Google Chrome

[Spectere]

So, Google has a browser now.

Get it here if you're interested: http://www.google.com/chrome/ (the beta is Windows-only, for now)

I've only been using it for about ten minutes, but here's my experience so far:

The Good
1) It loads tabs in totally separate processes, so that if one tab or a plugin within the tab goes down it won't kill the entire browser.
2) It uses Webkit as the rendering engine.  Sure, all Apple did with it was take the KDE project's hard work and use it to jumpstart their browser, but they still did some decently impressive stuff with it.  Thankfully, it doesn't override the OS's font rendering method.
3) It feels pretty quick.  Its JavaScript engine is supposed to be pretty nice.
4) It allows you to easily split tabs off into new windows and merge them into existing ones using an intuitive click-and-drag method (note: you can do this with Firefox, but it's not as intuitive overall -- it will only let you drop tabs in existing windows, not split them off to make all new ones).
5) It does a damn good job importing settings.  It pulled in my bookmarks and saved passwords from Firefox.  It even nabbed all of the history.

The Bad
1) It loads tabs in totally separate processes, so it's possible that it might eat more memory than typical browsers if you have a lot of tabs open.
2) It uses Webkit as the rendering engine.  KHTML has always been great when it comes to standards compliance but has always had odd quirks with certain web pages, particularly ones that don't completely follow the standards (read: most of the web pages out there).  Webkit inherits these faults, causing some pages not to display properly.
3) Google Chrome's chrome is completely custom.  Google Chrome has its tab bar on the top, where the title bar would normally be.  The aesthetic choices are strange, to say the least -- it uses a Whistler-style color scheme (basically, XP's original theme long before it was released -- a lighter blue) regardless of how the windowing system is configured.  It also uses Vista-like buttons, even on XP, though the buttons don't really fit in with Vista very much.  Finally, you can't just click anywhere to open a new tab like you can in every other browser, otherwise the window will be restored.  It's a mess.

We'll see how this project winds up.  It's going to take a lot for it to pull me from Firefox, though.

[Bobbias]

My brother showed me earlier tonight. Certainly an interesting take on a browser, and it did feel pretty fast, but as you said, some sites are quirky (Yahoo live seems to be a little bit weird in it).

I'm interested in how they got the tabs up where the title bar is though...

[Spectere]

I'm interested in how they got the tabs up where the title bar is though...

It's really simple -- you can do that in VB6, even.  Basically, you draw a dialog without any WM controls and handle everything yourself.

On that note, I've seen screenshots of it running in Vista (I haven't installed it on my main system yet) and it looks 100% native there, even including glass predominantly in the interface like WMP and Explorer do.  I fail to see why they didn't give XP the same treatment...the UI just looks out-of-place when you run it in XP (and, if it fails on that, I can't see it being any different on other operating systems).

As for the speed, I noticed several hiccups as I started using.  Also, scrolling is a wee bit more sluggish than it is in Firefox and IE8b2.  Other than that, not bad at all.  I still have yet to test its JavaScript performance and all of that.

[Bobbias]

Ahh, yeah, forgot that, I'm used to thinking of the title bar as a bitmapped image, since IIRC that's the default way it's dealt with, essentially (well, a bitmapped image with some text and an ICON rendered over it with some buttons on the far side).

The other part that intrigues me is containing each tab in separate processes. That must have been a bit painful to get working right.

[annon]

Trying it out right now. It's damn fast, and I might even switch over once StumbleUpon support gets added. I like how the tab bar is up in the title bar to make more room.

[vladgd]

http://books.google.com/books?id=8UsqHohwwVYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=google+chrome#PPA1,M1

*edit*

as of now, i wouldn't use this over firefox, mostly because the firefox UI kicks ass, and it makes browsing easy.  but jesus this fucker is fast.  ill browse around with it for a while and see how i like it. 

*second quick edit*

no middle click to quickly scroll up and down a page, they need to add that in.

scrolling through bookmarks takes forever, since i have well over 100 bookmarks (i almost exclusively browse the internet with bookmarks, its rare when i touch the address bar) that is a BIG problem for me. 

yeah, not a big fan of the interface...give firefox the speed of this and you have a very nice browser.

*edit edit*

uninstalled.  its not a bad browser, but a few trivial things prevent me from using it too long.  PLEASE ADD IN A MENU BAR!

will try it again when a new version comes out, or the official release comes.

[annon]

I can see how Chrome could be problematic on the average system, which is something they'll need to work out, but like Vista it runs great on my desktop.

EDIT: On second though, someone's going to port a dedicated search bar into Chrome probably.

Also, vlad, thank you for the new avatar.

Also also, middle-mouse-button-scrolling works for me.

[Sneaky]

I would like my back/forward buttons to work with this. I usually only visit 5-10 different sites max in a day repetitively, aside from random/special searches, so I don't need a toolbar or a bookmarks bar.

This is very beta, but very fast. If they can integrate just a few more things, I'm happy. hell, i'm already happier with this than FF.

[annon]

My mouse's back/forward works as well, and so does my open tab button.

[annon]

I found this, which I find really funny: http://www.sfu.ca/~cyrille/news/CFM.gif

Here's the test, if anyone wants to try it: http://wd-testnet.world-direct.at/mozilla/dhtml/funo/jsTimeTest.htm

I averaged 38ms when I ran it in Chrome.

[Bobbias]

averaged 438ms in FF 3, 61ms in chrome. Mind you I'm also doing other things, so that might skew those scores.

You know, I really like Chrome, it's got a VERY simplistic interface, but it's not so minimalist as to make things diufficult. I like the speed, too. Very sleek feel to it. Unfortunately, some things are kinda slow. I've noticed that clicking the Save Link As... button seems to be slow. It actually starts the download before you even get to name the file. The whole download system in Chrome feels kinda slow and sluggish to me.

[annon]

It actually starts the download before you even get to name the file.

Doesn't FF do that too?

[Bobbias]

I believe so, however, it doesn't feel nearly as sluggish there. I think Chrome requires the download to actually begin before opening the save dialog, and that can occasionally make things a bit slower.

In fact, when I first began using FF3 the same issue bugged me, FF2 seemed to be the most responsive one I've had as far as opening many downloads quickly.

[MooMan1]

It needs RSS support for me to want to switch from Firefox. I have about 10 14 RSS feeds, and Chrome didn't import any of them. I'm an RSS noob, though, so I'm probably missing something. It's a pretty slick browser, though, and it has replaced Opera for me as my Browser when I Feel Like Doing Something Different.

[Bobbias]

I'm even more of an RSS noob. I honestly haven't found a use for RSS yet. the only RSS I use is FF's news headlines, lol.