Google Chrome.

Ever since my first steps into the world of Firefox, I have been a bit captivated by the vast improvements that can be seen by changing the method we use to view the web. For one example, Firefox really improved the sidebars in MikeDiDonato.com.

As many of you know, this week saw the start of Google’s web browser Chrome. I have just downloaded the beast and, so far, am pretty impressed with the general snazzy-ness. If you’re curious, but not ready to download, start by reading this little comic strip.

Here are a few of my favorite features so far.

1. Dragging between windows

If you have a window open with multiple tabs you can drag any single tab out of the window and it will go wherever you want to put it. Want a new window for this tab? just drag it outside of the current window. Want to put your tab from this window into the other one you’ve already opened? Bang. Easy as pie.

2. OMNIBOX

Whoa. When you open up a new Google Chrome window it comes up with your own personal little corner of the web. It shows you nine of your most viewed websites as well as those favorites that you’ve bookmarked. This will make navigating to MikeDiDonato.com a whole world of easier.

3. Address bar search.

Type something into the address bar that isn’t a link and it will immediately Google Search for you.

Anyone else try Google Chrome and find any cool features that should be appreciated by all?
One thing to note: Apparently the calendar on MikeDiDonato.com is not working properly. Also, I’ve noticed that in my posting window the spell check isn’t working as it usually does. I suspect these little glitches will be fixed over time, but for now take it as a warning that if you’re not willing to play with some not-quite-100%-features, then you may want to hold out until the next version rolls around.

16 thoughts on “Google Chrome.

  • 9/3/2008 at 1:00 pm
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    Here are Google’s terms of service:

    http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS

    That same rule applies to ALL google software and products. Gmail? Yes. YouTube? yup.

    I’ve seen discussion all over the internet talking about how google’s chrome will own everything and frankly I think it’s some serious overreaction based on lack of understanding. The best commentary I’ve seen is from judgej2 on Reddit. He said:

    “The blog entry conveniently misses out the definitions section, so you don’t know what “Services” means, and then it equates “Services” to “The Chrome Product” lower down, which is totally wrong.

    Another way of putting the agreement is:
    “If you post it, you can’t unpost it.” It just makes it easier to handle the large amount of information people are going to be giving to Google for publishing.”

    This is the section of Googles TOS that defines services that JudgeJ2 is talking about:

    “Your use of Google’s products, software, services and web sites (referred to collectively as the “Services” in this document and excluding any services provided to you by Google under a separate written agreement) is subject to the terms of a legal agreement between you and Google”

    Plenty of others in the know have pointed out that most of this crap is just a safety blanket for google and wouldn’t hold up in a court of Law if Google tried to claim ownership of every word I’ve ever typed.

    The world isn’t always out to get us. Sometimes it’s okay to have some faith and take a step forward. If we’re all too busy carefully examining every step, sure we might step on a few tacks, but we’ll miss out on a whole lotta great stuff.

    I fully support the Chrome project.

    And if you are still convinced that Google is out to get us and that it has found a path to world domination, buy a few Google shares.

    Reply
  • 9/3/2008 at 1:23 pm
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    UPDATE: apparently a similar outcry occurred when Google Dogs appeared. Here’s google’s reponse:

    “As we state in our terms of service, we don’t claim ownership or control over your content in Google Docs & Spreadsheets, whether you’re using it as an individual or through Google Apps. Read in its entirety, the sentence from our terms of service excerpted in the blog ensures that, for documents you expressly choose to share with others, we have the proper license to display those documents to the selected users and format documents properly for different displays. To be clear, Google will not use your documents beyond the scope that you and you alone control. Your fantasy football spreadsheets are not going to end up shared with the world unless you want them to be.”

    taken from:
    http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/does_google_have_rights_to_all.php

    Reply
  • 9/3/2008 at 4:24 pm
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    And should Google decide to take over the planet, who’s to say it wouldn’t be a better place to live?

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  • 9/3/2008 at 4:30 pm
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    They have a really good cafeteria I hear…

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  • 9/3/2008 at 4:55 pm
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    Imagine a Google apartment search feature! “Google, where are my keys?”

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  • 9/3/2008 at 5:39 pm
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    I for one am excited for Chrome. I probably won’t use it, but any (standards compliant) browser that will take away any sliver of IE6 and 7’s market share is fine by me!

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  • 9/3/2008 at 7:47 pm
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    I really like Feature #1.

    Also, have you noticed that you can resize Text Boxes? For instance, right here in Mike D.com, I can resize this text box to as large as I want.

    Safari also has both of these features (I think Chrome is built on the Safari rendering engine Webkit)…it’s a crying shame that Firefox does not. I really miss both features when I use ffox, but the wealth of plugins for Firefox makes up for some of the features it lacks…for now anyways.

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  • 9/4/2008 at 11:01 am
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    Alas, even though its from the Google, the only people that will lose market share are Firefox and Opera.

    I’ve been trying to get Emily to stop using IE7 for a few months, installed firefox, copied her bookmarks and passwords and such, added some nice extensions, nothing.
    She’s set on her pattern and IE7 is good enough for what she does.

    Changing is just not that high of a priority even with me handing her a better solution.
    The folks who think Chrome is the bomb are the same people who think FF and Opera is awesome.

    Its like Ubuntu. Sure, its nice as far as linux distros go, but its still a linux distro and the number of people who want to deal with it are limited.

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  • 9/4/2008 at 11:04 am
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    For those on the Fox:
    the Tab Mix Plus extension provides a lot of tab management doohickeys, including “Move tab to new window” and “Merge Tabs” but you can’t drag and drop.

    There are also a couple of extensions to resize text boxes and even move them if you’re into that sort of thing.

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  • 9/4/2008 at 11:48 am
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    you just called Opera awesome.

    ew.

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  • 9/4/2008 at 11:50 am
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    Plug-ins will catch up pretty quickly, if people really do like Chrome.

    And I just can’t go back to slow-as-molasses FFox after speedy Chrome.

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  • 9/4/2008 at 12:33 pm
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    Better than calling Oprah awesome.

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  • 9/4/2008 at 1:19 pm
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    I hate where it keeps the tabs. I want them below my address bar, not above.

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  • 9/5/2008 at 10:52 am
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    Also cool: The “Incognito Window”, where no history or cookies are kept. For me, this is great for when I have to check my email or bank stuff on somebody else’s computer.

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  • 9/5/2008 at 4:30 pm
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    Yeah I’m trying out Chrome, I’m liking some of the new things, not sure I will switch from Firefox permanently though since I have a lot of cool extensions in FF.
    Also found and reported a couple of bugs in Chrome, one of which is that Google Docs spreadsheets are a little erratic in Chrome! You’d think they’d have tested that. Some Facebook stuff doesn’t work either.

    Reply

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