features you should pay attention too .
1. Excellent Simplistic and Minimal design
You can see that easily from the screen shot , Those space gobbling menus and toolbars have been removed, status bar is also removed and it only pops-up when needed at the bottom .
2. A Task manager for Tabs,Browser and Plugins running
You can see yours by pressing “Shift+Esc”
3. Recently Closed Tabs
Whenever you press Ctrl+T or the + button you are shown your Most Visited websites and also the recently closed tabs which sure comes in handy if you closed one accidentally .
4. Thumbnail based browser History
Just by pressing Ctrl+H you can bring up the history page where you can search and the results will have thumbnails of the corresponding pages , sure comes handy .
5. Search your favorite Websites right from address bar
Chrome will automatically detect if a site provides site search and if found then, next time when you type the URL of that site you can search it just by pressing Tab , right from your address bar.
6. Context sensitive clean context menus
Only small contextual menu with no extraneous options , only relevant ones .
7. Memory used by various Browsers
Type in about:memory in a new tab and you will receive memory being used by Chrome as well as all other browsers that are currently running like Firefox,Opera,Safari
8. Desktop,Quick launch,Start menu Shortcuts of your Favorite Websites
Just go to the page options button and select “Create Application shortcuts “ and select appropriate place , Chrome will make a shortcut that on clicking will launch your Websites in a new Window .
9. Check and Monitor various Network Requests
You can see for yourself the various Network requests and track them by typing in “about:network” in address bar .
10. Firebug and Web Developer Alternative – “Inspect Element”
I hate Firefox for it’s slow speed and memory hogging as I have an old 1.9 Hz, 256 Mb Ram system , but I have to use it because of the very popular extensions Firebug and Web Developer for the Web developers , but now Chrome gets rid of them , right click on any area of web page and choose “Inspect Element” and viola you have a powerful army of debugging tools ..
11. The Incognito Window – Privacy assured
Open a new Incognito window by pressing Ctrl+Shift+N and viola , Now all your activities done inside this window is kept private and deleted as soon as you close it , so no cookies,history etc. of sites you open within a Incognito window . If you make some Bookmarks or Download files then they are kept.
12. All your Stats
Type “about:stats” to see all your statistics including lot of Counters and Timers good for a tech junkie .
I will add more as I discover , you can also see the Chrome Comic Book , Explaining the philosophy and thinking behind Chrome .
Some Videos From Google……………
Story Behind Google Chrome
10 features of Chrome
Some Features of Chrome from Google itself .
Leave your Valuable Comments and more tips and secrets of Chrome !!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a great idea. I don’t think that Chrome is nearly ready to by my “Full Time” browser, but it is pretty fast on some sites/services.
Good features thanks for sharing
Chrome is superb.
Some things i noticed were that firstly, its address bar also works as a search bar and on right clicking it, it also allows to select a particular search engine and secondly, the javascript and feeds are not working properly. Wel, switching to a new browser had never been so easy.
Mostly good article, but I disagree with 2 things, the speed of the browser is good but the speed of switching tabs is shocking compared to any other browser. Also the switching is more difficult than you make out without the key feature of a home button which many users base lots of browsing around.
It has great features, but it still in beta so we should wait before we say all things good about it.
It also allows to select a particular search engine and secondly, the javascript and feeds are not working properly. Wel, switching to a new browser had never been so easy.
About merging the address bar with the search bar, it had already been released by Konqueror by 2005 (at least), i.e. several years before Chrome release or Mozilla announcement.
As Chrome rendering engine (WebKit) is based on Konqueror rendering engine (khtml), it is likely that Google took the idea from Konqueror.