All posts tagged ‘Chromium’

File Under: Browsers
Sep
2
2011

Reflecting on Chrome as Browser Hits Third Birthday

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Google launched its Chrome Web browser on September 1, 2008—three years ago today. In the time since its debut, Google’s Web browser has attracted a considerable following and influenced other browser vendors. To celebrate the anniversary, Google has published an interactive HTML5 infographic that presents the history of the major Web browsers and Web standards.

Chrome’s contributions to the Web and browser design are significant. Google set the pace of development for modern browsers by being the first browser vendor to adopt a radically shorter development cycle and a release management strategy that emphasizes fast-paced incremental improvement. Chrome’s transparent update system and channel-based prerelease distribution model are being adopted by Firefox and could eventually be picked up by other browser vendors.

Chrome’s distinctive minimalist design has also changed the way that browser vendors think about usability. Chrome’s approach to paring down the interface and offering a more streamlined user experience has been embraced by other browsers. Google took the lead on some controversial moves, like not displaying “http” in the location bar.

The technical influence of Chrome can even be felt outside of the browser ecosystem. The performance of Chrome’s sophisticated V8 JavaScript engine and the ease with which it can be embedded in other software have led to its adoption in a range of other environments. For example, V8 was used to produce Node.js, a server-side JavaScript runtime that is popularizing the use of JavaScript for backend Web development.

Although Chrome has come a long way, the browser still lags behind its competitors in some key ways. When we first reviewed Chrome in 2008, one of our biggest gripes with the user interface was the lack of tab overflow handling. After three years, this issue still hasn’t been fixed. Chrome’s user interface for browsing history is another major weak area relative to other browsers. History autocompletion in the Omnibox is also quite limited compared to Firefox’s AwesomeBar.

Despite the limitations, Chrome’s audience has grown explosively since its 2008 launch. According to statistics from StatCounter, the browser’s marketshare hit 10 percent last year and continued growing to 23 percent, as of this month. It’s become an important part of Google’s product landscape, serving as the central pillar of the company’s ambitious Chrome OS operating system.

After three great years of innovation and raising the bar, Chrome’s future looks bright.

[Illustration by Scott McCloud]

This article originally appeared on Ars Technica, Wired’s sister site for in-depth technology news.

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File Under: Browsers
Aug
17
2011

Google Related Collects Relevant Content at the Foot of Chrome

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Chrome Related shows other semi-relevant pages

Google has released a new service entitled Google Related, a "browser assistant" Chrome extension intended to direct users to webpages on the same topic as the one they’re currently viewing. While some applications of the service, like getting extra info during a restaurant search, are useful, some others produce unhelpful suggestions in a framework that should be more trainable than it is.

Once you have the Google Related extension installed, a bar will begin appearing along the bottom of certain types of pages, such as news, shopping, or restaurant websites. Various tabs allow you access to content related to that page–visiting a restaurant’s website may produce a tab with a Google map of the restaurant’s address, a second tab with reviews, and a third tab of related locations (as identified by Google Maps).

The restaurant website suggestions are the most coherent, as the previous list nails exactly what I’m looking for when I look up a restaurant. But some of the tabs are too selective and Google-centric (unsurprisingly), as when the Reviews tab produces Google Places reviews and links to the Urban Spoon page, but not to Yelp.

A Google Related tab produced from a news story concerning an HTC vs. Apple patent spat.

Visiting a page with a news story will produce a dropdown (or more accurately, a shoot-up) of culled news stories on the same topic from other sources. The displayed stories seem limited to the most recent updates you might find at the top of a Google News search, a format better for the rarer breaking stories than authoritative ones getting picked up over and over in brief by multiple news outlets. The pullquote in the HTC vs. Apple-produced tab above is a nice feature, but the content is only barely related to the story.

What the extension lacks the most is the ability to train it. Links offered from the Related bar are +1-able, but if you click the "View More Articles" link from the story above, you get a get a long list of stories from various outlets that can’t be +1′d. This strikes us as a prime opportunity to teach Google Related which sources you trust or would like to see in your related news tab when you visit a news story. Still, true to Google form, Google is collecting statistics on the project, so we may be training it more than we know.

Given Google’s recent "more wood behind fewer arrows" declaration, the only-partially-useful Related is a mystifying addition to the company’s product slate in its current state. The extension is available today for all Chrome users.

This article originally appeared on Ars Technica, Wired’s sister site for in-depth technology news.

