This review of the Google Chrome browser BETA features the latest Google venture from this dominant internet giant. The intitial release is for Windows users only and runs on Vista and XP SP2, so Mac and Linux web surfers must wait for future development.
Visit the
Google Chrome browser download page to download your copy, or follow their links to learn more including a series of video presentations by Google staffers. Here is a screenshot of a sample startup window showing recent history thumbnails as displayed in the Google Chrome browser.

As a web developer working full time in custom web design, my interest is more about performance than aesthetics. The Google browser development strategy was start from scratch to create a browser with forward looking concepts rather than build on architecture that evolved over 12 years from text only pages through a series of more complex stages. Thinking outside the box meant considering current leading edge advanced web design multimedia features and aps, and then projecting future needs to include now in the Google Chrome browser software in preparation as the internet becomes more sophisticated.
Unique features include a dual purpose address bar that acts as a search bar, also. As you type a url or search phrase a dropdown list of prompts appear. View a
screenshot of Google Chrome browser history here. View the first graphic in this post and the multiple thumbnails display recent history of websites visited. Selecting "Show all history" brings up a list of history in text, and I really liked the layout and level of detail which helped recall more about those websites from recent visits.
The Google Chrome BETA version browser is open source, and they welcome comments and feedback from users and programmers. This attitude is a welcome change from the pretense and arrogance of at least one browser software provider criticized for broken promises.
The Google Chrome browser is excellent, yet as expected there are likely minor defects in this preliminary BETA release. Trust Google to consider your input and then stand back and watch them conquer another internet niche with leading edge technology that responds to what users really want.
In testing some of my more advanced custom web designs a minor problem was encountered from this page of
RBO Vacation Ads rental owner resources including videos when accessing this
vacation rental owner tutorial link featuring a wide screen flash video (6.5mb file size).
Attempting to follow the link resulted in a delay and then the following popup window with a statement that the page was unresponsive and then options to either "Kill pages" or "Wait". Kill? There must be some dark humor on staff at Google because that option had me wondering if I should risk destroying a web page that I designed.

I tried the "Wait" option first, and that didn't work and I somehow ended up back on the home page. Deciding to risk killing pages (why plural when I was accessing just one page?) the result was the following new window that filled the entire screen with a dark background with the message "Something went wrong while displaying this webpage. To continue, press Reload or go to another page".

The page began loading on the second try, yet the audio track with music and narration began while the video screencast was stuck on the first slide, and it took 15-20 seconds for the audio to synchronize with the video. Once the entire video played through and was stored in cache, the third attempt worked perfectly. To my delight, and despite the ominous "kill pages" option, the page survived and was online the last time I checked. Phew!
Returning to the page of vacation rental tutorials I decided to try right clicking a different
video tutorial for new agent signups and then selected "Open link in new tab" and the Google Chrome browser functioned flawlessly. Return visits to test those links a day later allowed left clicking with instant display of each video tutorial.
Note: After clearing cache and returning to the tutorial video listings page to try to duplicate the "unresponsive kill pages" and "something went wrong" error messages, navigation and performance of each video tutorial worked flawlessly with either left click or right click on the hyperlink.
All other video and audio tested from other custom web sites loaded and played without problems, so the anomaly may have been from external factors outside the Google Chrome browser BETA.
Pro (very positive):- Rendering excellent with clear text and graphics
- Standards compliance met as tested in complex web designs
- Speed of accessing and displaying simple content exceptional
- Usability with basic essentials without being overly complicated
- History shown as thumbnails with superior text history listing
- Browser status bar at the bottom invisible until needed
- DOM inspector access built-in for web developer code and css
Con (very minor):- Flash video (6.5mb) locked up on standards compliant page
- The "kill pages" popup and "went wrong" screen result on compliant page
- Favorites history drop down uniquely placed on right of screen
Overall Opinion: The Google Chrome browser BETA is excellent and provides a peek at the future of internet browsing. The initial release deserves high marks for quality, compliance, and usability, and I strongly urge users and web developers to download a copy and actively provide feedback to the Google team.
With the demise of support for the Netscape browser, Google Chrome joins Firefox, IE, Opera and Safari as the new top 5 list of browsers for web designers to utilize for testing cross browser compatibility.
Finally, check out the single sheet icon in the upper right that displays "Control the current page" on hover, and then left click to select from the drop down menu and follow "New incognito window" for further evidence the programmers at Google have a sense of humor. Google Chrome BETA can be practical and fun.
TAGS: advice browser Google Chrome review software Labels: advice, reviews, software, websites