Testing Google Chrome for Mac
Quick Review
I am writing this post using Google Chrome (beta 4.0.249.30) for the Mac. I have only spent 10 minutes with Google’s new browser, but so far I am impressed. The UI is clean and simple. As a recent Android convert, I appreciate the minimalistic design approach across all the entire Google product line.
It’s faster.
The backend of WordPress renders much faster than it does in Forefox due to Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine (Cnet’s JS Speed Test). I never realized how much time I was spending waiting for Javascript pages to load until right now.
Speed is a major benefit, but there are several other things I like about Chrome.
- First, tabs open next to the current tab you are working on. This is subtle, but important. If you have a number of tabs open in Firefox, a new tab open at the far right side. It’s easy to get lost switching back and forth between open tabs. I noticed this refreshing change immediately.
- Second, when you view source code, it displays in a tab rather than opening a new window. I prefer tabbed interfaces as it minimizes clutter on my desktop.
- And finally, favicons are displayed in the bookmarks bar – nice touch.
The only thing missing is the Google Search Bar. How could they leave that one out?
I’ll add more comments to this post as I continue to work with Chrome. What are your initial reactions?
Steve – on the PC, the address bar is the Google Search Bar. In other words, just type what you’re looking for into the address bar, and you get the Google search results. I don’t know if it works that way on the mac, but if it doesn’t – you should just switch to a PC!
Ah ha! It does work on the Mac. No need to switch to Winblows…phew.
Google Chrome is also nice because it closely resembles Firefox, both in appearance and bones, saving web development time and money.
I just launched a consumer relocation tool http://www.citytourvideo.com and quickly realized how much more expensive and time consuming it is to build your website and be compatible with every browser in existence. Then you have to keep up with the browser upgrades! So far I have chosen to serve the three most used browsers IE 7, IE 8, and Firefox. Chrome seems to work flawlessly (so far) as does Opera, without any extra development work!