Two days ago with a great deal of sadness, I took the final step – I set my default browser to Google Chrome.
After using Firefox for five years, I’ve been fighting it for a while now, but I could hold back no longer. With Chrome supporting Greasemonkey scripts, I was able to replace my beloved Firefox Ubiquity plugins including those which allowed me to quickly surround text with HTML tags for easy blog commenting among other tasks. So here are five reasons why I finally made the switch:
In Chrome, one tab doesn’t hang the others
Some sites like Slashdot contain lots of Javascript, CSS and Ajax. The same goes for Gmail. The problem with Firefox is that while these complex pages are loading, it freezes every other tab! It’s very irritating to have to wait seconds while a new Slashdot page opens up. You can’t switch, or type. And since I always open new tabs in the background, I want to be able to continue to do what I want in the meantime. Google Chrome on the other hand runs each tab in a separate process – so no matter how badly one tab misbehaves, the others don’t suffer. I can happily open a new Gmail window in the background and just continue to do what I’m doing until I’m ready to turn my attention to it. Chrome is also blazingly fast – pages are rendered in no time at all and applications just feels snappier.
I can reclaim the “status bar” space
I can’t stand stuff getting between me and the web. That includes bookmark bars, navigation bars, search bars, and finally the status bar. Until I tried Chrome, I never realized how I hated the status bar. To be sure, there are plugins or add ons for Firefox that remove the status bar, but in the first place I don’t like to install too many add ons and second, none of them exactly replicates the status bar behavior in Chrome – namely by:
- Not being present
- Showing up when I hover a link – some do, but they show the entire bar instead of just the URL
- Showing a shortened version of the link
- Expanding the URL if I hover a little longer
I’m a stickler for space and Chrome’s solution is so elegant and neat that it’s a wonder why other browsers haven’t just copied it outright.
Chrome’s new Web Applications are awesome
One of Chrome 6’s new features is the ability to make web applications. I use some sites like Gmail a lot and would like to keep them open all the time. So by making it a web application, I can have it minimize the space the tab uses, have it open all the while, and also remove the navigation bar, search bar, etc for that app! Here’s what it looks like:
Ain’t that awesome? I need never close Gmail again. It’s always on the left, can’t be moved, doesn’t interfere with my regular work and allows me to access it at a moment’s notice. I’m told that Firefox 4 is coming out with something of the sort in it’s later Beta versions.
Chrome’s Bookmark Sync
Using a simple Google sign in, I can now synchronize my bookmarks across all Chrome browsers no matter which computer I’m using. One of the motivations for moving to the cloud by using Google Docs and Gmail is so that I have complete flexibility and don’t need to be tied down to any single piece of hardware. Chrome’s bookmark sync also allows me to synchronize my extensions, preferences and themes.
Firefox tried to integrate such a feature earlier and called it “Weave”, but they never got the implementation right – it was buggy, and slow. Google’s got this one down pat. It’s completely seamless and doesn’t necessitate any additional sign ins. Marvelous!
Greasemonkey Integration
Greasemonkey is a simple tool that allows users to do cool stuff with their browsers. For example, if you want to comment on a blog and need to italicize some text, you have to wrap it in “<em></em>” tags. To make it bold, you have to surround the text with “<strong></strong>.” I find this painful. While using Firefox, I wrote a Ubiquity script that would save me from this painful typing. But Google Chrome didn’t have Ubiquity and till now, this was the one thing holding me back from adopting Chrome full time.
But when I found out that Chrome now natively supported Greasemonkey scripts which till now only worked on Firefox, I went and found one that did the same job! True, I had to tweak it before it worked in Chrome, but now if I want to italicize a comment, I just press “Ctrl+I” and if I want to insert a hyperlink, I just press “Ctrl+Shift+M” and the <a> tag is fully formed with the cursor in the right place to paste the URL!
This was the feature that finally tipped me over. And so now I’m officially a Google Chrome user instead of a Firefox user.
Another thing that nudged me over was the fact that Firefox 4’s latest Beta for Linux didn’t have the new look which the Windows version got. I was pissed I and felt I wasn’t being treated on an equal footing. But I’ve used Firefox for so many years now that I won’t hold a grudge. I’m willing to be lured back to Firefox if they improve their speed to a level comparable to Chrome’s. But for now, I bid Firefox good bye and with tears in my eyes, save this post in my shiny new Google Chrome browser…
I've played around with Chrome a bit in the past, but didn't feel like the browser had evolved enough to suit my preferences at the time.
Lately I've been using Firefox, again, but am still not satisfied. My requirements seem to be a little less stringent than yours, but Firefox began losing me about a year ago when it stopped remembering my WordPress password – a big no-no for me.
Perhaps it's time to give Chrome another look.
