We ’ve put up ourfirst impressionsof Google Chrome , and after extended utilisation most of them have held up . Chrome is fast , feature - plenteous and stable , not to bring up highly usable . But Google ’s in - theatre innovations ( the multi - threaded engine , Javascript handling and task manager , mainly ) make up a bantam portion of the user experience . The rest of the interface features , use mechanic and tout features have clear and very public pedigree — in one of Chrome ’s four largest competitors . Now , that ’s not to say that Google has explicitly “ slip ” anything from IE , Firefox , Opera or Safari . They have , as of now , acknowledged that they owe a keen debt to some of the other turgid players in the web web browser market . After all , they ’re using Safari ’s WebKit engine , have billions of gross - pumping referrals from Firefox ’s Google search bar , and have open - sourced much of Chrome . For most user , though , these gestures and reference will go unnoticed , and features antecedently incorporated into other popular browsers will be seen first on Google ’s . I ’ve put together a list of some of Chrome ’s most interesting features , including the mainstream browsers that “ inspired ” them .
feature of speech : Incognito Mode Who already has it : Safari , IE 8 , Firefox w/ extension Google has smartly named and advertised this feature article as a privacy and guard tool , but we know precisely what it ’s for . Porn Mode , as we ’ve been calling it , is becoming de rigueur for any browser app that may be used by men , which is to say , all of themexcept this one . It made a recent appearance in a new IE 8 beta , but it finds its roots in Safari , circa 2005 , when it was forebode “ individual Browsing . ” Naturally , Chrome ’s implementation is a flake more complete , with more complex stash and history direction , as well as the ability to have normal and “ Incognito ” windows running at the same clip .
lineament : Smart Address Bar Who already has it : Firefox , IE 8 When Firefox 3 degenerate , there was much fanfare around its so - called “ Awesome Bar ” which , as it turn out , is reasonably awful . Strictly speak , Chrome ’s address bar is slightly smarter than Firefox ’s , but I would argue less useful for power exploiter who often need to dig up specific pages out of piles and piles from the same domain . Google has also modified the conception by merging the hunting and address bars into one , but most other browsers have included search functionality ( by nonremittal or with modifiers ) in their destination bars for age .
Feature : Custom Panel Start Page Who already has it : Opera , Firefox w/ filename extension This characteristic is perhaps the most controversial , as Opera is a commercial-grade , closed - root web internet browser from which Google looks to have fundamentally wind one of its most advertised features . Over a twelvemonth ago , Opera introduce Speed Dial , which permit exploiter to work up tailor-make , panel - based pages that showed up whenever a lozenge was created . The great thumbnail provided easy , quick navigation to oft - visited pages and were a novel stand-in for layer and level of menus to entree favorites . Chrome ’s home plate page is dynamically generated , but clearly took conceptual and aesthetic cues from Opera .
feature film : Tab detachment / attachment Who already has it : Opera and Safari Chrome , to complement its separate processes for each tablet , allow for easy dragging and set down from one window to another . In other words , you may rip a tab from its parent window to become its own , then dredge it back without loss of data . This makes isolating significant pill as well as conserve undivided - window style both much easy , but — you estimate it — neither feature film is new . Safari admit a split - away lineament by default , accomplished with a snazzy animation . Opera can palm rent - aways AND reattachments , in a intimately very style as Chrome .
feature of speech : Resizable Text Boxes Who already has it : Safari , Firefox w/ Extension These are rattling for anyone who creates content , whether it be full - on newsworthiness stories or the odd racist web log input . Google ’s version in Chrome is functionally identical to Safari ’s earlier version of the lineament , which was latterly added with version 3 .
feature article : Domain Highlighting Who already has it : IE 8 earnestly . Internet Explorer 8 is n’t even out yet and Chrome has handle to crib a feature from it . When the beta was put up for download last workweek , we noticed that the root domain name was always highlight , which helps users keep rails of what site they ’re on to avoid phishing attack with syntactically puzzling URLs . Sure enough , this showed up in Chrome a hebdomad subsequently , though there ’s no telling who was work on it first .
Feature : Pseudo Full screen Where it get along from : Safari Windows internet browser have often include “ full screen ” mode , which hide user interface elements to give as much screen outer space as possible to content . Chrome finds a happy center ground between everything - goes full screen and normal maximized way with its partially , uhh , chromeless look . When maximise , the side and bottom window chrome disappears , but the top navigation and yellow journalism constituent stay . This feature was found as a nonpayment first , funnily , in Safari for Windows . Sure , Safari in Windows kinda sucks ( formal , and lots of them ) , but the slick maximized province stood out as an striking feature . Chrome is a marginally more attractive web web browser , so again , their implementation is an improvement . As I said before , Google has taken time to recognize the debt it owe to other web browser app projects , but that will be niggling consolation to the Firefox , Opera , Safari and IE teams if Chrome lift to success on their features . Google has use up the best ideas from the best products , yield them a young name , some new guts and a PR monsoon . And , no matter how you palpate about it , they ’ve done it well . Google has study many ( though definitely not all ) of the most compelling features from disparate sources and unite them in a pretty solid package . This all - in - one approach is much like the one that Opera has taken in the past , with some achiever . Where Chrome crush its competition , however , is in polish . I do n’t mean to say that Chrome is without bugs or room for improvement , but the user experience is debauched , simple and nonrational from the start . Each of the feature pick from other browsers has been refine to be more obvious , comfortable to use and more effective in Chrome , which — questionable ethical implications aside — is all that really matters to the remnant user . [ Chrome on Giz ]
FirefoxGoogleGoogle ChromeIncognitoInternet ExplorerSafari
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