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I’d be interested to hear people’s thoughts specifically on Google Chrome as a browser. I’m a devoted Firefox user at the moment but I could be tempted to change if I can see the benefits of Google Chrome.
I’d love to hear people’s opinions on:
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Ease of Use
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Compatibility with webpages, flash, java, etc
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Add-ons (?)
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Use of system resources i.e. is it ideal for a Netbook?
I put Google Chrome on my NC10 on day one and have not looked back. Interestingly it only installed under my profile so the Mrs has been moaning about how slow IE is. But Chrome is lightning fast! One of my (many) articles I want to write is an essential netbook software guide and this will be top of that list. I like it that much.
1. Very easy to use – I love the all purpose address box.
2. Had no problems on any site
3. Not used any. But I never did with IE or firefox so…
4. Runs very well imo.Although the forum here is a bit slow this evening – checked my host status report and the CPU usage for the server is way up. I hope it’s not my fault cos I only just upgraded to a more expensive package lol!
im using google chrome on the nc10, the latest update of firefox on both my main pc and nc10 is suffering a higher level of “not responding” and long pauses, but chrome is sweet as
I’ve got Chrome on all my machines – I was devoted to Opera before but Chrome is so speedy and the ability to search in the address bar is a great feature. The 9 most visited sites feature was something I was used to from Opera but Chrome also keeps a decent record of your browsing history and bookmarks in the same page.
Not had any compatibility problems at all.
System resources – it opens each tab as a separate process so it is easy to kill non-responsive pages without losing everything else. This does not hog resources at all.
I imagine you’ll find it makes web browsing a much happier experience. I’ve got Firefox on my work desktop and I am finding that I am getting non-responsive pages more frequently.
I’ve been using Chrome since the day it was launched and I love it. It makes other browsers look incredibly sluggish.
There are a couple of niggles for me. You can’t right-click an image and get the properties (width, height filesize etc) and cookie control is very basic at the moment.
I think the biggest drawback though is lack of plugin support. I’ve seen many people say they love Chrome, but won’t give up Firefox until Ad-Block (or an equivalent) is available for it.
Anyway, in regards to your specific queries:
Ease of Use: Exceptional. Because it’s so basic, there’s nothing new to learn. It takes less than a minute to go through all the configuration options and get them setup how you want.
Compatibility with webpages, flash, java, etc: I’ve not experienced any problems at all. If a plugin is needed, the content is clearly marked and the option to download and install it is offered.
Add-ons (?): As I mentioned above, this is the weak spot. There aren’t any, either official or user-created. Some sites offer skins, but I’ve not had any luck getting them to work.
Use of system resources i.e. is it ideal for a Netbook?: I think it’s absolutely perfect for a netbook. It cleverly gives each tab it’s own system process and if that tab hangs or slows down you can close it without losing the whole browser. In the rare event that the browser itself does hang, as soon as you reopen it, it will restore your pages (this is an option you’ll need to set). The browser window is very neat and minimal (no title bar) so makes excellent use of the limited height of netbook screens.
I think Chrome has potential but I’m not using it much yet. My favorite browsers in order are Safari, Firefox, then Chrome. Safari is kind of buggy but its onscreen text is far superior to any of the others, IMO.
I just switched from IE to Firefox, IE was so slow. I’m really liking Firefox so far so I will stick with this until (if ever) I encounter any problems.
Quote:I’ve seen many people say they love Chrome, but won’t give up Firefox until Ad-Block (or an equivalent) is available for it.hmmm, google is based on adverts, so having something that can block the very thing google is built on seems strange 🙂
I may give it a go but I have a deep mistrust of anything Google related. But that’s an entirely different story…lol
[quote1228085671=Britman]
Quote:I’ve seen many people say they love Chrome, but won’t give up Firefox until Ad-Block (or an equivalent) is available for it.hmmm, google is based on adverts, so having something that can block the very thing google is built on seems strange 🙂
I may give it a go but I have a deep mistrust of anything Google related. But that’s an entirely different story…lol
[/quote1228085671]I certainly believe Google’s advertising services to be the reason behind a lack of adblocking plugin support. It’s a shame because this really is the deal breaker for many people.
The funny thing is, I don’t actually mind Google text ads. It’s those horrible in-yer-face all-singing all-dancing banners and such that I want to block. If Google wants to implement a plugin that blocks ads but lets their own through, I wouldn’t mind at all. Though I’m sure the Monopolies Commision would have something to say. 😀
A few utilities that might make Chrome a bit more appealing.
First up is Greasemetal, an alternative to Greasemonkey that allows you to run scripts with Chrome.:
http://greasemetal.31tools.comSecond is this selection of bookmarklets, basic substitutes for popular FF plugins:
http://blogote.com/2008/featured-article/google-chrome-with-firefox-addon.htmlFinally, if you like Chrome but have concerns about privacy, give Iron a try – it’s Chrome de-Googled:
http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php[quote1228186260=Becky]
I think the biggest drawback though is lack of plugin support. I’ve seen many people say they love Chrome, but won’t give up Firefox until Ad-Block (or an equivalent) is available for it.
[/quote1228186260]
I’m one of those people. In fact, I wrote a blog entry about it the day the browser was released. In regards to screen real estate on a netbook, I both eschew the Bookmarks bar and use an Add-on called Hide Menubar, which does precisely what its name implies. Together, these give me a pretty roomy browser window, vertically speaking.
I used to use Opera, but switched to Chrome as soon as it came out. My favourite things about chrome are its interface (the unified search/address bar rocks!) and the fact that it doesn’t hog my precious screen space.
I always found with Firefox that I had to mess around with badly coded add-ons to get it to run how it should do in the first place.
Opera has the edge on both browsers in dealing with proxy servers. I need to use my university’s proxy server to access restricted online content (mainly journals) so it’s helpful to me to be able to toggle easily between using and not using proxies. Opera does that easily, firefox does that with an add-on, but chrome lacks that feature altogether. It shares its proxy settings with IE, and changing the settings is much more hassle than it needs to be.
[quote1228330534=Becky]
I’ve been using Chrome since the day it was launched and I love it. It makes other browsers look incredibly sluggish.There are a couple of niggles for me. You can’t right-click an image and get the properties (width, height filesize etc) and cookie control is very basic at the moment.
[/quote1228330534]Have you tried right-click and inspect element – it should open a new window and there are dimensions of images on the right hand side.
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