In this day and age, browsing the internet consumes a vast majority of our time. We are able to get our news, our mail, our music, and our movies online. We watch live television, watch the stock market rise and fall, find long lost friends, find stupid videos and so forth. All of these things are done simply with the click of a finger or a movement of the wrist. It’s really pretty simple and simply, beautiful.

And while the content we can browse increases every day, so do the ways that we can browse it. I remember back when there were only a few different ways to get the information that we now take for granted. A lot of us, we used Netscape, we used AOL, and we used early versions of Opera and Internet Explorer, while now we look back in amazement to see how far these tools have come. Browsers really are an integral part of our daily lives if you think about it.

Yet, it is sort of absurd to think about how much we depend on them to keep our personal information private, our favorite webpages easily accessible, our videos and music downloadable and our communication with employees and friends current.

So how do we browse now? We all have our favorites.

I recently took a poll amongst my internet savvy friends and asked them bluntly: When you browse the internet, what program do you use to do so? The results, sadly, were to be expected.

Firefox. Internet Explorer. Safari.

I am a guilty party. I have been using Mozilla’s Firefox since its inception in 2003 and until now, have found no real reason to look into other browser options or make a switch to something different.

I still might not and here’s why. I, probably like most of you, don’t really feel the need to. I tell myself I could be blindfolded and still could find a way to my favorite bookmarks and toolbars. I tell myself I am safe when I browse because I feel that my information is secure. I tell myself that above all, I am comfortable with the interface I have been using for six years. Maybe what I tell myself is true.

However, much like the devices I covered in my previous articles, I think it is important for all of us to do our research and seek out viable alternatives to devices that we use on a regular basis. I think it to be especially important (as important as filling you all in) when they are released by companies with proven track records. In this case:

Google.

Back in December, Google released their new browsing software called Chrome. The chances that you have heard of it might be high. The chances that you let its release go without interest are even higher and I know why. It is because you are like me, settled into Firefox, IE or Safari and unwilling to change.

So what’s so special about Chrome and why should you consider making the switch? For starters, it has been (mostly) developed by one of the most successful companies in the world. This is good indication that it possesses a lot of promise.

But, let’s get to the specifics. (I will start with the basics from the 1.0 release then get to newest update to the 2.0 beta.)

The first thing that jumps out is its, well, lack of everything you are accustomed to. Unlike some of the other browsers that are a bit chaotic with all sorts of buttons, toolbars and menus, Chrome prides itself on having a minimalistic onscreen experience.

Starting with the Omnibox, it is all about combining many features into one so that your browsing experience isn’t cluttered. The Omnibox works as a place to enter a URL but also as a location you can put in a term to search for. Once you do that, it will remember the location and automates it for further use. If you frequently use Google to search for things, this is a godsend.

You also will notice a drastic change with how your homepage is setup when you open Chrome. Instead of having a default homepage (obviously you can force the browser to start on a certain homepage if you wish) appear, the browser recalls sites that you previously visited and the nine that you visit the most will appear on the front page for easy access. It also shows bookmarks that you commonly use along with your favorite search engines.

The feel of Chrome might be its best part. It has only the essential buttons on-screen including one that allows you to make shortcuts for your favorite programs and of course to navigate through your various tabbed websites. The only things that take up your screen in the Chrome browser are items of necessity: the tabs of your current websites and any shortcuts you have created. That’s it.

Lastly, every tab that you open runs independently from the other. This feature will save you countless headaches making sure that if you visit a website that corrupts your browser in any way, it will not affect the other tabs that you have open.

So what do we have here?

No ridiculous and confusing toolbars and buttons.

No speed hogging icons or logos.

Instead it is just seamless, safe, fast, uninterrupted browsing. It really is a calming experience.

With the latest update to Google Chrome 2.0 Beta it has introduced a few new features that were left out of the first release. Form auto-complete, full page zooming that is able to resize images and embedded objects, auto-scrolling and best of all, higher benchmark speeds and support for Greasemonkey extensions. It is pretty nifty.

As of right now, Chrome is the fourth most used browser in the world. It has a lot of fans and it has a lot of critics but with the release of their 2.0 Beta, Google Chrome might be making a bigger splash in the browser world.

So if you are disenchanted with your browsing experience (if you are a Mac OS X or Linux user, Chrome has not been released for these operating systems just yet) and are willing to get out of your comfort zone, check out Chrome.

It is simple and simplicity is a beautiful thing.

My name is Adam Mills and this piece comes from my postings as the San Francisco Gadgets Examiner at Examiner.com. What I am trying to do is bring to light some unique inventions of physical or virtual nature to public view. I take my work very seriously and I try to post at least once a day, so if you have time, come check out some of the exciting stuff I bring to the surface, you may be amazed.

You can find me in the San Francisco edition at: http://www.examiner.com/x-8134-SF-Gadgets-Examiner

I have worked in the tech industry for a few years since college and has since switched over the journalistic side of things. I hope you enjoy what I write as much as I enjoy writing it.

Author: Adam Mills
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Make PCB Assembly

Filed under: Browsers

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