Checking Out Google Chrome for the Average User

What is this new browser apparently made by Google? How does it compare to the other big browsers like Firefox and IE in terms of the average user?

I recently just found out about Google Chrome three days ago. I saw it advertised in one of Google’s pages and it immediately caught my eye. A new browser made by Google? I had to check it out.

After viewing the videos and reading the comics interpretation on the technology behind Google Chrome in the official Google Chrome homepage, I immediately downloaded it and gave it a try. I was excited on the many claims and features of the Google Chrome.

After three days of using the browser (where I didn’t use any other browser), here are my takes on the new browser by Google.

 

1.  Google’s Homepage approach.

Whenever you open up Google Chrome, you aren’t given a static homepage. You’re given a page showing your most visited sites, recent bookmarks, a search bar, and recently closed tabs. This is the same when you open up a new tab within the window. So Google Chrome now offers a somewhat dynamic homepage. (You can still set the homepage to a static webpage if you want)

 

For me, this is a good thing. Whenever I browse the net, I have a handful of sites I always visit. It was really helpful that it was presented to me right away and I didn’t have to type in the address/URL or click in my bookmarks tab.

The recently bookmarked sites being outside and shown immediately is also convenient for me. I bookmarked those sites as they contain useful information that I know I would need in the future. Making them immediately available serves as a reminder for me that I don’t need to search anymore as I’ve already found one which I’ve bookmarked.

 

If you however have old bookmarks that you would always like to access (like sign-in or log-in pages) but do not show up in the most visited sites, you can put them in the category bar just below the address bar. That way, you can have an easy way of accessing them.

 

You also have a quick way of accessing those tabs that you’ve closed already.

 

 

What I missed about the Chrome’s dynamic homepage is the search bar. Don’t be fooled by this search bar though as it only searches your history.

 

What Google did was incorporate the search in the address bar. When you type in a search term (in my case Google Chrome), you get a suggestion to search Google for “Google Chrome” or only “Chrome”.

 

 

I would have liked that instead of the search bar in the right searching only for your history, it would already search in Google. I like it separate as I want it clean and not have all those suggestions from the address bar when I type in something.

 

2.  Google’s Technology behind the Tabs

As Google pointed out, their browser has a multi process design. They pointed out that browsers today are still single threaded. Meaning, once the browser executes a command like javascript, its not going to do another command unless javascript is finished. So if one of your tabs gets locked up, your other tabs or your whole browser would get locked up too.

Their multi-process design is supposed to eliminate whole browser lock-ups. If one tab gets locked up – you lose just one tab.

Google was also transparent on the drawback of this kind of design. Multi-processes also mean that it would need more memory as tabs need a separate independent memory.

But having a separate independent memory for each tab also means that when you close a tab, you’re ending the whole process and releasing all of the memory it used up. In the long run, (or as you browse longer) its more beneficial for us.

This again for me is a good thing. I’ve had my share of experiences that I had to close my whole browser to release the memory it had used up as closing tabs didn’t release memory.

Oh and try dragging one of the tabs in Google Chrome outside the browser window. You’ll see their multi-process design in action – it goes into a separate window.

 

3.  The Incognito mode

Simply put, it’s a privacy mode. If you want to surf and you don’t want the browser to record any of your activity, you can use the incognito mode.

This is useful if you don’t want other people to suspect that you’re hiding something. Surely you can just clear your private data so they won’t be able to see what you surfed about. But that doesn’t mean they won’t suspect.

 

4.  Web Safety

The Google Chrome has what it calls the “Sandbox”. Its primary purpose is to prevent Malware from spreading to your computer whenever you visit webpages.

I wouldn’t go into detail on this one but when I visited various malicious sites, my computer wasn’t infected when I used Google Chrome. These were the same sites I visited to test the safety of Firefox and IE.

I would say that Google Chrome is on par with Firefox’s safety standards – but that’s just with my 3 days experience with it.

As Google Chrome is open source like Firefox is, I hope that Google would be as quick as Mozilla Firefox is with fixing security issues. That’s why I really like Firefox – the community is there to quickly fix things.

 

5.  “Control the Current Page” and “Customize Chrome” Button

What I tried to search for in Google Chrome was – where was the menu bar (File, Edit, View, etc.)? Google apparently didn’t see the need to incorporate it with their new browser and decided to just put two buttons.

The “Control Page” button is exactly what it is – for controlling the current page. If you want a new tab, an incognito window, cut, copy, paste, zoom, etc., it can be found there.

 

The Customize Button includes the history, clear history, help, downloads, options and other functions on customizing the Chrome browser as a whole.

 

These two buttons are supposed to reduce the clutter in web browsers and I think they did well in terms of that. They can easily be found, and contained most of the functions we use in browsers .

 

Is it better than the other browsers? Is it worth the switch?

After my three days with the browser, I think I’ll keep it and use it. I’ve had a good experience with it. I won’t be using it as my main browser – yet. I’ll still use Firefox as my primary browser and use Google as my alternative browser.

What most people are worried about in Google Chrome is that they’re thinking that Google is trying to take over the internet. Most of the things now involving the internet, Google is also there. Some even say that Chrome is Google’s application spying on your browsing behaviour (like it was some kind of spyware). I’d like to think otherwise.

As long as it’s a great product, I know I’ll use it. And with regards to Google spying with our browsing behaviour, Google made their code open source. Everybody can scrutinize their code. If it is malicious in some way, we’ll know.

What I was worried about is that I was relying in Firefox too much. If something goes wrong with Firefox, or there’s a security issue with Firefox that it has trouble fixing, I’d be forced to go back to Internet Explorer. With the arrival of Google Chrome, at least my Firefox now has a sidekick.

Firefox rocks but there can be no denying that Google Chrome is also one solid web browser.