Comments on: 10 things we'd like to see in Chrome

Google's Chrome is pretty good, but it could be a whole lot better. We've rounded up 10 fairly extensive ways to tweak it to make it an all-around better browser.

[oksammyj]

I'm sure someone will say "Upgrade to XP or Vista" but I am still using Windows 2K and there is no Windows 2K version of Chrome. But Firefox works great on Windows 2K. I am also growing cautious of putting all my eggs in the Google basket. In my opinion there is an optimal size for a company and Google is big enough.

[R-Singh]

Strangly, I downloaded Chrome on the first day. But when i type www.gmail.com or press the bookmark link for gmail, nothing comes up. I just wait and wait...it seems like working but nothing comes up. Is just blank screen. On the address bar, it shows... https://---???etc etc but i can't see anything. Rest of the sites work fine. What a shame!!! Google browser can't load Google mail!.. i tried uninstall and install back again!!!

That is another thing they might need to fix!

[mike.loux]

Are you working behind a proxy? I had some issues with signing onto Google Account pages while behind a proxy. You might want to install one of the nightly snapshots and see if that fixes the problem:

http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots/chromium-rel-xp/

Check the file LATEST to see what the latest build is, then go into the corresponding directory and download and run the file mini_installer.exe. This will install Chromium (the code word for the developer release) in a separate location, so make sure you use the Chromium shortcut instead of the Chrome one. Good luck!

[danielkwood]

As for #7, you actually can drag web pages or "applications" back into the main browser quite easily. You click on the actual tab and drag it back onto the tab bar in the main browser window. So that feature already does exist.

[danielkwood]

edit: With dragging web pages or windows back into the main browser window, you CAN'T do this in Incognito mode.

[charbelfa]

I'd like to add a small tweak...and that's the text finder like in FF...u can find any word in the page simply by writing it! and also a scroll option in which by pressing the scroll button we will be able to scroll up and down in a fast way..like the one in IE and FF

[ginswizzle]

#10: I really like how the search box is done in IE8 - you can pivot the view in the drop-down menu to see results from different search engines.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/features/instant-search.aspx

Here's hoping Microsoft makes the change to only one box before they ship! It definitely takes a little getting used to, but it's just so much cleaner and simpler.

[DarkHawke]

Y'all've missed a big one: an Undo Close Tab feature. Maybe it can't happen due to Chrome's unique architecture, but its session saver works just fine, so why not? I'd be forever re-surfing or sorting through the History to get back tabs/sites I've either inadvertently closed or suddenly realized I wanted to look at again.

[lkrupp]

Wow! The Firefox fanboys are out in force. Funny how blind fanaticism warps the brain.

[DarkHawke]

So it couldn't be that Chrome just ain't ready for prime-time at this release, and as avid web surfers who enjoy the benefits of Firefox, we'd just like to see some of the great features of that browser in any new offering? Naw, couldn't be that. That'd be wrong.

[raulbe]

This thing is superfast and a pleasure to use over long periods of time without slowdowns or laggyness. A very decent start. So far I have solved the online bookmarking problem with a delicious/Google Bookmark bookmarklet that you can drag to the Chrome bookmark bar in Chrome. Available here del.icio.us/help/buttons and at Google bookmarks site.

For adblocking I have always used the mvps hosts file so that's not an issue. An alternative is privoxy for adblocking which some folks are now using with Chrome. That leaves google notebook and noscript for me personally so hopefully by 1.0 we will have some extension capabilities. There is also a rss discovery bookmarklet floating around.

There has been a lot of criticism for not integrating their services in Chrome but you can imagine the racket that would be created if they did for unfair bundling, Google will be under intense scrutiny, more so than anyone else on privacy and bundling their services so on both those counts users can feel relatively safe.

[mike.loux]

I love the fact that people are coming up with these great workarounds for everything that Google Chrome doesn't have (yet). I use iGoogle for my home page, so I've got Bookmarks and Notebook entries covered. The only thing I can't get around is the ad-blocking, at least not here at work. I tried going to privoxy's site, but it got Websensed (labeled as "Proxy Avoidance"). Whoops. Oh well, I'll try it at home, anyway... :-)

I'll check out the MVPS hosts file, but I see something about special instructions for Vista, so I'm not sure I want to risk hosing my machine that way. I'll just use FireFox when I got to an ad-intensive site. But Chrome is awesome for email and such - blazingly fast at rendering. Very nice.

