Google Chrome - New web browser launching tomorrow

oeb

Google Chrome
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html

Goodshape

Launching today afaik.

That Google blog post was made yesterday.

axer

Looks like it is tomorrow - 4am Irish-time.
http://www.freechromethemes.com/DownloadGoogleChrome.php

Goodshape

D'oh. Was hoping to be able to play with it today.

Not expecting that this will replace Firefox for me -- just far too many web development and other extensions that I use -- but I do hope it'll pull more people away from IE6/7 and offer them a simple, intuitive and standers compliment web browser.

Sick to the back teeth of having to support IE6 at this stage.

oeb

Ok, from what I can gather so far.

Uses webkit to render
Seperate tabs are seperate processes, if something crashes, you loose a tab, not the app.
New Javascript rendering engine (v8) should be faster, precompiles javascript to machine code, better garbage collection etc.
The omnibox replace the address bar, each tab has it's own. Does stuff like displays alternate search terms, relevant sites etc. Full text search in history.
If you search in a site (ie wikipedia) it becomes easy to search direct from the omnibar in the future.
The new tab page displays your 9 most visited links, and a list of places you search regularly. It attempts to judge where you may want to go. Great idea imo, lets see how it works out.
Private tabs can be opened, they dont save temp files, write to history etc. Great for ... ammmm ... research.
The V8 rendering engine gives javascript no way of forcing a popup. They are bound to the tab that opens them (but can be pulled out from the status bar)
Plugins also run in their own process, so crashing flash wont crash the browser (or even the tab).
New malware/phishing api, reads a feed constantly to help keep the unwashed masses away from phishing sites.
Gears is hevilly intigrated with it (allows you to run webapps 'offline')


http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Goodshape

Personally I like tinkering with settings and installing the plugins which suit me. As a web developer it's great to have those options... but I don't see why you'd have to do it.

Surely a vanilla install of Firefox gives you everything you need, much like IE7?

The animosity towards IE7 (and moreso towards IE6) comes from it's lack of adherence to recognised web standards -- which makes my job quite difficult as it often becomes the only browser requiring very specific tweaks at the coding/mark-up level.

At a user-interface level it's all down to personal taste. Which is why I'm hoping for a user-friendly browser from Google, aimed towards those who - like yourself - just want something "that works", as opposed to a browser to compete with Firefox for the advanced-user market.

And from what I've seen so far (and knowing Google) it looks like user-friendly is what they're going for.

aidan_walsh

I'm just waiting to see if Chrome will turn into a properly supported browser project, or whether its just an experiment in re-architecting browsers which is what it looks like to me at the minute.

Tar.Aldarion

The Scientist wrote: »

I still can't understand the animosity towards IE7. I tried Firefox for a week and uninstalled it. The thing was painful, between installing plugins and messing with my preferences i was glad to get back to IE.

Will download Chrome though because i'm a total Google Fanboi.

You don't have to get any plugins...(although there are awesome ones)
Every time I have had IE it has broken, and it wouldn't display my website properly, grr. I also just don't like the look and feel of it but meh.

MacAonghusa

Goodshape wrote: »

Sick to the back teeth of having to support IE6 at this stage.

Unfortunately you'll never get rid of IE; and IE users will always be the slowest to update their browsers.
I don't see Google Chrome gaining a significant foothold in the browser market nor changing IE usage in any significant way. Just my own 2c.

Goodshape

aidan_walsh wrote: »

I'm just waiting to see if Chrome will turn into a properly supported browser project, or whether its just an experiment in re-architecting browsers which is what it looks like to me at the minute.

Either way, it's an open source project so any real improvements they make to "the browser" should ripple through to the others.

But with the Google mobile-OS (Android) on the way, I'd speculate that support for Chrome will be suitably strong, at the very least for the mobile platform.

zAbbo

MacAonghusa wrote: »

Unfortunately you'll never get rid of IE; and IE users will always be the slowest to update their browsers.
I don't see Google Chrome gaining a significant foothold in the browser market nor changing IE usage in any significant way. Just my own 2c.

