1st day evaluation of Google Chrome Browser

One word. Disappointing. Yesterday when I read about the launch of the Google Chrome browser, I was excited. I am quite a fan of Google products and I anticipated good stuff. Especially when it claims to use memory more efficiently, I thought I would be hooked. To put things into perspective, I am currently using Mozilla Firefox 3 as my primary browser and keep Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 for certain obstinate websites. And so, let's proceed though I scarcely know where to begin. As the points come to me then. As it turned out, the promise regarding more efficient memory usage did not materialize to my satisfaction. I observe significant discrepancies between the memory usages reported by Windows Task Manager and Google Chrome's own task manager. The former reported more. Chrome's task manager in nerd mode also does not allow us to sort in order of ascending/descending memory usage. Apparently, it is not nerdy enough. No sorting is available for the simple mode too. When listing the activated plugins, it also does not show which particular tabs activated them. Like right now, I have active-x and shockwave initiated and I don't understand why they are being used. Contrary to Google Chrome's claim that it would be faster, I find the speed only as good as Mozilla Firefox's. Of course, if it is trying to beat Microsoft Internet Explorer, well, practically all popular browsers beat it. I find Chrome's options panel to be ridiculously simplistic to the extent that only a few things can be customized. For instance, it is currently opening all new tabs to the right of the active one. I hate this. My current Firefox setting is such that new tabs are spawned towards the end. This makes more sense to me since we can then intuitively know where the new tabs are. With Chrome, you need to first find where your active tab is in the hierarchy of tabs then click the tab on its right. You also cannot choose to automatically delete browsing data upon browser closing. You also cannot choose to be warned when you close with multiple tabs on (multiple tabs on tend to imply you have exited accidentally). There is another disturbing thing. In Chrome's options panel, under "Change proxy settings", this actually links to the settings for Microsoft Internet Explorer! I am not sure if this is a bug but it certainly rocked my assumption that Google Chrome is a standalone browser. It also feels that Google is ripping Microsoft and being so clumsy at that. To clear my browsing data In Firefox, I can simply press Ctrl-Shift-Del. This shortcut is so neat and makes things efficient. I do not know if there is a similar one for Chrome - I tried the same command and it didn't work. And so, we have to rely on the "Clear browsing data..." link accessible from the spanner icon. Even in this "Clear browsing data..." panel, I find issue. The "Clear saved password" box is not checked by default. No "last setting" is remembered either since I checked it once and the next time round, the box is unchecked again. Granted that I have opted to never save passwords in the options panel but a more reassuring way is to gray out that box with a default check. There is also no about:config or similar for Chrome, unlike Firefox. You can customize so few things that Chrome is beginning to feel as stifling as Internet Explorer. For instance, I can't choose to open my internet radio tab as a tab in the same browsing window. By default, it "pops up" as a separate stand-alone window on Windows Taskbar. It does allow me to "Show as tab" but that just endows the additional window with browsing capability. No sane person would enjoy cluttering his Windows Taskbar; I am no different. I prefer to keep everything within one browser window which Google Chrome fails at this point. With my internet radio playing, I notice that while I am doing things in other tabs such as inspecting element or even when I am just closing a tab, the radio window will hang. I will then have the music repeated in an irritating fashion till the hang passes. Occasionally, it hangs too when I initiate or switch to other Windows applications. In case anyone asks, I still have loads of free memory. Currently, double-clicking on the empty space on the right of tabs gives a new tab in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. In Google Chrome, it shrinks the browser window which is so meaningless. To open a new tab, you have to click on the small "+" icon which is dangerous near to the "x" of the last tab. Right clicking on the empty space does not provide any shortcut to open a new tab too. Unlike both Firefox and Internet Explorer, we also cannot choose which icons we hope to include on the toolbar. Other than the addition or exclusion of the home button, you have to take the default icons as they come. I find the "New tab" shortcut icon I added to my Firefox toolbar to be extremely useful. Chrome does not allow me to add that. Firefox has its star on the right of the address bar - the one that allows you to quickly add bookmarks (Internet Explorer does not have this). Please make up your mind, Google. If you want to convert Firefox users as well, moving the star to the other end is not gonna win you points. One reason why Firefox is so successful among power users is its accommodation of extensions. Given Google's support of