Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

Google Chrome: Time for a Second Chance?

(1/19) > >>

Deozaan:
Back when Google Chrome launched, I downloaded the beta, played with it for a few minutes and promptly uninstalled it. Dismissing it as pointless and redundant (not to mention not nearly as good as Firefox).

Recently I found out my brother uses Chrome and I asked him why and he mentioned a couple of things that got me interested in trying it again: It launches faster than Firefox and each tab runs in its own process so if one tab crashes it doesn't bring down the entire browser.

Has anyone else been using it for a while now? What do you think about it?

I noticed it doesn't have (true) extensions and thus AdBlock, so it's annoying to have ads showing up on websites I've never seen them on before, but other than that, what's the general consensus for people who have been giving it a try?

Hirudin:
I was using it since it first appeared on Google.com until Firefox 3.5 (final) came out.

It does launch quite fast. A related problem I had with it is that there weren't many options for how it opens. IIRC you can either have it open all the tabs you had open before, or start fresh every time. There isn't an option like there is with Firefox (and IE I believe) that asks you what you want to do.

What I found really bothersome is that if you close the program by closing the last tab with the little "X" on the tab it would open that tab again the next time you launch the program. I rarely want the last tab(s) to be re-opened so this is one instance where I would personally prefer to be asked every time I close the browser.

It may be a fact that it launches each tab as its own process, but in my experience if one tab crashes the rest will go with it anyway.

And, as you've mentioned, extension support is limited at best. I don't know the technical reasons there aren't extensions like AdBlock and Flashblock for Chrome, I can just tell you that their absence is glaring.


On the other hand it does a couple other things better than Firefox. If you drag a tab out of Chrome you can place it anywhere you want on your screen and it'll create a new browser at that location. With Firefox you can drag the tab wherever you want, when you drop it the new browser window will appear just as if you had hit "CTRL + N".


Another small thing I like about Chrome is they made it so all "File Path" fields (like what is used to attach an image in this forum) are changed into "Choose File" buttons. Again, this isn't a big thing, but I'm frequently still surprised when the Choose File dialog pops up when all I did was click to put the cursor in an empty field.


Also, they've combined the address bar with the search bar. Anything that has a domain (.com, .net, .org, .whatever) will be sent to the DNS server (I guess) and anything without a domain (or anything with spaces in it) will automatically be sent to your default search engine. Firefox will do this too, but it seems to try to get the IP for everything put into the address bar.
Google Chrome: Time for a Second Chance?

Another thing it does is it puts a resizing... uh... "chevron"* on every text box that allows you to make it bigger. It's real useful for forums. I bet there's a Firefox extension that will do the same thing though.

* sure, that's a good word for it

I'd still recommend giving it a try. The little things that bother me may not make a difference to you and the little things that I don't notice may be exactly what you're looking for.

Dormouse:
FF has its extensions. They are its good point.

Chrome is fast. And given that FF and ie both have critical and unpatched vulnerabilities that only really leaves Chrome and Opera and a few others for the moment if you want to be secure (I exclude Safari personally).

JennyB:
It does launch quite fast. A related problem I had with it is that there weren't many options for how it opens. IIRC you can either have it open all the tabs you had open before, or start fresh every time. There isn't an option like there is with Firefox (and IE I believe) that asks you what you want to do. (see attachment in previous post)What I found really bothersome is that if you close the program by closing the last tab with the little "X" on the tab it would open that tab again the next time you launch the program. I rarely want the last tab(s) to be re-opened so this is one instance where I would personally prefer to be asked every time I close the browser.
-Hirudin (July 15, 2009, 02:40 AM)
--- End quote ---

I used Chrome for some months after I downloaded a new version of Opera and couldn't get my mail imported from the old one (fixed that now). I never got used to the way closing the last tab closed the whole browser, but I kept it because it loaded again so fast.

It may be a fact that it launches each tab as its own process, but in my experience if one tab crashes the rest will go with it anyway.

--- End quote ---

That's my experience too.

Another thing it does is it puts a resizing... uh... "chevron"* on every text box that allows you to make it bigger. It's real useful for forums. I bet there's a Firefox extension that will do the same thing though.

--- End quote ---

That's one thing I really miss in other browsers. I began to reply to this post in Opera, and then opened it in Chrome instead for the extra space and the spell checker.  :-*

I think I'll keep Chrome as the default browser for local files, for forums and (naturally) for Google Mail, Groups and Reader, and use Opera for everything else.

wreckedcarzz:
I gave Chrome a 2nd shot on my computer about two weeks ago, and uninstalled it about 3 or so days ago. Mostly just following the opinions already stated, it is fast and it runs javascript (most notably Google's websites like Gmail and YouTube) faster than Firefox (although with 3.5 this isn't so much of a gap anymore, and it may be a dead point). The window-based Incognito browsing is nice, you can have as many normal windows as you want alongside as many Incognito windows that you want - Firefox turns the entire browser upside down when you enter Private Browsing Mode (so if you are like some people I know, your going to cry when you go to switch back and all those hundred(s) of tabs come flying back to be reloaded at once...).

I kept Firefox 3.5 (the Release Candidate) installed when I got Chrome, and while I would open Chrome for just quick IM links or the like, I would always open Firefox when I was planning a long term browsing session (ex longer than 10 minutes or so). Why? I simply cannot lose all my Firefox addons, and with my recent installation of Greasemonkey, that point is simply made more apparant. The lack of addons like AdBlock, Download Statusbar, Fission, Stop-or-Reload (Chrome does this by default, though), ForecastFox, DownloadHelper and NoScript made Chrome feel more like a nice flashy hotel room with a big TV to coax you in, rather than a place I could (comfortably) call "home".

I like how I can make Firefox whatever I want it to be. Until I can sit down and find quality addons that rival those of what I have now, with a better looking theme (am I the only one that hates the way Chrome looks? It's so monotone :huh:) and options that allow me to, like Firefox, customize just about everything I want "No thanks, Google" is all I have to say.

:two:

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page