Tracy and Matt's Blog

OK, so it's now nearly 24 hours since I downloaded Google Chrome and my initial impression is that of a happy camper.

The initial set up was very pain free. Install took under 3 minutes and it allowed the import of favourites from my other browsers.

One of the first things I noticed about this new browser was that it differed very much from the other stand alone browsers on the market at the moment. There is no header bar which means that the page tabs sit right at the top of the screen.

Before getting into browsing I took a look around to see what it had to offer. To my amazement I found a whole load of goodies which I will describe below.

Google Chrome Options

This has to be, in my opinion, the easiest to manage options page I have seen yet on a browser. It has only 3 tabs named Basics, Minor Tweaks & Under the Hood. As you can see from the screen shots below, this options page has been set up with ease of use in the forefront of the mind

Incognito Mode

Described by Google Chrome as:

You've gone incognito. Pages that 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. Any files that you download or bookmarks that you create will be preserved, however.
Going incognito doesn't affect the behaviour of other people, servers or software. Be wary of:

• Websites that collect or share information about you
• Internet service providers or employers that track the pages that you visit
• Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
• Surveillance by secret agents
• People standing behind you

Learn more about incognito browsing.

This could be described in two ways, first being a dream for those who want to hide their tracks and second being a nightmare for the parents / wife / husband / other who are now be unable to see what their loved ones have been up to. Personally my own feelings are pointing towards the second option.

Obviously anyone can partially hide their tracks by clearing cookies, history etc... but this is just screaming out for abuse.

Developer

Not being a developer this didn't mean a great deal to me but one thing I did like was that the browser had it's own task manager which allows you to see what windows are running high on CPU etc....

Another interesting feature inside the task manager was a link to a page which Google calls "Stats for nerds". I guess I must now officially be a nerd because I loved this feature.

Browsing

Once I started on the browsing I noticed that the page seemed to render itself a lot quicker than on most other browsers but like all Beta versions it did hang on occasion. Clicking on Ctrl T brought up a really cool section that showed most viewed pages and recent bookmark pages.

Overall the browser is easy to use and likeable. I would say that if your into handling the odd bug here and there then start using it now but if your one of those people who just cant handle that sort of thing then wait for the release version which should be a lot more robust.

Posted by: John