I Google Chrome

Many have theorised that Google Chrome is the first part of a ‘Google Internet Operating System’. The idea is that the only application you really need to run on your computer is your web browser – everything else is web based. 

One feature in Google Chrome that demonstrates this paradigm is the ‘Application Shortcuts’. I like to keep GMail open all the time, so that I always have access to my mail. But when I’m looking at my mail, I don’t need an address bar, I don’t need access to Chrome settings, I just want to see my email. 

This is what a Chrome Application Shortcut does. Opening an application shortcut brings up a new Chrome window, with no address bar, no bookmarks, navigation buttons, tab bar or Chrome settings buttons. As much of the window real-estate as possible is used to display the web page – and it really does seem like it is running as its own application. 

So how do you create and use Application Shortcuts? Go the the web application you want to make a shortcut for, click on the Google Chrome ‘Page Options’ button (next to the wrench) and select ‘Create Application Shortcuts…’. You can then create a shortcut on the Desktop, Quick Launch Bar or in the Start Menu. Opening any of the newly created shortcuts will open your Web Application in a new window. It’s that easy!

Ctrl + F is the standard method of bringing up a search box in pretty much every application I use. Firefox has another method of searching the current page – Type to Search. Anytime when the focus isn’t on some kind of input element, just type a word to search the current page for that text. Now that this option is not available in Chrome, I realise how much I used it and how much I miss it.

Other than that, the page search in Chrome is quite good, as expected since Google is a search company. Highlighting all matchs by default is useful, and stating how many matches exist on the current page is a feature so basic and obvious I can’t believe it isn’t implemented in Firefox. The only other options lacking in Chrome are ‘Match Case’, as provided by most other browsers, and ‘Match Whole Word’, provided by Opera and Internet Explorer. 

I would also like to see regular expression matching as an advanced page search option. Being able to include options such as ‘Any Letter’, ‘Any Number’, or ‘Any Whitespace’ in a page search would be useful in many and varied different applications.

As someone who does some simple web design and programming, the look and feel of web pages is important to me. And when I want to lay something out in a specific way, I find that the best way to learn is by seeing what other people have done. But diving head first into 500 lines of css and html is no mean feat, especially since it is rarely well commented.

That’s why it surprises me that I’ve never seen something like the Google Chrome Element Inspector before. It is such a handy tool for seeing how a page is laid out, and which properties each element has inherited. It is incredibly detailed, showing every property, including javascript, that is available for each element. Any developer not making use of the Chrome Element Inspector is probably wasting time. Chrome will make you more productive!

The Element Inspector can be accessed by right clicking just about anywhere on a page and selecting ‘Inspect Element.’ Is is also accessible through the page menu, via the JavaScript Console in Developer options. We’ll be looking at the Element Inspector more later. But for now, have a look. I guarantee you will learn something!

Pop-Up blockers are a standard feature of the modern web browser. It almost makes you wonder why pop-up advertisements even still exist. But they do, so someone must still be making money from them.

The only problem is, that sometimes technology makes mistakes, and sites with legitimate pop-up windows get blocked. The hassle is then, how do I get to this window. As far as I am aware, all the major browsers do provide a mechanism for viewing these windows, but all are not created equal. Internet Explorer 7 requires you to ‘Temporarily Allow Pop-Ups’, after which the page will be reloaded, along with any pop-ups. Reloading the page is often not desired and sometimes not possible (think bank or shopping transactions).

Firefox has a better method, giving an Options button, and letting you chose individual windows to allow. Click the page title and the window will appear. Or, one click can close the yellow information bar instantly.

Chrome takes a novel approach, which is certainly not perfect, but provides another option. With some refinement, I think it would become my preferred method.

When Chrome blocks a pop-up, it shows a blue bar at the bottom of the screen, labelled ‘Blocked Pop-up’. Continue working and leave the site, the blue bars disappear. Click the x to make them disappear immediately. Or, if you want to see the window, click and drag the blue bar, and instantly your window appears. The width of the blue bar also represents the size of the window, which may give you a clue as to whether it is the pop-up window you are looking for.

The system is certainly not perfect. The blue bar is very big and distracting. It could be smaller, perhaps slightly transparent, and generally less conspicous. Multiple pop-ups also tend to be layered on top of each other, such that it is impossible to tell how many windows are there. That is not so much of a problem, but it leads to the next problem – there’s no way of closing all the blue bars at once.

Just a little more polish, and I think it’ll be fantastic!

One of my favourite features of Chrome is something very minor, and something I doubt I’d have noticed had it not been pointed out to me.

As is quite common throughout computing, Chrome has a ‘Loading’ animation. In Chrome, I call it the Spinning Glow Worm, and it’s in the tab, next to the page title. The unique feature that I love in Chrome is that it spins both ways – anti-clockwise means data is being uploaded, or a page is being requested, and clockwise means that the page is being downloaded. I believe the speed of rotation also relates to transfer speed.

This is such a simple little thing, but it is so much easier to see and understand than what you get in Firefox, with ‘Waiting for….’ or ‘Transferring Data From…’ in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. And, you can see the Glow Worm for all tabs that you have in your current window. Handy!