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File Under: Browsers, Programming, Web Basics
Mar
10
2011

Yahoo’s YSlow Page Speed Tool Now Available for Chrome

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Every web developer wants to speed up their site, and Yahoo’s YSlow plugin for Firefox is a great way to find out what’s slowing your pages down. Now, Yahoo has announced YSlow for Chrome, which brings all the goodness of YSlow to Google’s popular web browser.

In Firefox YSlow requires (and builds on) the Firebug plugin, but the Chrome version stands on its own. You can grab the new beta version of YSlow for Chrome from the Google Chrome Extension website (note that you’ll need to be using Chrome 10 or better).

Once installed, YSlow for Chrome works just like the Firefox version, with one nice difference — instead of being added to the bottom of the webpage as a kind of frame, YSlow for Chrome floats in its own window, which makes it easier to compare YSlow data from multiple websites.

The Yahoo developer blog notes that the current version of Chrome does not provide extensions access to its network panel. That means that YSlow for Chrome uses Ajax calls to cull its data and provide speed reports. As a result it’s possible that some rules might be affected and differ slightly from what the Firefox version reports. I tested a handful of domains in both Chromium and Firefox and didn’t notice any differences between the two, but be aware that it’s possible there might be some discrepancies.

For more information on how to use YSlow to speed up your websites, see our post, How to Speed Up Your Site With YSlow and Page Speed. Sadly, there’s still no Page Speed add-on for Chrome; Google’s Speed Tracer extension covers similar ground, but you’ll need to jump through some hoops to get it working.

Given Chrome’s already awesome built-in developer tools — which do more or less everything Firebug can do, no extensions necessary — adding YSlow to the mix puts Chrome on par with Firefox when it comes to the best browser for building and debugging your websites.

Illustration from “Physics for Entertainment” by Yakov Isidorovich Perelman from Archive.org

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File Under: Browsers, Multimedia
Dec
1
2010

Chrome Browser to Start Sandboxing Flash Player

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The latest developer channel release of the Chrome browser now supports sandboxing for Adobe’s Flash Player on Windows 7, Vista and XP.

This feature should provide extra protection against malicious browser exploits through the Flash Player. The dev channel releases of Chrome on Windows already support sandboxing for HTML rendering and JavaScript execution, two of the most common paths people can use to run malicious code on an unsuspecting user’s machine. Sandboxing keeps these sensitive parts of the browser more secure while still allowing web pages and apps to access the other, less-sensitive parts of the browser.

Windows users on the dev channel should see the update arrive automatically. We should note that the sandbox does have some bugs and may break other parts of the browser — this is a developer release, after all. Once the kinks are ironed out, all of these sandboxing features will begin making their way into proper stable Chrome releases.

Google’s Chromium team has been working with Adobe to build better Flash controls into Chrome, and to utilize Chrome’s sandboxing technology for the plug-in. Google says Wednesday’s update makes Chrome the only browser on XP that sandboxes Flash. For more about sandboxing and how Chrome is implementing it, read the overview post on the Chromium blog from October. Also, Wednesday’s release comes less than a month after Chrome introduced click-to-play controls for Flash and other plug-ins.

Adobe’s Flash Player is the most widely-used browser plug-in on the web, and it’s the dominant choice for video playback and games online. Even so, the technology gets beat up for performance issues and its security shortcomings, and it’s still falling out of favor among standards enthusiasts who are pushing HTML5 as the better solution for displaying multimedia in the browser.

Adobe also released a new beta version of the Flash Player on Wednesday that improves some of its performance issues.

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File Under: Browsers, Social
Nov
7
2010

First Look at RockMelt, a Browser Built For Facebook Freaks

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The rumor mill has been buzzing for months about the imminent arrival of a new “Facebook browser” called RockMelt.

Well, it really does exist, and it’s here. RockMelt is being released as a limited public beta Sunday. Anyone can sign up to test it out, but the release will be throttled so as not to overload the cloud-based components of the app. RockMelt will be doling out download links as quickly as it can manage on a first-come, first-served basis.

The two founders, CEO Eric Vishria and CTO Tim Howes, demonstrated RockMelt to Wired a few days before Sunday’s launch.

It’s based on Chromium, so it inherits Google Chrome’s speed, looks, and basic functionality on both Mac and Windows.

