Google Chrome fast, stable, a bit tricky to use
Chrome, Google’s shiny new Web browser, has some eye-catching features, but I’m not ready to trade in Firefox for it.
I downloaded Chrome last week, when it first became available. I haven’t run any benchmark tests on it, but my impression is that it’s generally about as fast as Firefox, which is my everyday browser. However, I had a hard time figuring out how to do simple tasks like printing in Chrome, found it more difficult to search sites other than Google and was frustrated that I can’t yet use it on my Mac at home.
The big difference you notice with Chrome right away is that it doesn’t look like Firefox - or any other Web browser. It doesn’t have a menu bar, and there’s no way to add one to it.
Instead, at the top of the Chrome program window, you’ll find the browser "tabs" for each Web page you have open. In order to change Chrome’s settings, print the page you’re on or clear your cache, you have to click on one of two icons located near the location bar.
As Google developers describe it, their idea was to emphasize the "content" that you’d access through Chrome, not the browser program or its features. They thought the best way to do that was to keep Chrome’s interface - the buttons, options and icons - to a minimum.
The problem is that a minimal interface makes it difficult to figure out how get the browser to do what you want it to. In Firefox, if I want to, say, create some folders for my bookmarks, I go to the "bookmarks" menu option and click on "organize bookmarks." Easy enough.
In Chrome, though, it’s not so clear. There’s an "other bookmarks" button, but clicking on it gives you your list of bookmarks. Through trial and error I finally figured out that I needed to right click on one of the buttons in my bookmark toolbar and select "add page" or "add folder."
I mistakenly clicked on "open all bookmarks" - the top choice when you right click - resulting in dozens of browser tabs being opened at once. The good news is that I was able to close all those tabs without either Chrome or my computer crashing.
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