Chrome: promising but not yet viable
No doubt the biggest hype around the web these days is the launch of Google’s own web browser: Chrome. Introduced as a sleek and very fast web browser (in terms of rendering), it follows the simplistic lines of Google’s other products. There are only three toolbars: the tabs, address and bookmarks (yep, no title bar :)).
Everything seems to work smoothly. Tabs can be dragged out of the main window to create a new one and back. The download manager is nicely integrated in a small bottom toolbar. Almost every toolbar that appears or disappears has a smooth motion tween.
A big difference from other current browsers is that each tab runs as a different process. Should one tab crash, it will not take all the rest with it.
There is good news for web designers. Chrome doesn’t have its own rendering engine; instead it uses Webkit (also used by the Safari browser). So it is one less browser to worry about.
As for its usefulness, although it is a breath of fresh air, Chrome is still in Beta. Firefox still has a huge advantage given by the use of add-ons. I can’t imagine not having Firebug or the Web developer toolbar among other things at my fingertips.
Google Chrome screenshot
Links
On a side note, I wonder how much traffic is sent to other “chrome” websites that have nothing to do with Google’s browser: www.chromebags.com (1st on Google for “chrome”), www.chrome.com, etc. I would very much like the next Google product to be named Ylipsis :).