Firefox, I don't understand how it can miss this point. I would hope to see all the Firefox extensions ported over to Chrome. For instance, one of the extensions I rely heavily on is one that gives me mouse gesture capability. For those who make more efficient use of their mice, this definitely breaks Google Chrome. This is also one of the main reasons why I would not want to make Chrome my main browser. I may still keep it around for occasional variety sake or when I feel like having simultaneous browsing sessions (e.g. Firefox + Internet Explorer + Chrome). I love the awesome bar that comes with Firefox 3. To fully utilize it, I added sites I want to keep to my bookmarks. However, I deliberately leave them "unsorted" as I do not relish having an overflowing bookmarks list. When Chrome imported all my bookmarks from Firefox, all the unsorted ones got added to the bottom of the list. The result? A hideous mess. At the bookmarks bar (this is the one on top which is enabled by default), it permanently shows "For quick access, place your bookmarks here in the bookmarks bar". I don't practice favoritism for certain sites. All my favorites are on my bookmarks list. What now? I can't choose not to have favorite favorites? That permanent line, even if in gray, only serves to irritate. The only reason I enabled the bookmarks bar is because there is no other way to get to my bookmarks! Google took away that important icon/link and placed it on the bookmarks bar. In case you have not noticed, this bar eats into the real estate it freed by omitting the Title bar which I do find useful for showing complete page description. The navigation toolbar which provides quick access is also gone. If you open Internet Explorer and Chrome side by side, you will see that this design is obviously an attempt to clone Internet Explorer in a better way. I also don't understand why the Google Installer process is running. Further to that, it repeatedly asked my firewall permission to access the internet. As far as I can see, it did nothing before I gave it permission and it still did nothing after I consented. I wonder what the jiggery pokery is. When I accessed "About Chrome", the installer asked permission again and it checked the Chrome version - this at least is understandable. The incognito mode may seem like a nice touch at first glance but is it really useful? As it is, we can always clear the data after use. Like I mentioned, a simple Ctrl-Shift-Del in Firefox would do the trick. It might be useful only if I choose to surf sensitive and mass sites in the same session. Normally I don't do that anyway. If say, I need to log on to Internet Banking, I rather play it safe by doing it in a standalone session. If you are sure you will always remember to go incognito when need be, then fine, this feature of Chrome might suit you. But hang on, most banking sites do not support non-IE browsers. Ever since I switch to Firefox 3, I can no longer do banking with it (Firefox 2 can). My testing shows that Chrome is also not supported by my banks. I also don't like the way Google Chrome displays the downloaded files. Chrome keeps the files on the download bar on the tab they were downloaded from. The history is not synchronized across all tabs which is kinda counter-intuitive. For instance, I am downloading something from one of the many sites I am surfing - I can't see it immediately. I need to find the tab I downloaded from or go to the download manager which breaks the "flow" of things. There is also no option for me to clear the history of a particular downloaded file. I am pleased though that Ctrl-J is still the shortcut to call up download manager. Alright, I have said so many bad points so let's be fair and touch on the good. I like Chrome's clean overall design. When you press Ctrl-f, a cute find box would appear but it is really no biggie and I much prefer Firefox's find as I type. The status "bar" is also dynamic and this frees up space at the bottom which increases page real estate. I also like that we can search directly in the address bar. This is neat and Firefox should incorporate it in the next build. I like to touch on the incognito mode again here. Previously, if you want to log on to multiple Gmail accounts at the same time, you have to use different browsers (after Gmail changed things). So you can log in to account A using Firefox and account B using Internet Explorer. With the incognito mode, you can initiate two separate sessions (one using normal mode and the other using incognito). Unfortunately, only one incognito window can be opened. When you try to open a second one, it just opens a new tab in your current incognito window. Perhaps, Chrome may want to introduce an always-incognito mode to compensate for its lack of auto-clear history upon exit. Final thought Quite disappointed. I had considered switching from Firefox to Google Chrome but now that I have finally accessed the ware, I think it still has quite a way to go. It might possibly steal away Internet Explorer users (which I think is Google's main aim anyway) but for those who are Firefox fans, Google still has to try harder. If I give Firefox 5 stars, I would give Google Chrome 3 stars at most. If you are using Internet Explorer and thinking whether to switch to Chrome, I would say go ahead. But if you are on Firefox, hold tight for your ship is still the studier one.

