If there’s only one thing you do this weekend: try out Chrome, Google’s new browser.
Download the Beta version from the Google home page, and the first thing you’ll notice when Chrome is installed is just how fast this new web browser is. Even with a fairly lethargic 4 Mbps broadband connection, web pages appear almost instantly. In fact, if you didn’t know better, you could be forgiven for thinking the pages were stored on your own hard disk.
The shiny new alternative to Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox is an interesting take on what is by now a well-worn theme. But two years in the making has seen Google pull off a very creditable piece of software that leaves its more established rivals eating dust in the page download speed stakes.
The other thing to strike new Chrome users is the minimalist and clean interface, which requires a bit of getting used to initially but makes for a refreshing de-cluttered change. Another trick you may have missed from Safari is incognito, the ability to open a private browsing window that does not leave a trace in search history etc.
Ironically, where Chrome didn’t fare so well while under test was in playing the youtube video demo on how to create and use application shortcuts in Chrome. It took three attempts before it would play, which is peculiar, especially since Google own youtube. Indeed, to check whether this was just a glitch due to heavy demand for the video or a problem with my broadband connection, I quit Chrome and fired up Firefox. Predictably, almost, Firefox played the video straight off, no problem. Videos on the youtube site, to be fair, played well in Chrome.
It is plain that the Google browser was built magpie-like by taking the best bits of lots of different browsers and re-packaging them into a single Open Source package. Whether there’s enough in Chrome to tempt people away from their trusty favourites remains to be seen.
For website owners the launch of a new browser also means worrying about how the company site will be rendered on the screen. No worries there though, Chrome appears to reflect a true likeness of all the sample pages checked for this review. Admittedly, with more web pages than people on the planet, it might be an idea to check your own just in case.
