Google Chrome review: good and bad
September 9th, 2008 by Andy Merchant
Google chrome was released on the 1st of September, with a leaked comic book PR stunt. If you liked the comic book idea used by Google, that was an effective way of demonstrating its new browser, check out social animation made easy or a great paid-for version called Comic Life.
But getting down to the nitty gritty…
The good Google Chrome:)
1, Google Chrome is free.
2, Google Chrome imports your bookmarks, passwords, and settings from Firefox or Internet Explorer on start-up (only on the Windows XP)
3, Chrome’s layout is very simple like all Google products.
4, You can set your own Google Chrome homepage, or you can use the ‘most visited’ sites page as your starting point, which gives you a nice visual touch.
5, Google Chrome searches your browser’s history page titles as well page content. The history results show the title of the page, as well as a thumbnail representation of the page.
6, The default Google Chrome search engine is Google. However, you can choose from a list of nine other search engines, or add your own search engine.
7, Google Chrome includes a number of features that appear in other browsers, such as tools for web developers to use in viewing and troubleshooting source code, and the ability to restore all tabs from a previous session.
8, Did I also mention it’s fast!
9, It’s OPEN SOURCE!
10, A feature called incognito. “Pages you view in this window won’t appear in your browser history or search history, and they won’t leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window.”
11, A nice usability feature called text zoom, which with the click of a button makes the text larger on the current page.
12, You can already have a Portable Chrome: Carry the Google Browser on a USB Stick
13, If you want to change the no frills Google start up page you can re-skin it - check out this post to find out more: How to Change Google Chrome Theme With Custom Chrome Theme
If you you still are not sure about Google Chrome and are a die hard FireFox fan, why not check out the Open Websites in Google Chrome from Firefox application.
The Google Chrome bad:(
1, Yet more strings to the Google bow.
2, The lack of URL information can make it difficult to identify the specific web page you’re going to, especially if the site’s title bar description is not specific (because, say, different sections of the same site have identical title bar descriptors).
3, Windows-only for the moment.
4, Still in beta so you might find some small bug-related issues.
5, As with all Google applications, it looks a little drab.
To read more about Google Chrome the BBC has a good post: Google launches internet browser, and it’s also worth checking out the Google official blog - A fresh take on the browser
Tags: google, google bad, google chrome, google chrome review, goolge good, review