Review of LOOP extension for Firefox

If you are always printing PDF files, check out LOOP for Firefox - the new kid on the block for off-the-fox PDF conversion. The PDF (Portable Document Format) used to be the exclusive domain of Adobe. Then, if you are not willing to fork out the cash, you can only read but not create PDF files. But since quite a long while back, many alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Writer has sprung up. And among them, we have many free choices such as the in-built version in OpenOffice and PDF printers such as the CutePDF which I am currently using. So how exactly is LOOP different? Let's talk about webpages. For OpenOffice, we would need to first do a manual copying of the web content and then paste it into OpenOffice Writer. Following that, we have to save the entire document in PDF format. Alright, so 2 quite tedious steps here. For CutePDF, we would just print the webpages like how we would print on our physical printers. The difference is that we print to CutePDF instead of spooling to the real printer. This is just a one-step pretty-effortless process. As for LOOP, you get to play with an icon on your navigation toolbar. One of my complaints is that we need to log in to our LOOP account before printing is possible. Creating a LOOP account is quite a breeze but I find the need to log in each time I need to print PDF files to be quite a chore. In this sense, it is not as clear-cut as e.g. CutePDF. Another complaint is that though we can remove the files after printing, there is no certainty that the files might not be backed up somewhere. Those concerned about privacy may be worried about this possible breach. If I am printing a sensitive document, I would need to accept the risk of it being intercepted by LOOP. But of course, I am just trying to be paranoid here - LOOP is likely not doing anything "extra". :P I also find the "add url" option handy yet inconvenient. Using LOOP, we can just browse to a page and click "add url" for auto-conversion of the webpage. However, what I would love to see is for us to paste the URL directly to LOOP for it to do the printing. If I already know the URL, I would rather just print straight than having to visit the page first. Since an advantage LOOP boasts is background printing, it makes more sense not hogging up the bandwidth going to a page we just want to print but not view. As for why I like LOOP, it is the option to arrange/reorder the pages I print. OpenOffice can do this but CutePDF can't. However, I don't see how this option can be very useful (though it is definitely nice to have). There is also the option to combine multiple sites into 1 PDF file. This is certainly more useful since if I use CutePDF, I would need 10 files for 10 pages instead of a neater combined 1. Using OpenOffice, rearranging is possible though I would say that printing PDF files for webpages using OpenOffice is a rather unorthodox way of getting things done. Now let us look at printing PDF files for non-webpage files on our computer such as a Word or PowerPoint document. For OpenOffice, the format we are printing from would need to be "compatible". If you can't open it, you can't print it. As for CutePDF, it would be a clear winner over LOOP unless you need the file-combining option. While experimenting with printing a discussion at myLot , I managed to compare the difference between LOOP and CutePDF. You can see the LOOP result here . As for the CutePDF one, see here . To begin, LOOP set the default viewing to "fit page" unlike CutePDF which uses "fit width" - which I feel is better for reading the details. Whichever, even after I apply "fit width" to the LOOP's version, I find the text relatively smaller than CutePDF's. In fact, I find it too small to read easily - I need to manually enlarge the text size to read. Another peculiar thing is that though I am logged in to myLot , LOOP prints an unlogged-in version. This means that LOOP is not really printing in a WYSIWYG manner. LOOP wants you to go to the URL in question, then it will use this address and go to it itself again to do the printing - this is the only possibility I can think of for the page to be printed unlogged-in. I must give credit though that at least for this experiment, LOOP prints so much nicer and neater than CutePDF. For those who do a lot of PDF-printing off webpages, I think LOOP is worth a look. You might like it better than a normally PDF-printer. If you need to combine and rearrange pages often, this is also for you. For me though, I find needing to log in a hassle and I don't want an extension installed that I won't likely use often. So for now, I think I will give LOOP a miss and stick to CutePDF. I might install it again when I next need to combine pages and that's about it. :-) Update: Tracy Powell from Drawloop Technologies has replied to some of the questions I raised in my review. You can click on the comments to read it. :D

