Firefox To Chrome

Yesterday I decided to switch from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome. I've been using FireFox for a long time now, at least 7-8 years. Before that it was IE, and before that it was Netscape. I've tried a bunch of others but none stuck. The ladder of browsers through the years goes from good to better all the way. I tried Chrome earlier, when it first came out, but back then I preferred Firefox and didn't change, but Firefox has changed. It's no longer the perfect browser. Currently, on my OS (Win 7, 64-Bit) it has two major defects:

1. High memory usage. Firefox starts below 100MB, but the longer it's used, the more memory it requires. Within an hour it's up at 200MB, even with all extensions disabled and only a couple of insignificant plugins. Sometimes the memory usage gets so high it stops responding and I have to shut it down. I've started doing this out of habit to 'reset' memory usage every now and then.
2. Tab issues. Sometimes when many tabs are opened at the same time, the browser freezes for a second or slows down considerably. When closing tabs, the closed tab can stay blank and open for a second or two before disappearing. Closing multiple tabs takes time.

These are both minor deficiencies, but they were enough to make me remember Chrome and wonder if it's any better. I looked around for other browsers with lower memory usage, but settled for Chrome anyway. It has better support for other functions I need. Chrome installed quickly and so far I've had no problems with tabs or memory. The memory it takes is about the same as Firefox, upon starting, but it doesn't ever seem to slow down or freeze - it's always quick to respond. The memory usage doesn't increase as quickly as it does for FireFox either. Where FireFox reaches 200MB within an hour, it takes a day for Chrome. It also has a much cleaner interface. I realized immediately that Chrome has changed a lot in terms of appearance since I last tried it and it feels like a compromise between the FireFox interface and their own. They've changed the overall hue of the browser from white to gray, as FireFox, and the icons also really resemble the other browser.. Their only real trademark is the special blue bar at the top of the window. Overall it looks really smooth and minimalistic. A few things are missing from the work space (that exist in FireFox) by default, that I realize I don't actually need, such as:

• A menu bar. In FireFox it's an entire row, with a lot of dropdown menus. In Chrome it's just one button - one dropdown.
• The home button. Just open a new tab.
• The title bar at the top of the browser. Titles are displayed in tabs anyway, so why view them twice?
• A separate search box. The address field is all you need.

Of course most of these things can be removed through FireFox if you customize the settings. FireFox has changed too, and removed some unnecessary elements during the past years. To keep up with Chrome maybe. The settings panel in Chrome is much more basic than in FF, though you can access a lot of additional options through sub-pages. In a way it's appreciable since there's little to go through, and the options that are listed on the main settings page are all relevant and powerful. There are however many options that I miss, such as:

• Specifying which file-types are to be downloaded, and which open in the browser.
• Option to hide the download box at the bottom of the page.
• Detailed settings for the use of tabs, privacy and cache options.

Maybe I've missed some settings though. For the average user the Chrome settings page is ideal, for advanced users it might be a bit too compact. Viewing all options on one page instead of having to dive into separate pages for specifics would be easier. Here are some features in Chrome that I've liked from the start:

• A bar of bookmarks instead of a drop-down. I already have a list of sites I frequent listed. No need to drop down a menu to view them! Handy!
• Less clutter on right-click menus, only the most important. There's less clutter all over the place too. :)
• A bunch of about: pages you can use to see history, dns, memory use, etc... but I do misss the classic about:robots page. :)
• Built in task manager for browser processes. Instead of running the browser as one process, Chrome has separate processes for different tasks. FireFox recently added a seperate process for extensions, so that if they malfunction it won't affect the entire browser. Chrome has always been a step further in this aspect. At times it runs over 10 processes simultaneously. The task manager is great if you want to save memory and kill some specific task.
• The option to connect to your Google account and keep all your settings stored online, along with Bookmarks, meaning you can browse on any computer through Chrome and it'll be as if you were home. It's only meant for personal computers though.

Obviously syncing browsers and connecting them to an account gives you additional security issues. All personal activity is stored online instead of on your personal computer, so if someone DOES hack Google (and it's likely a lot of people want to), they get your data. Meaning, don't save too personal data. In a way FireFox still feels more personal, secure and anonymous. I'm always a bit skeptic of new products that have a network link I can't fully control, but it's a great feature. Getting signed in to all Google services automatically upon using your browser is one big plus, even if it's just Gmail I'm currently active with.