And while its Facebook integration runs deep, RockMelt is not exactly a Facebook browser. It’s a social web browser, allowing you to post links, videos and status updates to both Facebook and Twitter (that’s it for now, but more services will be added later). There are also built-in clients for consuming your Facebook feed and managing multiple Twitter feeds, a chat client, and lightweight RSS reader. It does use your Facebook account to personalize the experience, but its reach is broader than just Facebook.

We’ve seen browsers custom-built for the social web before, most notably Flock, which launched as a MySpaced-up version of Firefox. Mozilla experimented with Ubiquity, an in-browser tool for posting to different social sites and interacting with web services. There are a number of add-ons that can embed social networking dashboards into the browser for you. These tools have grown in popularity as we’ve struggled to manage the ever-increasing flow of links, media and bits shared by our online friends.

So, the idea isn’t original. And RockMelt doesn’t sport a complete re-invention of the browser interface, either. But it is very streamlined, and there are some key elements that people who live and breathe the social web will find intriguing.

Continue Reading “First Look at RockMelt, a Browser Built For Facebook Freaks” »

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File Under: Browsers, Social, Software
Jun
16
2010

New Flock Is Simpler, Now Based on Chrome

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The all-new beta of the Flock browser is based on the same code as Google Chrome. The company ditched Firefox in favor of Chromium in this new version.

The social web browser Flock is undergoing a major change in its next release. The upcoming Flock 3.0 will move away from the Firefox backend Flock has used for years in favor of Chromium, the open source implementation of Google Chrome.

If you’d like to test a beta version of the new Flock browser, head over to Flock beta page and grab a copy. For now the new Chromium-based Flock is available for Windows 7, XP and Vista only. A Mac version is reportedly in the works.

Flock is a browser built for social web junkies. It helps you manage your identity across multiple social websites, and it brings status updates and posting widgets directly into the browser via sidebars. Ever since the browser was first introduced in 2006, it’s been based on Firefox’s open source browser code, so this new version is a drastic change of plans. Flock is a niche browser — its user base is minuscule compared to the web at large — but those who do use it are dedicated and passionate about it.

The new Flock has been radically simplified, eliminating support for all but the biggest social networks and media sharing sites, namely Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Sorry MySpace, you’re just not part of the social web anymore (at least according to Flock).

The Flock 3.0 beta is a totally different browser than its predecessors — about the only thing that’s the same is the name. As you would expect, Flock now looks like Google Chrome, with tabs on top and the familiar, all-in-one URL and search bar. Flock has added some of the tools from older versions, rebuilding them on top of the new Chrome foundation, namely the social networking account manager and a sidebar that displays all your friends’ updates and lets you post your own status updates.

The sidebar looks similar to previous versions, though there are some new filters. You can narrow your Twitter updates to show only mentions or direct messages, and curb Facebook noise by eliminating wall posts, pokes, event invites or whatever. Just about every type of notification can be toggled on or off for any of the supported services.

Manage your groups in Flock's sidebar.

Perhaps the most useful addition to Flock 3.0 is the ability to create groups of friends to filter and manage your incoming updates. Out of the box, Flock offers two groups — Best Friends and Co-workers — though you can customize and create your own groups as well. Once you’ve got your groups set up, Flock makes it very simple to switch between seeing what your friends are up to, what’s going on with your work colleagues, your family, and so on. For those with hundreds of contacts and friends spread across multiple sites, and for those who apply different social standards when interacting with people from different parts of their life, this will likely be Flock 3.0′s killer feature.

Another very useful new feature is the integrated search field in the URL bar. Flock has changed the way Chromium’s URL search bar works to include your friend’s Twitter posts, Facebook updates, Flickr images and YouTube video in your searches. It makes easy to find out what your friends have said about whatever you’re searching for.

We’ve been using Flock for several years now and have to admit that we’ve never quite been able to figure our where it fits into our daily browsing tasks. Previous versions were sluggish, and the amount of setup required to interact with a bunch of different websites was overwhelming. Also, it’s an open secret that there was little Flock could do that you couldn’t accomplish by installing a few good add-ons to vanilla Firefox.

By contrast, the new Flock is a svelte, speedy browser. It immediately feels more relevant and fresh. And, in narrowing its support to only the most popular social sites, Flock is less daunting for newcomers. Getting started is in fact incredibly elegant — the browser launches with a screen that asks you to set up a Flock account, but you can skip it and just start surfing. As you log in to social sites like Twitter and Facebook, Flock begins filling out the social sidebar with updates from your friends on those sites mere seconds after you’ve logged in.

