Chrome gets Mac deadline, extensions foundation
Showing signs that it's working to meet requests for new developments to its Chrome browser, Google on Friday said it hopes to release versions for Mac OS X and Linux by the first half of the year, and it released a new version Wednesday that paves the way for the most requested feature: extensions.
Google has high hopes for Chrome--in particular, the Internet giant wants better performance, so browsing the Web is faster and Web-based applications are more powerful. Now Google is filling in some missing pieces Chrome needs in order to attain wider usage.
Brian Rakowski, Chrome's product manager, said the company wants to release Chrome for Mac and Linux before the first half of 2009 is up.
"That's what we've been hoping for," he said in an interview Friday. "Those two efforts proceeding in parallel. They're at the same level of progress."
The Mac and Linux versions are up to the level of a basic "test shell" that can show Web pages. But a test shell is pretty raw.
"That team now is able to render most Web pages pretty well. But in terms of the user experience, it's very basic," Rakowski said of the Mac version. "We have not spent any time building out features. We're still iterating on making it stable and getting the architecture right."
In an unscientific CNET News survey from November, a Mac version was the second most common barrier to getting people to switch to Chrome, trailing only faster performance. Eager beavers can monitor Google's Chrome for Mac progress and install the Mac test shell.
Extensions en route
Another major missing piece of Chrome is a framework to handle extensions, optional features that can be downloaded and plugged in to customize the browser. Extensions were one of the early advantages that helped
Firefox blossom, it's the top-requested feature for Chrome, and it ranked third in the CNET survey of Chrome barriers.
But a new cutting-edge version of Chrome, 2.0.156.1, gets support for some "Greasemonkey" scripts to customize the browser, a move that lays the groundwork for extensions, Rakowski said.
"We have user script support. That's a baby step," he said. As Chrome develops, Google will "expose more capabilities, then expose containers where can you have your own toolbar-like thing. You'll see it evolve over time."
Google promised an extensions framework when Chrome launched, and more recently, Google outlined its Chrome extensions vision.
Counting Chrome
Google released Chrome 1.0 in December, just three months after the software publicly debuted, and the company is working hard to maintain a fast development pace. Wednesday's version, though not for the general public, is the first to sport the version 2 number.
Also updated with the new version is Google's Chrome release structure.
Before, Google let people subscribe to two Chrome update channels: beta and developer. The first was for relatively well-tested versions; the second for programmers, Web developers, and people with more curiosity and a higher bug threshold.
Now there are three Chrome channels: stable, beta, and developer preview.
Most folks will just use the stable version, which Google expects to update roughly once a quarter, Rakowski said. "The beta channel is now what the developer channel used to be," he added, with newer features but still a reasonable amount of testing. Newest is the developer preview channel, where code will be frequently updated and much more raw, and where Google expects some features to fail and be withdrawn.
Google expects to issue new developer preview versions roughly every couple weeks and new beta releases roughly monthly, Rakowski said.
Major new features
Version 2.0.156.1 includes many new features besides Greasemonkey support. Among them:
• Autocomplete, so Chrome can remember what you've typed into Web forms and enter them again. "A lot of people asked for that. It turns out it's more complicated than it seems on the surface," Rakowski said.
• Full-page zoom, so that using Ctrl+ and Ctrl- to increase or decrease elements on a Web page works better. Before, only text grew or shrank, but now other elements do, too.
• Browser profiles, so you can set up a browser configuration with particular settings such as bookmarks and cookies.
• The ability to import bookmarks from the Google Bookmarks site.
• Autoscroll, so clicking a mouse's middle button, then moving the mouse, lets you slide around larger pages. This is handy for panning around large images without constantly zooming in and out.
• Faster Safe Browsing, a feature to issue warnings about sites that may conduct phishing attacks or other malicious behavior.
• Under the hood, the update gets a new version of the open-source WebKit engine for converting a Web page's descriptive HTML and CSS code into the page displayed on a computer. Chrome's current stable release uses the same WebKit version as is used in Apple's Safari 3.1, but the new Chrome developer preview uses WebKit 528.8, which is faster and supports features such as CSS canvas drawing for 2D shapes such as lines on maps or custom-generated charts.
• An update of Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine from version 0.3.9.3 to 0.4.6.0. JavaScript is used for more elaborate Web pages, and the new version is faster, Rakowski said.
Missing from the new version is support for automatic discovery of Web site subscriptions through RSS and Atom "feed" technology. Google has mapped out feed support; the company plans to add it in the version 2 time frame, Rakowski said.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
That said, FireFox v3 is pretty solid, even for the tabularly insane (I regularly keep 40-50 tabs open).
User profiles, loving that, so useful for me when i use the same site across several profiles.
Also, a little visual change on the bookmarks bar.
