Google Chrome vs Safari: Not Really a Browser Re-do
They were saying the right words, but I don’t think that Chrome is really all that “different”.
Recently I wrote an article about Google Chrome. I think it’s important to point out that I was not blindly supporting Google Chrome; being a Mac user, I had to run it through Parallels. However, I thought it a positive step towards the approach of modern browsers. I feel that it is important step back and create something new; so I gave it a shot.
Over the last few days I have played around with Google Chrome, and have found it to be “ok”. Being a web developer, I was excited to see that they included some developer tools. I was surprised to find that Google pretty much copied Safari’s web developer tools:
Safari Right Click:
Google Chrome Right Click:
Safari Web Inspector:
Google Chrome Web Inspector:
This is not what I had in mind when Google said they had a “fresh take on the browser”. It seems, all they did was put the address bar under the tabs, emphasized the base URL in a domain by graying out the rest, and created a custom home page with your most visited items?
I’m just not sure it’s worth as much hype as it received and would love to hear your thoughts on the subject; please comment below. What are your impressions of Google Chrome?
Well there were a couple of points addressed which Chrome seeks to address, and we should remember its only version 0.2 so far, it has a long time to go before it has implemented all of its features. Comparing an early beta to a finished version is never a good idea.
I’m not a Mac expert (or browser expert), and I don’t know about the extensive and intensive features of Safari. However can Safari survive the chrash of one of its tabs, or does the whole system chrash? The point of Chrome is to have each tab be self contained, that’s why they decided to move the address bar. It reflects the design choice. In fact you’re slightly wrong, there’s not one URL bar, but one inside each tab.
Also the javascript engine will be roughly twice as fast as Safari’s and overall it aims to be a very light and lean browser. The Tracemonkey javascript engine of Firefox 3.1 aims to be even faster than the V8 javascript engine in Google Chrome, but that was another of their emphasis. Speed and leanness. I for one who have watched processor hungry flash animation and sites, which do little more than move around squares, images and circles bring my computer to a chopping frame rate. With apps like Google Docs and Google Maps, chopping along in no due part to a slow internet connection but to an inefficient javascript interpreter, I think their goal of high speed is understandable.
I have both Firefox, Safari (windows), Explorer and Chrome and my laptop. I don’t have software for checking their speeds, but Chrome comes out on top as the one starting quickest along side Explorer (atleast under Windows). Its very quick for me to navigate pages, and it works rather well. So that part is done well.
On a design note its hard to say what you prefer. Chrome beats Safari hands down when it comes to minimalistic design. If I had a Mac, I’d try to mod Safari to get closer to this look. Its very well done and something I hope the Safari will adopt. However its a matter of taste, and having another browser adding diversity is always positive. Its design is different than Safari, Explorer and Firefox who on a first glance look like a clone of eachother.
Again it still doesn’t have its full feature set included, so its like trying to gauge a partly finished portrait. The point is whether its an interesting browser and whether the ideas being implemented are on the right track. I think they are, but I don’t know whether they’ll be succesful in the long run, but diversity adds strength. Since its open source, others can adopt and adapt as they see fit.
You’re right on. Couldn’t have said it better myself. -Pete
Uhm, Chrome uses the same render engine as Safari: Webkit. Part of Webkit(!) is the Inspector, therefor Google didn’t copy anything from Safari. Just wanted to point that out
@Kristof Dreier
Yeah, that was sortof my point. Chrome was advertised as “a fresh look”, when really, it’s just another iteration of what we have.
Granted, in many cases that iteration is better, faster, and more stable. as Leonhard pointed out. I just don’t think it deserves the hype of being something “Totally new”
Okay, but I don’t think that “it’s just another iteration” because a web browser needs more than just a render engine
And besides that, I think they introduced some nice features — tabs as a own process and the really fast V8. Everything as open source, so other projects can benefit from it. That’s for me the most important point!
Let’s see where things will go
Nice blog btw. Added it to my feed reader!