Working with Chrome

COMP1260 > Using the Internet

Introduction Google Chrome is a web browser released by Google in December 2008. The browser features a minimalistic design approach like many other google products. It sticks to a simple design principle: display only essential components; non-essential components are not displayed until they are needed. A good example is the Status Bar which is only displayed when: a page is loading, reporting how much data has been loaded so far, when hovering over a link, and displaying the target URL address. Fig 1: Screen capture of Google Chrome. Note the minimal design and amount of active work space it leaves us The browser introduces a fast Javascript engine which can run rich web applications, such as gmail and google wave. Other modern browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer are slower and might not be able to run heavy web applications as well as chrome can. Google chrome is the latest modern browser. Chrome is currently only available for Windows XP, Vista and 7, but there are beta versions of the browser available for Mac OS X and Linux through Google. These beta versions are not yet completed, and are missing many features that the Windows version has already.

...by students The Need for a Faster Browser Like a lot of other people, I was very skeptical of Google Chrome at first. I could not understand why we need yet another browser, when I was more than happy with my Firefox browser. But, after finally getting my invitation to use Google Wave, I discovered that my current browser Firefox 3.5, could barely run this new web application. Since google chrome was designed to be faster and to work well with other google products, I decided to give it a try. When I launched chrome for the first time I quickly discovered that it was all true, it was faster, and all the familiar features I was used to were there at my finger tips. Soon enough I have grown to love google Chrome, it is fast, it leaves me with a lot of screen space, and after some getting used to, the user interface design makes perfect sense. The only problem I had with chrome is that all the great Firefox extensions I was so used to weren't there. Therefore, for the time being I use both chrome for google wave and other heavy websites, and Firefox the rest of the time.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts	Description
Ctrl+T	Open a new tab
Ctrl+Shift+T	Reopen the last closed tab(remembers 10 last closed tabs)
Hold Ctrl and click on a link	Open link in a new tab
Hold Ctrl+Shift and click on a link	Open link in a new tab and switches to that tab
Ctrl+N	Open new window
Ctrl+Shift+N	Open new window in Incognito Mode
Ctrl+Tab	Switch to the next open tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Switch to the previous open tab
Ctrl+Number Key	Select open tab. E.g. Select tab #1 with Ctrl+1
Ctrl+Shift+N	Open new window in Incognito Mode
Ctrl+B	Show/hide bookmark toolbar
Ctrl+K	Quick google search
Ctrl+D	Bookmark page being viewed
Ctrl+J	Open downloads page in a new tab
Ctrl+F	Find something on the currently open webpage
Ctrl++ or Ctrl+-	Zoom in or zoom out
Ctrl+0	Change zoom to default zoom size

Address Bar

The address bar is where web addresses can be entered. In google chrome, the address bar is a lot more than just a simple place to enter an address. If you type a phrase in the address bar the browser will show suggestions to help you find what you are looking for. You can also use the address bar to preform a google search by typing a phrase and pressing enter. A feature unique to google chrome is that you can preform searches on other websites other than google. For example, if you visited Amazon before, you will be able to type "a" and press the tab key, this will let you search the amazon catalog quickly and conveniently. Similarly, you can search other websites, such as any Wiki website(this site for example) and many other websites across the web.

Incognito Mode

Incognito mode is similar to InPrivate(Internet Explorer) and Private Browsing(Firefox). It allows the user to browse the web without history or other private information to be saved about that browsing session. All information is discarded when the session ends(when the window is closed). This mode is particularly useful when using a public computer in order to make sure no information about the user has been saved.

To use incognito mode simply right click on any link in google chrome and click open link in incognito mode, this will open a new window in incognito mode.

Security

Chrome introduces a new security model for web-browsers by isolating tabs into separate processes and putting each in a sandbox. A sandbox is a term used to describe a safe environment where processes in the sandbox cannot go outside its boundaries. The sandbox introduces certain restrictions on the code that executes on a webpage. By doing so, it prevents these pages from running malicious code or abusing power. Isolating the tabs into different processes reduces the risk of one tab getting information from a different tab, which can be used to steal sensitive user information, such as credit card numbers.

Another measure of security google implements is using lists of phishing and harmful websites. When a user goes to a certain webpage the address of the page is checked against these lists, if the website is considered unsafe, the browser notifies the user of the danger.

Additional Advantages

The browser introduces a fast Javascript engine which is designed run rich web applications, such as gmail and google wave.

The browser also uses separate threads for different tabs, allowing the browser to keep on running even if one web-page crashes. This is very similar to a modern day Operating System where a program can crash, but the entire operating system does not crash with it. Google chrome is the first web-browser to use this innovative idea.

Disadvantages

Google Chrome does not have a large number of easy to find extensions like Firefox does. It only provides the user with basic browser capabilities, and is not known to be rich in features. You may find Chrome extensions on the extensions website.

As with other google products, there is a growing concern for violation of privacy. The auto-complete feature google implements in the address bar logs all the keystrokes made by user. Every key the users hit get sent to google, even if they do not press enter. By doing so google can collect information on how to make future searches better. However, all this information adds to the overwhelming pools of information google already has, and allows them to create an accurate profile of the user. Information like eating habits, interests, social activities and even sexual preferences, are just some examples of the types of information users may be disclosing to google. You can avoid all this simply by disabling the auto-complete feature for the address bar, or simply by using Incognito Mode.

Summary

In summary, Google Chrome is a web browser designed to be better suited for todays rich web applications by offering improved security, performance and innovative design. Quickly gaining momentum and acceptance by web users, it will undoubtedly have a serious impact on future of the web.

Further Readings

Download google chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome
Google about chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome
Chrome Experiments (see what google Chrome can do): http://www.chromeexperiments.com/

References

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