It is very tiny, but it is noticeable if you place an older version next to it.
I love the "docking" and tiling windows feature.
This thing is fantastic for comparing or working with several sites.
Now i am not limited by Explorer taskbars not having browser functionality.
Drag a tab to the center of the left / right / bottom.
If you drag it directly to the center, it will half the tabs width (or height) and place it on whatever part you dragged it to.
But if you drag it along the side of the screen before reaching the center, you can tile the tab to the main Window.
I hope they go further with this and add a native split-tab view.
There are a few weird bugs here and there, but it was expected.
The only ones i've noticed so far were some weird "shadow-clone" text from titles on Slashdot, and another strange bug on Myspace with sections titles backgrounds being fractured. (either the images being weirdly offset, or the HTML part)
The Element Inspector still has some strange bugs... but even then, you can always use FireBug Lite i guess.
Now that Greasemonkey is there, you could probably hook it to any websites you want. (hook it by default, but only activate it if you add #your-word-of-choice onto the end of the URL?)
The profiles have appeal--I'll have to think about that. I'd like a password-protected one where I can save passwords for bank accounts etc. without as much worry.
I also discovered what I think is a new feature. If you close a window, then open a new tab, it offers the option of reopening your previous window, multiple tabs and all.
By that time many will have given up on, or forgotten about Chrome. Get to it Google. Now.
Annoyance #1
Go to ebay, search Fishing or anything that will return a long list, scroll to the bottom of the list and click an item. Now click the back button to return to the long list. First you will see the TOP of the list again, within a second or 2, it will move back to the original spot. Now if you are impatient and slightly scroll you mouse, you are stuck at whatever spot you just moved. Sometimes it just wouldn?t move after many seconds. That is really bad for the Black Friday shopping folks.
Yea Firefox also have the Annoyance #1, not as bad.
Annoyance #2
If you have Yahoo email? again scroll thru your list of mails, read any one of them, then Back to the list?and W.T.F?.you have to refresh the page to see the list of again.
IE is a slug but at least is comfortable once you get used to it?s speed.
IE is terrible in every way, especially 7.
Although I'm a minority , I just love how safari handles bookmarks
and it has a really good Website compatibility {compared to opera}
low ram usage {compared to firefox}
UI {is good enough but could use a few improvements}
search Sux though {which is why I use FF in conjunction }
Chrome is good but too much google emphasis !
it's hell of a lot better than IE for sure {have you even used it ?}
I'll agree with you on the way safari handles Bookmarks is pretty cool, i have to use it at work on the imac. But its not enough to make me use it.
Extensions were new thing of FireFox - and FireFox was built ground up with extensions in mind.
Chrome already jump at once over too many hops. Give them some time.
The difference between Opera and Chrome is that Opera is quite backward on many things. Opera remains niche browser solely because of decisions its makers have made. If Google would want to promote Chrome to wider audience it would obviously make it also usable by wider audience.
Sucks, but how it goes.
"As Chrome develops, Google will "expose more capabilities, then expose containers where can you have your own toolbar-like thing. You'll see it evolve over time." "
Yeah... and finally endup with exact features of FF or IE. I seriosly don't think a need for another browser. I just see Chrome as a very basic browser right now and claiming speed or performance or whatever since all it does is just basic page rendering. More you add features , plugins, it's going to be similar to FF.
What's not in matured FF or IE, chrome is going to introduce newly to make it different?
Also, doesn't Firefox/Mozilla get most of their funding from Google? You would think that the writing is on the wall for them. The only thing saving them is probably their market share vs. IE that Google does not want to give back to Microsoft.
And don't forget that Google is really an ad-serving company masquerading as a search/cloud-computing company. They'd pull the plug on their Mozilla deal at GREAT expense, as the tech-savvy/tech movers and shakers are FF users first and foremost. Some use Chrome as well, surely, and some have even entirely booted FF, though I can't imagine why. Regardless, barring the impossible dream of being the IE default search engine, their Mozilla deal is their best guarantee not only of folks continuing to use Google searches just by default (if not by conscious choice), but having the KEY people in the online world use them. They don't just get eyeballs, they get the eyeballs of folks who will drive traffic to Google advertisers. Maybe Chrome eventually gets to a user level at which they feel they can go without the remaining Firefox devotees, but as I said above, so far, I think that's a pipe dream at best.
- by mdtrot January 17, 2009 8:43 AM PST
- Safari is the fastest on my Vista64 machine. IE7 is agonizingly slow. Safari is a bit faster than IE7.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(28 Comments)The only problem with Safari is that it doesn't work right on some sites, and it seems like after I browse for a while, clicking on favorites doesn't work anymore, and I have to close and re-open it.
I wish FF was a fast as Safari.