Try Google Chrome

Topic: Google Chrome|Level: Beginner|Type: Informational

I had done a couple previous posts about various web browsers...
http://nicksnetniche.blogspot.com/2009/04/web-browsers.html
http://nicksnetniche.blogspot.com/2010/01/go-away-ie.html
http://nicksnetniche.blogspot.com/2010/01/go-away-ie-part-2.html
...but thought I'd mention a few things specifically with my current browser of choice, Google Chrome.

First of all, Google Chrome (http://chrome.google.com) and Firefox (http://www.firefox.com) are both very good browsers. Firefox is a bit more powerful than Chrome with more add-ons. However, for general web browsing Chrome is my browser of choice.

Fast
Chrome is fast. Like, really fast! Everything it does from initial loading, to parsing and displaying pages, to processing and running javascript. And the real surprising thing is that that speed doesn't seem to come at much cost as compared to the other browsers out there.

Middle-Clicks
Most browsers support middle-clicks (or Ctrl+Clicks) as well. This very handy feature allows you to middle-click (or click your mouse-wheel down) on a link and it will open that link in a new tab. Or you can middle-click a tab to close it.

Tabs
Pretty much all browsers support tabs now to be able to have multiple web pages open concurrently. But not many people realize just how powerful the tabs are in Chrome. For example, you can re-arrange them by simply clicking and dragging them in the tab strip at the top of the window. Or you can even pull a tab out of the tab strip to separate that tab in to it's completely own window or drag a tab from one window in to the tab strip of another.

Extensions
Chrome supports "Extensions" (like Firefox's "add-ons"). Which are small applets that you can browse a gallery of, and add to Chrome to add or customize functionality. To browse the many available extensions simply click the Wrench icon in the upper-right, then select Tools -> Extensions.

Bookmarks

or Favorites. Everybody knows what these are. But something you may not realize is in Chrome you can Bookmark a page by very simply clicking the little Star button to the left of the address bar. You'll then be presented with an option on where to save the Bookmark. By default, new Bookmarks are added to the "Bookmarks Bar". Which is a list of bookmarks on the New Tab window (if you use the New Tab window instead of a standard Homepage). You can also have fine control of the organization of your bookmarks by using the Bookmarks Manager which can be accessed from the Wrench -> Bookmarks Manager.

Super Smart Address Bar a.k.a. the Omnibar
The address bar in Chrome is very powerful. Not only can you type website URLs as you'd expect, but from this bar you can also perform web searches (type a search and hit Enter and it will be sent to your configured search engine of choice and you'll be immediately taken to the search results page). Or you can start typing the name of a website you've previously bookmarked and the suggestions that appear below the address bar will include any matching bookmarked sites in it.
Or a very cool feature I just recently noticed is once you preform a search on a website (like a shopping site such as amazon.com or reference site like dictionary.com ), Chrome will usually be able to figure out how searches are performed on that site. Then once you've done a search on the site once, all you have to do is typing something like "amazon {tab} something {enter}" in your address bar. When you hit {tab} a box appears that says something like [Search amazon.com:] and then you just type what to search for on that site and hit Enter. You're taken right to the search results of that site for whatever you're looking for.

Synchronization
Most people use more than one computer and with Google Chrome you can have your Bookmarks, Preferences and Themes synchronized to your Google account and then synchronized to your other Chrome installs with syncing set up. This feature can be found by going to the Wrench -> Options -> Personal Stuff. And the first group on that page.

Process Separation
This is a more technical thing, but basically each tab, extension and plug-in in Chrome is handled by a separate process in the operating system. What this basically means is that if something does go wrong and a particular tab or extension has to be closed, only that one thing is closed; not the entire browser.