Posted by Kromey at 3:40am Sep 3 '08So Google announced today their new web browser, Google Chrome. It's got some pretty sweet features. It's far and beyond the fastest browser I've ever used. And the ability to resize input boxes (like the one I'm typing in right now) is awesome.
One of the coolest features about it though is the "omnibox". Unlike Firefox and IE7, Google Chrome doesn't have a search box. And technically (where "technically" means "according to Google's terminology") it doesn't have an address bar either. Instead, it has the omnibox. This is the address bar. And the search box. And probably half a dozen other things as well. But what's really sweet is the search engine integration.
The way it works is thus:
Go to a website with a search box (e.g. Amazon.com).
Do a search.
For best results, go to a completely different web site now.
Then, start typing the address of your website; the omnibox will suggest Amazon.com, but notice on the right: "Press Tab to search"! Hit tab, and now you're doing a search on that site right in your address bar!! It's slick, let me tell you!
There's a lot of other cool features. I like that tabs all run in their own separate process, which means if a page you visit has some bad JavaScript or something that just kills the browser's performance, your other tabs are completely unaffected! Also, if something happens to make a tab crash, the rest of your browser session is completely unaffected! AND you can hit the "refresh" button to resume right where you left off!
Speaking of JavaScript, Google built a brand new JavaScript engine from the ground up. They took the approach of building it to support web apps, not mere web pages (well, they took that approach for the whole browser, really).
It's still missing some features. There's no extension API yet, but there's plans for that before the first release (this is the first Beta). Also, this Beta is PC-only, although since most of the Google developers use Mac or Linux, you can expect those versions to be out pretty danged soon.
Now one of the absolute most sweetest features ever: The "Create application shortcuts..." feature. So many web apps these days take the place of desktop apps: Gmail is pretty much a full-on replacement for Outlook, for example (yes, there are differences - not the point!). But it only runs from a web browser, and so always feels like a web page, not an application. Enter Google Chrome. One of the features allows you to create shortcuts to a web page on your desktop, Quick Launch bar, and/or Start menu. These shortcuts launch your web page in Google Chrome without all the extra stuffs that a web browser has - it's just your web app. Which is pretty cool. This is now how I access Gmail and Google Docs at work.
Okay, very long post. Just check it out for yourselves.
One of the coolest features about it though is the "omnibox". Unlike Firefox and IE7, Google Chrome doesn't have a search box. And technically (where "technically" means "according to Google's terminology") it doesn't have an address bar either. Instead, it has the omnibox. This is the address bar. And the search box. And probably half a dozen other things as well. But what's really sweet is the search engine integration.
The way it works is thus:
Go to a website with a search box (e.g. Amazon.com).
Do a search.
For best results, go to a completely different web site now.
Then, start typing the address of your website; the omnibox will suggest Amazon.com, but notice on the right: "Press Tab to search"! Hit tab, and now you're doing a search on that site right in your address bar!! It's slick, let me tell you!
There's a lot of other cool features. I like that tabs all run in their own separate process, which means if a page you visit has some bad JavaScript or something that just kills the browser's performance, your other tabs are completely unaffected! Also, if something happens to make a tab crash, the rest of your browser session is completely unaffected! AND you can hit the "refresh" button to resume right where you left off!
Speaking of JavaScript, Google built a brand new JavaScript engine from the ground up. They took the approach of building it to support web apps, not mere web pages (well, they took that approach for the whole browser, really).
It's still missing some features. There's no extension API yet, but there's plans for that before the first release (this is the first Beta). Also, this Beta is PC-only, although since most of the Google developers use Mac or Linux, you can expect those versions to be out pretty danged soon.
Now one of the absolute most sweetest features ever: The "Create application shortcuts..." feature. So many web apps these days take the place of desktop apps: Gmail is pretty much a full-on replacement for Outlook, for example (yes, there are differences - not the point!). But it only runs from a web browser, and so always feels like a web page, not an application. Enter Google Chrome. One of the features allows you to create shortcuts to a web page on your desktop, Quick Launch bar, and/or Start menu. These shortcuts launch your web page in Google Chrome without all the extra stuffs that a web browser has - it's just your web app. Which is pretty cool. This is now how I access Gmail and Google Docs at work.
Okay, very long post. Just check it out for yourselves.
Link: Google Chrome
Google Chrome - Kromey