One nice new feature
September 3, 2008 – 11:38 pm
Click for the comic intro to the Chrome browser
For a number of years, my desktop PC has spent most of it’s time running just three basic programs. A web browser, an email client and a ssh client (unix remote terminal).
So does it matter what the OS is? Not really, as long as it’s reliable and secure. What matters is those three programs.
I’ve been using Firefox and Thunderbird as my primary applications for some time, and I have a love/hate relationship with each. They’ve both got shortcomings and real issues, but so far, they’re each the best option.
With the browser being one of these important applications, I am always interested when something new comes along to shake up the status quo. Without new entrants, there is little innovation, so Google’s Chrome browser is an interesting new entry. Alongside the IE/Firefox duopoly, it’s not the only other browser, there are Safari and Opera – that’s about all that comes to mind.
But, Chrome has Google behind it – and they have been thinking of the web itself as applications for a long time. This concept, plus a tidy interface and some nice features look like a win so far.
My favorite feature so far is ability to grab a tab and tear it off into a new window. In IE and Firefox, you’re stuck in the application, viewing one tab at a time. When you are watching something (a video, for example) and want to view it while doing something else, you’ve got to open a whole new window, move that URL in, and start the video over.
Chrome lets you grab any tab and drag it out, creating a new window, without interruption of the video or application. Perfect! I’ve got my windows concept back and can juggle “applications” (web pages) however I like on my desktop!
Chrome is beta, but you can use it alongside your current browser without any problems. Play with both, compare, and use what you like best. Then, as new releases of Firefox, Safari, etc come out, try them too – hopefully we will continue to see innovation driven by competition.
Related articles elsewhere:
- 7 Really Awesome Things About Google Chrome
- Images: How Google’s Chrome browser shines
- Google Chrome Features That Are Missing in your Favorite Web Browser
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5 Responses to “One nice new feature”
Dane,
Have you tried Claws Mail for a MUA? The Windows ports are not very good though, so if the OS that doesn’t matter is Windows… The mingw32 port isn’t up to date and has many useful features turned off but works well. The cygwin port is less outdated, but has all/most of the features I want, but the threading is clunky. There’s a port to maemo too though.
By Richard on Sep 4, 2008
The primary thing I am missing in a mail user agent is good threading. Gmail does it right. Thunderbird’s is too lame to bother using, so I operate flat, which creates workload problems.
By Dane Jasper on Sep 4, 2008
I’ve been using Chrome since it has come out and it’s pretty nice. The biggest plus with Chrome is that one bad tab won’t force you to kill all other tabs. I’m the kind of guy who has 20 tabs going and it’s terrible when I have to kill Firefox.
Chrome also promises great security, so hopefully I don’t have to worry about visiting a random site.
They just need to add extension support and hope all the good Firefox authors port their extensions.
By Jeremy on Sep 8, 2008
Is Chrome looking secure, now that it’s been out for a few weeks?
By Hank Roberts on Sep 27, 2008
I haven’t tried chrome yet, but I will give it a shot…
Thing is, I already have detachable tabs with my terminal program (“Terminal”), as well as my irc client (“Xchat”).
Sometimes while using Firefox, i forget that they don’t have that feature…yet?…so there I sit looking at the tab menu, fruitlessly, for a “detach” option…
BTW, both of those programs I mentioned let you have the tabs at the _bottom_ of a window…I think that fits better into the way that I use my (Gnome) desktop…
By Scott Doty on Oct 16, 2008