That said, you long-time Flock users may be unhappy with the new version — particularly if you rely on any Flock-compatible Firefox add-ons or use any of the many sites Flock no longer supports. While Flock 3.0 should work with any Chrome extensions, Chrome extensions do not have quite the same range of function as those in Firefox.

If you’d like to give the new Flock a try, head over the beta download page and grab a copy. Keep in mind that Flock 3.0 is still a beta and may have some bugs. If you’re on a Mac, there’s a mailing list you can sign up for to be notified when a Mac version is available.

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File Under: Software & Tools
Oct
1
2008

Stainless Browser: Google Chrome For the Mac

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Another day, another browser. Stainless was released by Mesa Dynamics as a proof of concept. The concept? A working, less ambitious version of Google’s Chrome browser.

According to the Stainless website, it is available (for free) now simply because the project is less ambitious than the eventual version of Chrome on the Mac. Besides the fact that it doesn’t have all the robust backend features Chrome will eventually have on its Mac version, from an end-user’s perspective it’s Google’s Chrome browser in all its speed and simplicity.

Stainless runs on Mac OS X Leopard — but only Leopard. Tiger enthusiasts may have to hang tight for Google’s eventual Mac release or use the variety of other browsers (Firefox, Safari) available.

Chrome and Stainless have a lot in common. At first glance, both browsers have almost identical streamlined interfaces. There is little to no clutter on the screen. The tabs line up at the top of the screen without menus maximizing web space. New tab windows are created by a little plus sign on the browser menu.

Stainless is a very stripped down browser. For evidence of this, look no further than the preferences panel. There are literally two options: A pulldown menu to designate what will open on startup — a welcome page or a home page of your choosing. The other option allows you to choose a default search from the address bar.

It does combine the address book with search, a feature now typical in all new browsers. Whether you call it the awesome bar (Firefox) or Quick Find (Opera) or whatever, the search and address fields are becoming more and more the same thing in all browsers.

There are plenty of proof of concept (read: alpha) issues too. Flash 9 is installed and video runs smoothly, but support for other plug-ins and add-ons are out. The major stopping block to making Stainless your default browser is it has no download manager, and therefore, no way to download anything.

It takes a bit more memory per tab than, say, Firefox, but it makes those tabs a fortress onto their own. If one tab breaks, it doesn’t take the browser down with it. When a tab is closed, the memory for the tab is freed.

The company and its multi-process design was inspired not only by Chrome, but also on a web-wrapper application called Hypercube. Hypercube is able to take widgets, gadgets and Flash movies from the web to your desktop. The way Hypercube is structured, running each widget on a different process, inspired the company to try out a browser.

The browser is based on Webkit — the same HTML rendering technology as Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome. There’s no word on what kind of JavaScript engine it’s running — Safari runs JavaScriptCore (soon Squirrelfish Extreme) and Google runs V8.

Stainless joins another Chrome look-alike on the Mac scene, Codeweaver’s Crossover Chromium. Unlike Stainless, Crossover Chromium actually runs the Windows version of Chrome on a Mac desktop, albeit very slowly.

Taking a step back, the benefits of a streamlined browser like Stainless, or even Chrome, is it doesn’t make any promises. It won’t email or clutter things with buttons or programs you’re not sure of. It is stable as an application can be. Stainless adheres to this idea, ensuring all tabs run its own processes.

What this browser is, even if you consider it was not made to be taken seriously, is a bare bones window to the internet. A browser and a search bar and not much else. Perhaps this is what everyone really needs to allow the features of web applications speak for themselves. Speed and stability is important, but in this case, I doubt it. If Stainless is an indication of the future of open-source browsers, expect many more third-party browsers running off of existing rendering technology.

Luckily, because most of these new browsers will be working off of existing open-source rendering code, web developers will only have to work for the underlying rendering engines, and not the browsers themselves. For example, even if there are 100 Webkit-based browsers, I only need one Webkit-enabled webpage for them all.

Besides, it’s not likely these alternative browsers are going to get much traction. The jury isn’t out yet, but in spite of a first month spike in browser usage across the web, Chrome hasn’t taken much market share from its Windows competitor Internet Explorer or its runner-up Firefox. It is not like Chrome rip-offs like Stainless will do the same for Mac users either.

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