[mike.loux]

Huh, well what do you know. I tried the MVPS Hosts file after realizing that the only issue with Vista was UAC (which I have turned off; I think I can trust myself to move an icon around on the screen without screwing it up), so I went ahead and installed it and it works great. Thanks for the tip!

[mike.loux]

I, personally, would like to see some more flexibility with tabs. One of the things I like about FireFox is the ability to control where your links go. I use it with the Tab Mix Plus extension, and I have it set so that searches, bookmarks and history clicks go to a separate tab. That, combined with a separate search box, allows me to have new searches go to a new tab without losing the one I am currently on. Not having that feature (and having to remember to open a new tab before doing a search) is taking some getting used to.

[jinhyune]

What I really want in a browser is to be able to use my choice third party download managers with it, to be able to download all links on a page, to integrate with third party protection devices, and generally be able to use a lot of third party programs with it freely without worrying about compatibility issues. IE has a butt-ugly, clunky interface, is slow, freezes and crashes, but IE based browsers like slimbrowser and maxthon have none of those problems, are reasonably quick, very stable(occasional crashes but no freezing), sensible, customizable interfaces and retain IE's third party program friendliness. All these non IE based browsers are just not practical, and the only ones who can't see that are Microsoft haters for no good reason.

[xxdesmusxx]

I just wish it would SHARE my Firefox extensions ...I imagine developers will not want to create new extensions for yet another web browser. I wish they could figure out how to just make the existing Firefox extensions work seemlessly. Oh yeah, I need me some Foxmarks and Adblock!

[skiracer712]

How about a new EULA. One that doesnt let google own the right to use anything you do in their browser. Seriously, this one of the worst privacy infringments by a company ever, including Microsoft. Yet everyone just seems to think, "well just because its in there dosent mean google will acutally do it." Than why put it in the EULA?

Sorry, but after reading more indepthly Chromes, and now other google software and app EULA's, its easy to see they are just another big corporation. They have turned into MS, and have everyone fooled. Just wondering how long before google ad's takes up residence in the browser interface on top of ad's on webpages.

[skillingssucks]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080903-google-on-chrome-eula-controversy-our-bad-well-change-it.html

[skiracer712]

Also, forgot to add, until McAfee Site Advisor works with it, or something of equal security, it will remain a toy on my PC that is only used for websites I know and trust.

[senordroolcup1]

how about the ability to email a link or page?? I can't believe I can't do that!

[tacit]

"Also, forgot to add, until McAfee Site Advisor works with it, or something of equal security, it will remain a toy on my PC that is only used for websites I know and trust."

Heh. SiteAdvisor is not a substitute for using the best security feature yet discovered: the one between your ears. If you rely on SiteAdvisor, you're already doomed.

It's a great marketing ploy, but not so great as security. I've seen a very, very large number of false negatives (the majority of malware droppers out there are not listed on SiteAdvisor) and quite a few false positives. In fact, I've even had one of my own Web sites falsely given a redlist in SiteAdvisor--along with sites such as a distribution site for Ubuntu Linux and sites that offer products that compete with McAfee products, such as Lavasoft (whose site that offers Ad-Aware was wrongly redlisted for a while).

If SiteAdvisor is never integrated into Chrome, that'll be a good thing. It does little save for providing the credulous with a false sense of security.

[kdevore]

They need to add history deletion when you exit the browser, like Firefox does.

[techman21]

What's with the Chrome icon? Looks like Simon, but with only 3 buttons...

Firefox still rules in my world - ad blocking, mouse gestures, Firebug, add-ons, themes, IE Tab (when it's necessary). Plus, it doesn't spy on me by sending all my keystrokes to a 3rd party.

[Nimue1692]

Make it work with Netflix. I now use Chrome for 99% of my activities, except I still have to use stupid old IE for watching videos instantly on Netflix.

Umm RSS / LIVE BOOKMARKS! I miss my live bookmarks from firefox :(