Topic: Google Chrome (Read 13126 times)

yyler · « **Reply #140 on:** October 08, 2009, 05:00:13 PM »

Actually, forget it. I hate trying to convince people to like the browser or OS or whatever that I like. It's pointless. Go use Firefox, but if you ever want to learn how to use Chrome I'm here.

Bal · « **Reply #141 on:** October 08, 2009, 05:13:24 PM »

I know how to use it, it is just needlessly obtuse and feature sparse.

SCD · « **Reply #142 on:** October 08, 2009, 05:18:26 PM »

Firefox is my backup browser. Otherwise, chrome's been taking over all the non game programs on my computer. Especially the office suite.

yyler · « **Reply #143 on:** October 08, 2009, 05:42:02 PM »

I guess I don't find it obtuse because I was using Firefox in a way that made it Chrome before Chrome existed. And I find feature sparse a plus. Like I said, I don't miss anything.

Bal · « **Reply #144 on:** October 08, 2009, 06:10:45 PM »

The biggest thing I want is add-on support. Life without proper add-on support is basically a nightmarescape. Also their themes are about at the level of Winamp 2.0 skins.

yyler · « **Reply #145 on:** October 08, 2009, 06:19:02 PM »

Oh yeah, the themes are fucking terrible. I will not deny that.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #146 on:** October 08, 2009, 07:04:03 PM »

Themes are new so good theme makers haven't hit yet. But, I'm a man who links to tinker about with my browser to give it some sweet mods. When I played WoW I had about 50 addons at one point just because I wanted complete control. I will gladly switch to Chrome once it feels like Firefox feels to me. I don't hate it like Bal does, I only consider it half a browser at this point.

Bongo Bill · « **Reply #147 on:** October 08, 2009, 07:25:31 PM »

I would use Chrome exclusively if it had Adblock, Mouseless Browsing, and some way to meaningfully customize the layout (specifically, I like tabs on the bottom in multiple rows). And Xmarks integration. And a navigate up button. And a little Google Reader icon. And.... Well, you get the idea.

In all other respects I've pretty much configured Firefox to run like Chrome. Combined search/address bar (with YubNub as the default search engine, because it is great), menu bar folded into a button. Minimal clutter.

The real strength of Firefox is that the UI can be customized with incredible robustness. Chrome hardly lets you change where the buttons go, much less give you (for example) a button that'll generate a random and very strong password, encrypt it, and upload it to a server with which all your other computers synchronize. I know Google's big thing is that they focus on the web applications and make the browser get out of the way, but there are still some things that just can't be effectively done except as part of the browser itself.

Thad · « **Reply #148 on:** October 29, 2009, 04:22:03 PM »

From a usability perspective, there are arguments for and against combining the search bar with the location bar.

For:

Domain names are becoming an anachronism. Increasingly, people look to search engines rather than the location bar when they want to visit a new site (sometimes to the point of absurdity; I've heard of people plugging domain names into the Google search field, and even people googling Google). The difference between looking for a site by its location and just searching for it is diminishing in users' minds, and it makes perfect sense to eliminate it from users' experience.

Against:

Code: [Select]

wiki metasyntactic variable
See that? If that was how people wanted to interact with their computers, we would have a thread discussing last week's release of DOS 9.2. That's command-line syntax. People don't like that.

Yes, it's very SIMPLE command-line syntax. But end users balk at even simple command-line syntax. Hell, I have a friend who is an expert-level computer user but can't seem to wrap his brain around using quotation marks in Google searches.

Which is to say, hey, typing in a search prefix followed by a search term is easy for guys like you and me (in fact, I was doing it in Konqueror back in 2003), but for an end user it's a whole lot less intuitive than having an icon that tells you where your search term is going.

yyler · « **Reply #149 on:** October 29, 2009, 05:02:29 PM »

I'd actually argue that there are plenty of people who want to use computers like that, do use computers like that, and will continue to. My boyfriend is one, and sometimes I am too. Especially if I am using his computer since it's geared towards that. But it's true that, you know, 90% or whatever amount of computer users don't want to use a computer like that. That I admit.

In some ways the omnibar does make sense because if someone wants to search or just go to a url they can do that and not worry about putting the information in the right box. On the other hand, they may just get stuck while looking for the google box. In any case, they don't have to use search selectors to enjoy the box or get used to it, so saying that having to use them turns off average consumers is probably false, I'd guess, just because I don't think many of them even realize they can change what search engine they use or add/remove search engines.