How to stop losing text you type because of a glitch or browser crash

This article is dedicated to myLotters at www.mylot.com . However, it is equally applicable to anyone who frequently deals with online forms such as those you encounter when doing postings at forums. Ever closed a tab accidentally, only to lose the long response you have typed? Ever wrote a long reply and posted it only to encounter a server error? Ever spent a good hour sharing your life story only to have your written thoughts lost due to a browser crash? Well, enters the "Textarea Backup" script. I cannot take credit for this script as it is written by Dan Brook. What this script does is that it retains text entered into text area fields. The backup is transparent. You will see the effect of the script kicking in when the page is reloaded for whatever reason - be it browser crash, unintended exit, server error, etc. When you enter text into a text area, it is saved under the following conditions: At each keystroke. Every second. When the text area loses focus. The stored text is then dropped when its form is submitted successfully. It doesn't even matter whether you have shut down your browser or switched off your computer, your last text will be retained. Of course, if you are typing something illegal into the form, you wouldn't want to install this script that may help retain evidence of your criminal activities. But hey, we are all clean here, aren't we? So if you deal with online forms frequently, I would strongly suggest this script. This is a definite must for myLotters as it will save you a lot of frustration when you encounter the ever-persistent message glitch. Oh yes, not to mention the invalid characters glitch. And the discussion posting glitch. And the.. well, you can make up your own list. :P The script is available at http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/7671 . This article assumes that you are using Firefox as your browser. If you are not, it's time to change. You can get Firefox at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox . To use this "Textarea Backup" script, you will need to install the Greasemonkey firefox extension first. Just go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748 and click on the "Install" link. If you think all this sounds troublesome, I assure you it is not. It's just a few mins of work at most and the benefit is tremendous. Specially for gmail users: Go to Tools >> Greasemonkey >> Manage User Scripts... Then edit your textarea backup script and add this line to it. http*://mail.google.tld/mail/* This will prevent the script from e.g. backing up your gmail address fields and all. I am using an older version of the script myself and remarks for the new version seem to suggest that this has been fixed. Whichever, I think it doesn't hurt to play it safe. :P

8 Firefox extensions you don't want to live without

I am not going to start a browser war here. I am just going to assume that the entire IT-savvy world is using Firefox. If you are not yet there, there is still hope. Please seek it at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox . *chuckle* And if you are using Firefox, you will need to add on extensions. I used the word "need" because not loading Firefox with extensions is really not doing it justice. Extensions literally e-x-p-a-n-d the capability of this already-powerful browser. Here, allow me to introduce 8 extensions that I am currently using. You risk your neck if you try to take any away from me. :P #1: All-in-One Gestures Get this extension at either https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12 or http://perso.orange.fr/marc.boullet/ext/extensions-en.html . This extension allows you to further exploit your mouse. There are some wonderful shortcuts that we can customize. (I will share more in a coming article... stay tuned!) #2: Clear Private Data... Get this extension at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1280 . I like it because it helps to clean my browser with just 2 clicks. With it, I can clear my cache and cookies easily. Good for those who are paranoid about privacy. ^^ #3: CoLT Get this extension at either https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1812 or http://www.borngeek.com/firefox/colt . CoLT adds two menu items to the browser's context menu that will show when you right-click on a hyperlink. If you need to copy regularly underlying link locations or link text, this is a very handy extension. #4: Download Statusbar Get this extension at http://downloadstatusbar.mozdev.org . This extension replaces the default download window. Instead of viewing the status of your downloads by pressing ctrl-j, you can cut to the chase by monitoring the progress at your status bar. You also get several other useful options without needing to click elsewhere. #5: Fasterfox Get this extension at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1269 or http://fasterfox.mozdev.org . This extension provides performance and network tweaks for Firefox. If you are always complaining of slow surfing, you need to get this. Enable the "Turbo Charged" preset and you are all set to fly. #6: Greasemonkey Get this extension at either https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748 or http://www.greasespot.net . It allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript. There are many free scripts available at http://userscripts.org that need Greasemonkey to interface. (I will share more in a coming article... stay tuned!) #7: IE Tab Get this extension at either https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419 or http://ietab.mozdev.org . I know I have said that Firefox beats other browsers hands-down. However, there remain some obstinate websites that need Microsoft Internet Explorer to work properly. This extension will then come in useful since you can get IE tabs within Firefox itself. #8: Inline Google Definition Get this extension at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2083 . I simply love this extension. Just with a simple highlighting of the word and choosing the command in the context menu, I get the definition straight away in a very pretty popup window that can be resized and floated. It is the equivalent of typing "define:xxx" in google search. PS.: If you need any help with any of the 8 extensions I have recommended, please feel free to contact me for free assistance. ^^