In reply to Thurman
I had the same feeling when I tried out Chrome over a year ago – it's really picked up its game since then.
About the Wordpres issue, I've faced that problem as well. And I still don't know what caused it. I presume you've tried the usual stuff – cleared out cookies, cache etc…? And it's just Firefox and not Chrome?
In reply to bhagwad
Yes, just Firefox, all my other browsers hold the password as they should. I have versions of IE, Safari, Opera, Chrome, and Firefox loaded. Decided to give them all a try a while back and ended up back with Firefox. I need t upgrade to the newest Chrome and give it another go. Thanks for the nudge.
I never ran into that problem with Firefox, but everybody setup is different I suppose. I used Chrome as my main browser for a couple of months about a year ago(switching from Firefox), it crashed on me killing all my tabs multiple times. The most embarrassing time was when I was with a friend and I was explaining to him what was and how to use Chrome b/c he was using my computer, but then it crashed multiple times in front of both of us while accessing Facebook and gmail. Lately though it been rock solid no crashes for months now, but I switched back to Firefox as my main browser for a while now only running Chrome when I need to use cloud apps that are Java heavy.
In reply to LaFIe
Yeah – Chrome's been through rough patches earlier, but they're smoothed out now.
The only thing that Firefox still does better than Chrome, is that its add ons and plug ins are more powerful than Chrome's extensions. Many of Firefox's plugins have been ported over to Chrome and don't work quite as well. But this is another thing that I'm sure Google will be improving in the coming few versions…
You bought up a good point about Chrome extensions system. However, I disagree. I think that Google will never introduce such a embedded extension system like Firefox. They had the advantage from starting from scratch and they obviously could have implemented a xul sytle extensions system from the get go, but they decided against it instead prompting for more limited javascript, html and css manipulation system. Thus we will never see an extensions like No Script or a really proper Firebug or even a proper adblock plus.
I think Google wants a very firm grasp on the direction of the core browser experience and the way they implement their extensions allows them to do this. You can install as many chrome extensions you want, but you really don't change anything in Chrome b/c the extensions are very limited. In firefox you can really mess up your browser if you install the wrong extensions or too many. This is why you will probably never hear complaints of Chrome "memory leaks" or "slow start up" problems that plague Firefox's support forums that are almost always b/c of poorly written Firefox extensions.
So I think if you holding out for Chrome to eventually get a Firefox style extensions system and how it empowers users to change their core browsing experience, I think that it will never happen b/c Chrome designers never wanted Chrome to be just a better "firefox," Chrome is really a different browser with a different philosophy and direction. That's why I ultimately switched back to Firefox. I definitely think Chrome core experience is significantly better than Firefox, but I personally prefer Firefox after extensions.
Put this in the bank, 1 to 2 years from now, people will still be waiting out for a more customizable Chrome on par with Firefox. It will never happen b/c Google ultimately doesn't want it to.
In reply to LaFIe
Kept in the safe deposit box and sealed :)
In reply to LaFIe
Just saw this though it seems to have been accidental :)
I use both :) The default is firefox because I have 'readitlater' on it though I agree with the blessing of not all the tabs hanging if one does in Chrome.
How I'd love to be able to wrap test in html or link it and all so quickly…
In reply to Indian Homemaker
You can easily wrap HTML yourself in under a minute:
Install Greasemonkey (Firefox Addon)
Go to this page and click the "Install" button.
If you're using Chrome, no need to install Greasemonkey. Just go to the second link and click "Install"
You're set! Just press "Ctrl + B" for "bold" etc in any textarea :)
As a bonus, here are readitlater extensions for Google Chrome. Just click and go…
> Thus we will never see an extensions like No Script or a really proper Firebug […]
Hah! Yes, you probably won't see extensions for those because both of those are built into Chrome now:
No script: Wrench Options Under the hood Content settings Javascript.
Firebug: Right click Inspect element.
I'm still hanging on to IE8.
Last tried Chrome within 6 months of it's first launch. I'm sure it has evolved after that. After reading your post I'm feeling like giving it a try again.
In reply to Raja
Give Firefox a try too. If you're using Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can check out the latest sexy Beta 4!
I am a regular chrome user. In fact i was thinking about switching to the chrome OS which comes out in d market later this year
jus to update u guys google chrome 6.0.466.0 is 30 times faster than the original
In reply to Dhruva Mathur
That's interesting. I use 6.0.466 – where did you get this info from?
it available on wiki and to get more info visit the developer's page of google chrome where google developers work to improve chrome
In reply to Dhruva Mathur
You mean this site? http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.com/2010/07/… . I couldn't find it there.
Could you help me out and give me a link?
n also 6.0.472.0 is the latest chrome browser which came out on the 21st of this month
In reply to Dhruva Mathur
Yeah :) . My version updated too!