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Google set to steal Opera's thunder yet again, decides to eliminate url bar

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Paul Keith:
Source + Concept Art: http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/02/20/google-reportedly-axing-chromes-url-bar/

There are two big reported possible changes planned to take place. The first and most significant UI change comes in the the removal of URL bar. The second is the ability to use multiple user profiles in parallel.
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Sigh... another sad reminder of how Opera does this things first, ignores demand and now Chrome can potentially re-market and re-design the concept.

Btw Opera's design isn't as ambitious but it's certainly more user friendly. You could eliminate the address bar and if I'm not mistaken there was a way to enable that toolbar via hotkey but the more major one was to simply remove the bar and hit F2 to show a pop-up address bar.

zridling:
I saw this, too, and it seems to be fixing something that's not broken. I like looking up and seeing the URL, and while it's there, throw me a couple of buttons on the same bar. All I want is for Google to kill that frickin' download bar!

Paul Keith:
I think they are doing this so that in the near future, they can have an excuse to add clutter to the browser and people will think - that's not clutter, they actually minimized the browser.

Some examples I can think of, Google SideWiki integration, Google Desktop integration, Google Social integration, Google Go integration, Gmail on the sidebar integration.

I feel the suggested interface changes are kind of dumb though. You want no url bar?

Turn it into a super button like the Search Center extension: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ndfplmdnbnefomnjiknbpejdceedhdmf

More over combine this with Search this Site: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ampaaokifoiijaegiboaoncicpekfbdo

Finally add saved searches.

...or if you're pandering to the casual crowd, take a page from how netbook interfaces look like. Add the address bar to the bookmarks bar and there. All you need to do is hide the bookmarks bar by default (chances are your users already know the hotkey anyway/or add a drop down arrow) and you now have a vertical netbook interface full of buttons.

Why mess with the tabs? You're just killing some of the functionalities of tab extensions that way. Like if you show a search underneath a tab, you can no longer scroll through tabs using the mouse scroll wheel or double click to close tabs like the options provided in Chrome Toolbox

Same thing with panels. It only hurt Opera's image as a simple fast lightweight browser. Instead add a bunch of start bars but for buttons or icons instead of the address bar. There! Instant space for tons more buttons.

Want a mini-download bar? Look at how SingleFile shows the progress meter and combine it with how you show a user added a bookmark in the bookmarks bar by blinking: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mpiodijhokgodhhofbcjdecpffjipkle

ehh...sorry this turned out into a rant instead but basically, yeah I agree with everything you said except for it fixing something that's not broken. Google would just love to add a sidebar to Chrome - it gives them an excuse to hoist an ad like in Evernote does. Same thing with search boxes under tabs. It would make it a lot harder to use alternative search engines if users are trained to think of a search box as a search box rather than a place where they can type in website names. Even advanced users would get lazier the more they use chrome. No one likes to type extra words in tiny boxes.

superboyac:
I saw this, too, and it seems to be fixing something that's not broken. I like looking up and seeing the URL, and while it's there, throw me a couple of buttons on the same bar. All I want is for Google to kill that frickin' download bar!
-zridling (February 20, 2011, 10:01 PM)
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Seriously.  Who has ever looked at the address bar and thought "man, I wish this were not here."  Whoever it is, it's like .01% of the users.  I think the more appropriate thing to do is remove the rss feed icon in the bar.  Who uses that so much that it needs to be there for EVERY address?

That's how bloat starts.  You start "innovating" that don't address any real need or concern.  Firefox has plenty of issues that can be fixed before they start innovating major features.  I hate how programs have mistakes that remain version after version after version, yet they keep adding features and imrpovements.  The Bat comes to mind.  At least they don't bloat it, but they never actually fix anything.  Then there's Nero, which went from being an amazing, efficient tool, to an enormous blob of bloat now.

app103:
I think the more appropriate thing to do is remove the rss feed icon in the bar.  Who uses that so much that it needs to be there for EVERY address?
-superboyac (February 20, 2011, 11:48 PM)
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I use it often enough that it would bug me if it wasn't there.

I think the most irritating "removal" in Chrome is how if I stop moving my mouse, it hides my cursor. I have not yet figured out how to disable it from doing that.

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