Get Chromed
As software increasingly becomes a service delivered online — think of Gmail — it has become important for Web browsers to be optimised to deliver these applications smoothly and quickly.
The speed of services like Gmail is noticeably faster on browsers whose JavaScript engines — the code base in the browser software used by these apps — have been optimised.
Google recently entered the fray with its own browser, Chrome. Still in beta (not final) form and available only for Windows (for now), we’ve been playing with it since its release in September and, despite some instability, we’ve really started to appreciate it.
Like most other modern browsers, Chrome offers full tabbed browsing, so it’s not necessary to open a new window for each website visited. Rather, websites can be opened in multiple tabs inside the same browser window. But Chrome goes further: if a website inside a tab hangs, Chrome users can close that tab without having to restart the Web browser.
Another feature is a private browsing feature called “incognito mode” — a similar tool exists in Apple’s Safari — that prevents Chrome from storing any information about browsing history. This is great for covering your digital tracks.
But it’s the speed of Chrome’s “V8” JavaScript engine that makes it really impressive. Anyone who makes extensive use of online apps such as Gmail should check it out for this reason alone.
But be aware that the software is still in beta and lacks many features available in browsers that have been around longer. For example, Chrome does not yet support software extensions, which means it’s not as extensible as Firefox.
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