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Google Chrome & How to Enable Home Button

When it comes to browsing the web, there is a new kid on the block. It’s Google, the 10 year birthday of google (the mega evil search engine company), and they’ve decided to make the other big boys Microsoft a little bit more scared - welcome Chrome.

What is Chrome?

Chrome is a new browser which uses the webkit browser engine (same as safari and very much like gecko), and boasts a handful of new features, design concepts and new ways to break what’s already been fixed (or not been fixed yet).

Whats new?

One of it’s bold claims is that it’s designed for new web in mind, the likes of bigger, more complex web applications - however my first thoughts on this comment is that this is a little bold, as web applications are server side, and only use the browser as the user interface, and for web appliactions to better, they would surely have to design themselves for the ‘Chrome’ browser only, which seeing as it doesn’t have a noticeable share in the browser wars yet, seems unlikely.

It apparently uses less ram than any other browser, but this is only partly true. Chrome has a unique way of dealing with web page tabs, each new tab is a new process, and can be ended individualy, The idea of this is that you can end one tab if it crashes, and the rest are un-affected, we know how much trouble it is when you’re browser crashes! However the only critism of this is, that although this one tab uses less resources than other browsers, combining it with other Chrome processes and its actually more ‘hungry’. But the concept is good.

Searching via the address bar, well to be honest this isn’t new and any browser can do it, but it does default to your country’s search like google.co.uk (for uk).

Application shortcut’s - A gimic in my opinion, just like favourites for your desktop isn’t it.

Dynamic tabs - this is done on firefox, IE7 and safari.

Incognito mode is a mode which is given so you don’t store cookies and surf with privacy, I’m not entirely conviced by the point of this feature - it’s supposed to store no information on your computer when you close the browser, but your information isn’t safe from google…

Google Chrome is supposed to be a secure web browser, unfortunatley we cannot tell the flaws of it until it has been used for a while, however phishing warnings and malware website warnings are nothing new either.

The other features actaully involve google collecting data on you, such as the instant bookmarks and frequently visited webpage, and with google’s track record for data hording and mad terms and conditions.

Here we’ve posted some terms which we suggest you read for google chrome:

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ou retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

Update: google has updated its terms and conditions, brushing off the above old t&c’s as a mistake… please view their t&c for the latest.

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Google has nicely given you your copyrighted content, but states in bold that if you submit with there browser you basically wave it, and it belongs to them, so by submitting a comment on say a blog, you’re comment is then Google’s content.

Lovely…

Ok time for a quick Google Chrome Tutorial, I call it.

WHAT THE FUCK, WHERE IS THE F’in HOME BUTTON?

This took me ages to find…and its not enabled by default, you are not mad.

1. Click the spanner, on the top right.

2. Click Options

3. Under the basics tab, Click on  Show Home Button on Toolbar

4. Click Close

5. You’ll see the one simple button next to refresh.

For god sake this was a stupid usablity flaw.

Due to the lack of privacy Google offers & the fact that not many new features are actually new, I will keep Chrome for web browser testing purposes ONLY.

Many thanks

Wuup Team

Related Wuup Stuff:

• 6 July, 2008 -- Google & Your Data
• 28 July, 2008 -- Cool Cuil Puts Two Fingers Up at Google
• 19 July, 2008 -- Use Google Adwords Locality
• 16 July, 2008 -- Yahoo PPC in the Dark Age
• 15 July, 2008 -- Pay Per Click Nightmare

© 2008 Wuup.