I have downloaded the new Google browser, Chrome, and have been testing it on the various web sites that I manage. So far all seems well, but some of the font rendering in Chrome seems distinctly inferior to that in Firefox. Compare this site with the two browsers to see what I mean. John Scalzi also rates Chrome as “meh”.
On the other hand, the advantages of Chrome are supposed to be under the hood, not technoflash. Tim Anderson has been peeking at memory usage and is favorably impressed.
I’m hoping that Chrome will prove more of a threat to IE than to Firefox. Because it comes from well known brand rather than an open source community (though it is actually open source itself) it may get past the Great Gods In White Coats who staff corporate IT departments, and get used in business as well as by home users. Also the morons who insist on coding web sites specifically for IE will find it harder to explain to even the dimmest pointy-haired boss why they should cut themselves off from Google users.
I’m playing with it too. A lot of sites seem to load a bit faster. More later.
I’m not seeing any difference (got this page open in Chrome and Firefox both right now), but maybe you’ve done something with your Firefox font preferences that I haven’t? Or you’ve got some fonts installed that I don’t?
Lee :
Speed will be a function of the complexity of the site, particularly with regard to Java use. Site designed that used to be stupidly complex will be OK under Chrome. It remains to be seen whether people will now create sites that only work well with Chrome.
David:
Chrome looks better on my laptop than on my desktop, but the blog title is still it bit scruffy.