In the end, most people think a browser is Google anyway, so it doesn't matter because they are probably using IE.

Dooly · « **Reply #150 on:** October 29, 2009, 07:36:29 PM »

Quote from: yyler on October 29, 2009, 05:02:29 PM

In the end, most people think a browser is the Googles anyway, so it doesn't matter because they are probably using IE.

That was a great phrase to hear during my brief stint at T-Mobile tech support from some Hank Hill sounding motherfucker ten minutes past quitting time on a Saturday night.

Kayin · « **Reply #151 on:** October 29, 2009, 08:03:53 PM »

Thats certainly how I use my computer.

Personally I haven't missed firefox one bit.The only plugins I ever used were for pornmongering. Personally I don't even want to use adblock. No script is the only thing I feel is lacking and if I need it, I just open up firefox. In truth though the amount I need it is very very seldom.

Thad · « **Reply #152 on:** October 31, 2009, 10:12:02 PM »

Quote from: yyler on October 29, 2009, 05:02:29 PM

I'd actually argue that there are plenty of people who want to use computers like that, do use computers like that, and will continue to.

Dude, Linux user here. You're preaching to the choir.

The trouble is that preaching to the choir is a poor way to make general-purpose software.

Quote from: yyler on October 29, 2009, 05:02:29 PM

In the end, most people think a browser is Google anyway, so it doesn't matter because they are probably using IE.

Which itself has a search bar.

Well, except that a shitload of people are still using IE6. But that's going to change within the next year or two.

Bongo Bill · « **Reply #153 on:** November 03, 2009, 05:50:45 PM »

You'd be surprised.

Thad · « **Reply #154 on:** November 05, 2009, 08:58:48 PM »

Still stubbornly clinging to 23% of the market 3 years after 7 was released still says a lot about people's unwillingness to upgrade, though. (And, you know, why Microsoft got its ass sued.) And bear in mind those are international figures; IE6 has a higher share in the US than, say, Europe.

Bal · « **Reply #155 on:** November 06, 2009, 06:20:48 AM »

Apparently there's some new Chrome beta out that has some kind of bookmark linking feature no one cares about. Still no add-on support. I suspect this is because Google, an advertisement based company, knows full well that the first add-on to be released would be Ad-Block Chrome. However it is still unacceptable to lack that feature in a modern browser.

Mongrel · « **Reply #156 on:** November 06, 2009, 06:46:39 AM »

Wait... Chrome doesn't have an ad blocker?

Wow. Not with an eleven-foot pole, man.

P.S. I'm on IE 6 right now, but that's because I'm at work. It's junk. I have avoided installing FF, because it's a work computer, but then again I seem to have complete freedom to install anything else on here, so I probably should get on fixing that (of course that's not technically allowed, but yay for no IT oversight at all?)

SCD · « **Reply #157 on:** November 06, 2009, 08:20:33 AM »

It has some ad-block capacity, but it's not as good as firebox.

For what it's worth, I still use chrome as my primary browser.

Brentai · « **Reply #158 on:** November 06, 2009, 10:25:25 AM »

Chrome doesn't support Firefox add-ons; they're apparently either still working on their own add-on system, or else have finished it and nobody's developing for it and Google's fine with that because yeah Ad-Block.

Honestly I think it's a great little lightweight browser for platforms where you wouldn't expect much in the way of extensibility anyway - stuff like netbooks, phones, DSes etc. I just don't want to see that happen because that's the little niche of the market that Opera just barely manages to eke out an existence in, and I'd really hate to see them get swallowed up by Google's bloated "take over every conceivable aspect of the internet" campaign.

Niku · « **Reply #159 on:** November 06, 2009, 10:50:05 AM »

Quote from: Bal on November 06, 2009, 06:20:48 AM

Apparently there's some new Chrome beta out that has some kind of bookmark linking feature no one cares about. Still no add-on support. I suspect this is because Google, an advertisement based company, knows full well that the first add-on to be released would be Ad-Block Chrome. However it is still unacceptable to lack that feature in a modern browser.

Yeah, people who run websites don't deserve to make any revenue off of them. Fuck those guys.

Granted, I know a lot of people favor the noscript approach of only disabling the incredible obnoxious page-replacers or flash ads or embedded youtube ads and whatnot, but there are enough who just block every damn ad that it kinda boggles my mind. Are those innocuous Google text ads really killing your internet experience? Isn't that monkey just begging to be punched?

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Author Topic: Google Chrome (Read 13126 times)