Google Chrome: Future or Fad?

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Do you need another browser on your desktop computer or laptop computer? Google thinks so. A few weeks ago, the Company released the first version of Chrome , what it describes as “a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.”

I’m not sure about the faster, safer, and easier part but Chrome is a very interesting piece of software. And although it’s a beta (as most Google applications are), it’s quite usable. It won’t replace Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Internet Explorer – at least not yet – but Chrome does show more than just a little promise.

Why Another Browser?

According to Google, Chrome was created to reimagine the Web browser – to build a Web browser from the ground up that realized the software that you use to access the Web isn’t just for viewing static text and graphics but to actually work with today’s dynamic Web. As the folks at Google said, Chrome is “not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.”

Of course, there could be far more to it than this. Some commentators believe that this is the next step in a plan by Google to make the operating system obsolete, and to actually turn the Web into the operating system. This has been a dream for a while, but many people (including at least one blogger at Linux.com think that if anyone can make this a reality, Google can.

Regardless of Google’s motives, Chrome has disrupted the Web browser ecosystem. And, in my opinion, in a good and very interesting way.

The Technology

Chrome is based on a technology called WebKit. WebKit is a light, very fast, Open Source framework for implementing the functions of a Web browser. WebKit is widely used – most notably in Apple’s Safari Web browser, and offers excellent support for Web standards .

What WebKit brings to the table is fast and efficient interpretation of Javascript (a commonly-used scripting language on the Web), as well fast rendering of Web pages. On top of that, WebKit offers excellent support for Cascading Style Sheets (a way of applying formatting to Web pages), as well as Scalable Vector Graphics (a file format for static and animated diagrams).

Chrome’s technology enables it to render both simple and complex Web pages faster than Safari, Firefox, or Internet Explorer.

Features

Chrome is a seeming contradiction in terms. It uses advanced technology, but its interface and feature set is (in many ways) somewhat minimalist. Regardless, the feature set packed into Chrome is interesting.

Chrome basically does what any other browser does – rendering Web pages, running Javascripts, supporting multimedia, enabling multiple tabs in a window, and the like. But some of that, it does in a much better way.

The Interface

As mentioned earlier, Chrome’s interface is very minimalist. There’s no menu bar or icon bar. You right-click in the browser to get a menu, or use the two icons in the top right of the browser’s window to access the basic functions of Chrome. Like what? Like work with the browser’s options, copy/cut/paste content, view the source of a page, or create new tabs and windows. You can also get a list of sites simply by typing a term – for example, laptop bags – in the browser’s address bar.

To be honest, the interface is confusing at first. It’s not like any other browser you’ve used. However, after working with Chrome for a few minutes, you get the hang of it.

Staying Safe

Chrome’s developers seem to have put security at the forefront of the browser. Not only does the browser warn you about potentially dangerous sites, it also isolates processes within the browser. Each time you open a new tab, that tab acts as if it’s the only process running in your browser. It has minimal, if any, interaction with the operating system or with other tabs. So, if you run into a site that’s ready to deposit some malware , adware , or anything else nasty on your computer, the tab rendering that site is isolated from other processes. The nasty payload from that site may run, but only in the isolated space of that tab. Once you close the tab, the nastiness no longer exists as far as Chrome is concerned.

One side effect of the isolated tabs is that Chrome mimics having multiple browsers running simultaneously, without the overhead. This is great if you use Web applications and have multiple accounts with them. For example, I have two Google Docs accounts – a personal one and one for my company. There are times when I need to share information between the two accounts. With Chrome, I can log into both accounts simultaneously and copy text between them. With any other browser, I’d need to copy whatever I needed to copy, log out of one account, and log into the other one.

You can also browse in incognito mode. This mode leaves no tracks – the browser doesn’t track which sites you’ve visited; the site you visited might log your IP address, though. Why you’d want to use incognito mode is your concern … To do it, just click on the Control the current page icon on the upper-right corner of the Chrome window, and then select New incognito window.

On top of that, Google maintains blacklists of Web sites that have been flagged as potential sources of phishing and assorted Web-based evil. Chrome regularly downloads updates to this list, and warns you when you’re about to hit one of those sites. You can choose to go there or avoid it.

Speed Dial

Another feature is speed dial. This is simply a visual list of the Web sites that you’ve recently visited or which you frequently visit. Just click on the rather-large icon and you’re taken there immediately. This has been part of the Opera Web browser for a while now, and you can get a Firefox add-on to do the same thing. As with Opera, this is a default behavior for Chrome.

Bringing the Web to Your Desktop

A previous TechTip looked at how to turn Web applications into desktop apps using software called Prism. Chrome takes this one step further and integrates a technology called Gears. Using Gears, you not only turn the Web application into a desktop shortcut, but you can also use that application when you aren’t connected to the Web. Gears stores all of your data offline and synchronizes it when you reconnect.

To use this feature, click on the Control the current page icon and the select Create application shortcuts. On the dialog box that appears, select where you want to put the shortcuts and then click OK.

Note that Gears doesn’t work with all Web applications. It can be hit and miss to say the least.

Anything Else?

Beyond what’s been mentioned, though, Chrome lacks a few important features that its competitors pack. Sure, it has great security and supports downloads, bookmarking, and multimedia. But unlike, say, Firefox you can’t change the look and feel of Chrome or extend it using add-ons. Well, that isn’t quite true. Some enterprising users have simple plugins for Chrome. They’re not plugins in the truest sense of the word, they’re more like bookmarklets. These plugins can do things like back up user profiles or Greasemonkey scripts. You can learn more about them here. Or, you can do a Google search.

Availability

Right now, only the Windows version of Chrome is officially available from Google. Linux and Mac versions are under development. However, the folks at CodeWeavers (who make CrossOver Office ) have released CrossOver Chromium for both Linux and Mac. It’s essentially Chrome for Windows with a wrapper that enables you to run the software on the other operating systems. CodeWeavers put it together as a proof of concept. It works, but it’s definitely not perfect — the browser can be a bit slow and font rendering is often idiosyncratic. Still, it gives Linux and Mac users a taste of Chrome without having to get all techie and try to compile the browser’s code.

What Does Chrome Mean for Users?

It could mean sweeping changes in the way that we view and use the Web. Or, it could mean nothing. My opinion falls somewhere in the middle. If nothing else, Chrome offers more choice in the Web browser world. If it retains its pep and zip Chrome could be a very viable competitor to Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. Especially if the promised versions for Linux and Mac OS appear soon.

Some people fear that Google will play the features game and bloat Chrome. If that happens, then the browser will definitely lose some of its appeal.

If nothing else, Chrome is shaking up the Web browser ecosystem. It could force its competitors – Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera – to up their game. If that happens, then users will definitely be the winners.