If they bundle it, as much as they have with the Firefox Google Toolbar Pack, it will make a small dent in market share

CuLT

Looking forward to Chrome myself from a user perspective, I'm still not buying into the Gears thing just yet though as a dev.

Will need to read more.

MacAonghusa

zAbbo wrote: »

If they bundle it, as much as they have with the Firefox Google Toolbar Pack, it will make a small dent in market share

A very small dent i'd say. I see no reason to switch to it ... but I suppose it's still a bit early to make that call. :rolleyes:

aidan_walsh

Goodshape wrote: »

Either way, it's an open source project so any real improvements they make to "the browser" should ripple through to the others.

Perhaps, but not quickly. It could (would?) require significant reinvestment by development teams to take apart what they have already done and start reworking it to fit the Chrome architecture. Firefox, for example, already has code for several versions down the line and much of that is designed to be stable in the long term.

smemon

Can only be a good thing imo as it'll add simplicity and stability to browsing. Although i love firefox, it does tend to crash a bit... (v3 is a lot better though).

Firefox will remain king, mainly due to it's add-ons and the fact it was the first real 'IE killer', but Google could eventually dominate depending on how serious they are about it.

It'll also save them a bomb i'd imagine in adsense earnings as that's where Firefox cashes in.

MacAonghusa

smemon wrote: »

Although i love firefox, it does tend to crash a bit... (v3 is a lot better though).

It's one browser I can happily say never crashes for me. My only complaint is that some of my regular plugins don't function as well as they did on V2.
Still streets ahead of any other browser IMO. *if there was a "thumbs up" smiley I'd insert one here*

Goodshape

axer wrote: »

Looks like it is tomorrow - 4am Irish-time.
http://www.freechromethemes.com/DownloadGoogleChrome.php

Or, maybe not :
http://www.google.com/chrome

cahirhennessy

Just downloaded it too.. it seems pretty sweet but only time will tell if I'll migrate from firefox. Good first impression though. Very clear layout,pages render quickly and the flash support runs straight out of the box.:)

axer

Goodshape wrote: »

Or, maybe not :
http://www.google.com/chrome

Nice one

axer

Seems nicely laid out.

Passes Acid2 fine. Gets 74/100 on Acid3.

The touch pad on my laptop won't scroll up pages only down in the browser for some reason though. Could put me off using it.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

aidan_walsh

Running a Javascript test at http://celtickane.com/webdesign/jsspeed.php

FF3 OS X: 282ms.
Safari OS X: 172ms
IE 7 (VM in Virtual Box): 1622ms
Chrome: (VM in Virtual Box): 82ms.

axer

The Scientist wrote: »

It making my touch pad go at rocket speed. Only have it an hour though, gotta do some fidgeting...

same here along with not being able to scroll up.

Kwekubo

Loving the EULA:

By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. ... You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

zAbbo

MacAonghusa wrote: »

A very small dent i'd say. I see no reason to switch to it ... but I suppose it's still a bit early to make that call. :rolleyes:

I'm not sure if you're being intentionally patrionising, but no-one is giving reasons to switch, especially before trying it out.

I was running Firebird for about 2 years before finally moving over, The Google Pack, and in particular Firefox /w Google Toolbar was heavily promoted through their refferal adsense program - paying up to $1 for downloads.

This certainly helped increase the market share for Firefox, with a brand like Google sitting behind it.

And yes, obviously it is very early to make any call on it's success, I doubt Google will foul up with a browser built on a solid platform, and something which is a very natural progression for their suite of tools.

Liam Byrne

Seems to mimic Opera behaviour the most, based on a site I have with a CSS "hack" to mask a background on a table to give rounded edges......

Jonathan

How many different threads are needed about this..

One in c&t, one in windows and one here??

Bob the Builder

This is very Sexy.

Took me ages to crash the browser, and eventually, when I did, it only killed one tab. And a big smiley face with x's in his eyes appeared before me.

Whereas with IE and sometimes even FF, I used to get all sorts of errors.

Bob the Builder

This is a pretty interesting read: http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/

axer

jmccrohan wrote: »

One in c&t, one in windows and one here??

Different perspectives.