Binary Balance

In my previous post I wrote about how I have now made the switch – full time – to Chrome as my default web browser. I’d just about managed to sort out all the extra functionality I needed from existing Chrome extensions, but there was one little Firefox Add-on that I found myself missing, it’s called Backpack Pages written by Ben Mills. Read more...

Late last year, I wrote a post entitled ‘Is it time to chrome my web browsing?’ wherein I took a look at how Chrome stacked up in comparison to Firefox, specifically in relation to the Firefox Add-ons that I used and could not do without. At that time, I decided that – for me – the day was not yet ripe for a move.

Fast forward to ten months later and the situation has changed. For the last four months or so, I’ve been trialling Chrome as my default web browser for both day-to-day browsing and development. Enough time has passed now that I can say with some certainty that I won’t be going back. And it seems that I am not alone as Chrome is set to overtake Firefox as the second most popular browser before the end of this year. Read more...

I remember when I first heard of Google’s new browser, dubbed Chrome. I was sitting at my desk at work, reading the news and for a moment I thought I could almost hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth emanating from clear across the other side of the world at Redmond.

There were some obvious wins for Chrome right out of the gate. Independent processes for tabs meant that if a page crashed it wouldn’t take down the whole browser with it. Security was also enhanced with this model of tab isolation, if I remember correctly. There was the V8 JavaScript engine, tests by Google in September 2008 showed that JavaScript execution in Chrome was about three times faster than Firefox 3.0 and about ten times faster than Internet Explorer 7. There was some debate over the real world applicability of these results, but little doubt that Chrome was kicking ass at JavaScript. A modern browser made to support the quickly burgeoning age of JavaScript heavy web applications. Read more...