Google Chrome Browser Launches

Google is all about simplicity, and when I downloaded the Google Chrome browser, I had high expectations that the browser interface and use would be as easy as all the other Google products that I've come to love over the years.

Google is my favorite search engine. I use it almost exclusively. I was an early adopter of gmail, and use it as my primary email. It's reliable, and stays with me no matter what ISP I'm with at the time. I've also found the Google Calendar and the Google docs to be wonderfully convenient for sharing with others.

Download and installation of Google Chrome was fast and easy. Download was done in less than a minute on my DSL connection, and installation, including importing my bookmarks and settings from Firefox was done in less than another minute.

The browser opened immediately once the installation was done, and it is definitely a cleaner interface than any of the other browsers I've used over the years. Unlike other browsers, there is no menu bar. In fact, the top bar of most Windows applications is gone, and the very top of the window is the tabs. This is just one way that Chrome eliminates screen clutter.

Immediately below the tabs is the address bar, with back, forward, and refresh buttons. The address bars serves as not only the address bar, but as the history bar, and the search box as well. Beginning to type in the address bar gives suggestions of popular websites, possible search terms, and sites that you've visited in the past.

Opening a new tab, done with the + button next to the already open tabs, takes you to a page with snapshots of your most frequently visited pages, the ability to search your history, and a list of recent bookmarks.

There is also the ability to create direct desktop links to your favorite Google apps. Just load the app in the browser, click on the "Page Menu," which is right next to the address bar, and click "Create application shortcuts." One click access to your Gmail!

There are a ton of other little features that are fun to play with, including the ability to drag a tab out into its own window, and crash control. Crash control makes me happy. I'm sure everyone has come across a site that caused their browser to freeze and crash. If you've got multiple tabs open, you automatically lose them all. Firefox 3 has crash recovery, which will reopen the tabs, but there's always the possibility that the browser will just crash again. With Google Chrome's crash control, each tab is it's own instance, so if one tab crashes, the rest stay running just fine.

Incognito mode keeps the pages you're browsing out of your history. Privacy buffs will love this option. Chrome also automatically implements Google's safe browsing by warning of scam and phishing sites.

Bookmarks are simple. No need to go through a long bookmarking process, just click the star to the left of the address bar and there it is.
Now, for the usage. Wow, is it fast. I've been utterly frustrated with IE and even Firefox at times. If you have either setup to load multiple tabs for home pages, it can take awhile to load. I've had multiple instances with FF where I've had to go into the Task Manager and end the FF process just to be able to open the browser again, because it hadn't shut down properly the last name. I am not a patient person, and have no attention span, so waiting for a browser to open is frustrating. I've currently got three home pages set, and time from clicking the icon to full loading was three seconds. Compare that to the 30 seconds that it took to load just one page when opening Firefox, and the 38 seconds that it took to load the same single page in Internet Explorer. Page load times are significantly faster in Chrome as well.

Today is just one day, the first day for download, but so far, I'm in love with this new browser, and I can't wait to see what the community does with it.

If you want your own, go to http://www.google.com/chrome