Overall the simplicity in Chrome makes is easy to use and many options I used to tweak with in FF are not really needed any longer. Most are still there as features, you just can't change them, and maybe that's for the best. Both Chrome and FireFox have fetched a lot of ideas from each other. FF has sync as well, though it's not coupled with accounts the same way. Google Chrome was based on FF too, so obviously there's a lot of similarity between these two browsers.

As for plugins and themes, Google has chosen to call them apps. There's all sorts of useless junk, games for one, that you install through your browser. If you're on a REAL computer, what's the use? It'd be better to install the games separately and not need to run extra processes to play them. Using Chrome to play games is like using two explorers (if your on Windows that is). Of course you could shut down the regular explorer through task manager and still use Chrome, but that's a bit of a needless workaround. Some of the apps are even flash games you could play through a website.

Along with all the junk that obviously appears where there are apps, there's a bunch of useful ones that let you do stuff like integrate missing features (ported from FireFox) or add official Google usability apps that for some reason aren't included in the browser. So far I'm using:

• Screen Capture. This app lets you take screenshots of entire web pages, which is one feature that you can't get through a 'normal' screen capture program. It seems that it has to be integrated in the browser itself. Which is logic I guess. It also lets you capture a region of the screen, or the visible window, but I already have Lightscreen for those two uses. It's a really simple plugin though, as all things Google. It'll be useful.
• Google Dictionary is, as the name implies, a dictionary. I double click on a word and get the definition, along with pronunciation (through audio) if I want. The definition appears as a small popup and can be generating either by double clicking or selecting text... or neither, if you double click and select text for other reasons. It's also a searchable database you can access through an icon. This will probably require less visits to the dictionary site I've previously been using when looking up words.
• Google Mail Checker is a plugin that does the same thing as one of two plugins I used on FireFox. It displays the number of unread messages along with a Gmail icon right beside the address bar. Also useful for quickly accessing Gmail. Using Chrome, I don't even need to login to Gmail, I just login to my browser. It's starting to get amazingly simple...
• Facebook Disconnect is a plugin for the paranoid people, like me. It prevents Facebook from gathering information about the sites you visit that are connected to Facebook and linking it together with your account. As you may know they don't really respect user privacy, so who knows what might happen with that info if they get a hold of it.
• Download Master downloads all files of a specified type that are linked on a website. Really useful if you're viewing a directory of files, or a photo album, etc.

Then there are a few plugins I installed yesterday that I realized I don't really need, so I removed them. There's:

• Speed Dial, a plugin that lets you specify a set of visual links to be viewed on the new tab page, for easy access. I decided to use the bookmark field for all important websites instead.
• YouTube Options for Google Chrome is a really useful plugin for changing the way YouTube looks and works. You can prevent autoplay, change default video resolution, dimensions, remove certain elements (such as comments, descriptions, suggested videos) from being visible at all, etc. It's really useful if you really need it, but I don't watch THAT much on YouTube to not at least be curious about what comments people type, what videos are suggested, etc. I'm used to page elements as I am to ads, to the point where they are no longer distracting. For those who need it this is a great plugin though.
• Timer is a plugin that allows you to set a time and then get a prompt in the form of sound when that time runs out. It would have been useful if there was the option to loop. I'm looking for something like this that lets you set a time, say 15 minutes, and then EVERY fifteen minutes you are made aware that 15 minutes have passed through, say, an ambient bell sound. This plugin does have a bell sound, but it's repeated a few times, and it's not ambient, and you can't loop, which makes it more annoying than useful. I want to be reminded of looking away from the screen and relaxing my eyes, or stretching, etc, so there's one more plugin I need to find for the previous list to be complete...

Otherwise? So far I'm content. Chrome is working better than I expected it would. At the moment, it's definitely better than FireFox, so I'll probably be sticking with it until/if something starts bothering me or malfunctioning. It looks just like FireFox too until I look up at the top of the screen and see that blue bar. And why did they chose blue? Because it's their logo color? Because it's soothing? Because they like it? I'd rather have an orange bar myself, but there doesn't seem to be a theme with just that change... yet.

Now that I think about it, another flaw with Google Chrome is the lack of plugins and themes. Sure there are a lot, but there's not near as many for Chrome as there are for FireFox. I suppose the FireFox community differs in that it's a non-profit organization and not a giant company bent on dominating the globe, and therefore people contribute. Still, great browser. So far. If it goes haywire I'll let you know. ;)