The New Google Chrome Web Browser

Google has struck again. The technology giant responsible for some of the most widely used products on the World Wide Web (the Google search engine, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, just to name a few) released a beta version of its new web browser, called Google Chrome, to the public on September 2^nd. While unseating Microsoft's Internet Explorer from the top of list of most used web browsers may seem like an impossible task, Google's history of innovation would suggest that's not the case. Below are some features that set Google Chrome apart from the crowd:

Speed

One of the things Google Chrome does very well is render pages extremely quickly. A major reason for this is Google's V8 JavaScript engine. This engine, written by Google and found only in their Chrome browser, compiles JavaScript to native machine code rather than interpreting it line by line. This enables Chrome to process JavaScript code at the speed of compiled code - a monumental improvement. And since JavaScript plays such a large role in today's dynamic web architecture, the end user reaps the benefit of substantially improved page load times.

Stability

Google Chrome, like all other modern browsers, supports tabbed browsing. Tabs are a great development but also present some problems. For instance, if a user has 6 tabs open in a browser and one of those tabs contains a runaway process, the entire browser will need to be terminated in order to recapture the lost CPU and memory capacity. This is not the case with Google Chrome. Instead, each tab is its own process in memory, unfettered to the main browser process. So, if a site in one of your tabs goes haywire, just close that tab and your computer will be back to normal. Chrome even has a built-in task manager that allows you to monitor how much network traffic and computer resources are allotted to each tab.

Screen real estate

One of the most overlooked of Google Chrome's benefits is its effective usage of screen real estate. The part of the browser devoted to status bars, buttons, address bars, and other similar items is called the browser's "chrome" - hence the name Google Chrome. Google has really hit a home run in that regard due to some creative changes to the standard browser layout. First, and most noticeable, is the positioning of the tabs. Instead of tabs being placed below the address bar, they are above it, up in the previously unused area of the title bar. Also, the status bar at the bottom of the page has been removed and replaced with a temporary pop-up version of a status bar that only displays while a page is loading or while the cursor is over a link (i.e. the only two times a person needs the status bar, anyway). These two features, along with some creative positioning of the main menu items allows Google Chrome to show far more of each web page you visit without scrolling than any other browser.

Tab behavior

In addition to each tab being its own process in Google Chrome, they offer some creative functionality that you'll come to love. For instance, if you have multiple tabs open, you can drag each one to the left or right on the tab bar to change its order. Also, you can grab a tab and drag it out of the tab bar to open that tab in its very own browser window. If you want to return it to its former window, just grab the tab and drag it back to the other browser. It all works seamlessly and enables a very flexible browsing experience.

Home page

Another great feature of Google Chrome is its home page. By default, when you open up a new browser window or a new tab, Chrome will display a page that shows links to your nine most visited sites (with a snapshot of what the page looked like the last time you visited it), your most recent bookmarks, and a search bar that enables you to search your history for other pages you've visited. What a clever idea. For most people, the vast majority of their web browsing is done on nine or fewer web sites. To have those sites handy in one click and in an aesthetically pleasing way is a very handy feature.

Obviously, as with any software's beta version, Chrome has a few issues to work out. People have complained of some specific sites not displaying correctly, scroll bars being jumpy or jerky on some computers, and lack of support for various plug-ins. But Google is taking note of any issues and will undoubtedly address them before Chrome becomes a production application.

In the meantime, for the overwhelming majority of web users, Google Chrome will function perfectly for all of their web browsing needs. Its speed, stability, and innovative features leave every other browser in the dust. Currently, the various iterations of Internet Explorer account for nearly 75% of the web browser market. Take note of Google Chrome, though, because all of that is about to change.