Google Chrome Features that we miss in other Web Browsers

That are some really cool features :)
Seeing memory used by various browsers, and also the Task Manager look some cool additions!

The error page is better rather than a ads filled error page :), it seems that we have found a browser which loads super quick and is really smooth in looks.

Hi Amit, thanks for sharing the review. However, i think i miss the feedburner feedflare (especially stumble this!) at the bottom of your blog feed.

Do you plan to add it back to your new theme?

Cheers.

Yep. Its really a nice browser from Google. It has lots of features even its a beta build.

One more nice thing, try to enter “about:stats” in addressbar and press Enter. ;)

Hope that linux version is made available soon.

Thanks Amit! Nice find.
Since yesterday, I being testing Chrome and I’m pretty impressed with the app. Your tips just makes it more interesting.

great info…always nice to come by here :D

I like the task manager idea…I like that you can view the memory, although I have plenty of apps for that. I’m pretty sure I don’t like their caveat about shared memory. It clearly slants it in the favor of chrome (not adding up all the processes). I haven’t found much Opera isn’t already doing in terms of usability. I imagine it will come down to third party add-ons and site specific problems (ie it only renders correctly in Internet Explorer).
Some cons that i am sure they will add later:
No status bar
Import from FireFox or Opera
address bar drop down

Actually, I immediately noticed the exact opposite, as I pointed out at the end of my own review of Google Chrome ( link ).

Google did its usual trick: analyze what are the best features of each browser, and make them better.

More specifically:

* They didn’t create a new rendering engine, they used an existing one
* They analyzed Safari’s neat GUI tricks and implemented something even better.
* They added an IE8-like domain highlight in the URL.
* They got the Firefox’s AwesomeBar and improved it.
* They got Opera’s Speed Dial and improved it.
* They got IE8′s one-process-per-tab architecture and improved it.
* They didn’t think of a Javascript JIT first, they just made it widely-available first.
* They didn’t think about merging the address bar with the search bar, Mozilla announced it first, but Google released it before they did.
* Safari 4 allows users to create shortcuts for their favorite web apps, but unfortunately it’s only out for developers…

IE8 Beta 2 has “Reopen closed tabs” in new tabs.

No Adblock Plus means no download Chrome.

I just love Chrome. I have been doing most all my browsing on it since installing it. It’s built-in support for Gears is also nice. And, app shortcuts are very appealing (as it takes 3 clicks to make one) and Chrome remembers the size of the window that you had set for each shortcut you create. So I have been able to create shortcuts for Gmail, Google Docs, etc. (it feels as if I am launching Outlook or Office).

Here’s a comparison I did with Firefox:
link

2. Visual Browser History
This is a feature Chrome borrowed from Google Desktop / Google Web History. Type Ctrl+H to open your browser history and search for a term.

Opera can do this unless I’m mistaken. I’ve just never cared about it, so I can’t confirm.

4. Search Your Favorite Websites from the Address Bar

Opera can do this, but there’s a little bit of setup involved.

6. Reopen Website tabs that you closed by mistake

You’ve already stated that Opera can do that, and IE can do it with IE7Pro. Hey, everyone includes Add-ons with Firefox, so why not IE7 as well?

7. Launch Websites from the Start Menu / Quick Launch Bar

Yes, Google Chrome does it a little fancier, by having a specific layout for web applications, and making it easy to tie it in directly to Chrome, but any other browser can do this.

Here’s some things that Chrome cannot do, and as much as I like Chrome over IE7 (I use Opera at home, and IE7 at work. The wife likes IE7 as well), are mouse gestures and Google Toolbar (yes, Opera cannot do this either, but I use it to keep my work bookmarks). Without mouse gestures, closing tabs is god-awful. In Opera, not only do I have mouse gestures, I also have a single location to close tabs/windows. Oh, and Chrome will not only close with tabs open happily, but it does not have a ‘clean slate’ page with no tabs like Opera.

So of your 7 things, 2 of them Opera can do, and 2 Opera and IE7 can do (with addons). So I’m not sure what the point of this blog post is, other than to drive traffic.

Opera has had the reopening of closed tabs for several versions going back to around 2000. It has also had the search from adress bar for any search on any webpage that you can right click in the text field. It also lets you customize the argument you use to search for each and It also integrates those added searches to the address bar functionality that Firefox calls “The Awsome Bar” which came out before “The Awsome Bar”.

While it doesn’t have the “Task Manager for Websites” Opera has built in fault tolerances that more often than not protect the browser when a tab crashes, and I have never in a decade of using Opera had a memory leak while using it.

As for the clean right click menus, for me I find that they lack functionality compared to opera but compared to the somtimes over stuffed Firefox contextual menus I could see how you might appreciate it. To me it is like somebody gutted the browser when I try to use chrome’s contextual menus

How about an article on what Chrome is missing that is in our browsers already? I understand its in beta, but wow, its like it was built with adobe’s air.

Also, to answer one commenters question, no Opera doesn’t do visual history.

Also to correct another comment, Chrome has nothing like Speed Dial. It has a funciton with a similar interface.

as for Chrome improving on things, for the most part I see it as diffrent not better or worse. most of these new features so far I find underwhelming. The only thing I am impressed with is its stability out of the gate, but that is because it is mostly an assembly of other mature technologies.

Amit,
At my age, speed really makes a difference. I run Foxfire, IE8 and now Chrome. The last one outshines the others by about 2 to 1 when it comes to loading the many pages I view in my business.
Thanks again for very useful information.

Hey you frget to mention about “Incognito” know
You’ve gone incognito. Pages you view in this window won’t appear in your browser history or search history, and they won’t leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be preserved, however.

Going incognito doesn’t affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:
Websites that collect or share information about you
Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
Surveillance by secret agents
People standing behind you

I also like incognito option most. Most of the times you have to be anonymously visiting a page. Clearing private data later may be a task you can forget, but this is cool one to have

I’ve had some problems on my x64 Vista with losing souund when I have multiple tabs running different flash videos on YouTube, of all things.

Unable to add feeds in Chrome. Is it that i’m doing something wrong? its asking to launch outlook every time i try.

Thanks for sharing this information. Extensions are the force behind Firefox. Are there plans to use extensions with Chrome?

Chrome has no RSS support yet.

Chrome will use Google Gears for extensions

Also word has come out that it will also be the browser for Googles Android phones.

Reopen CLosed Tabs “feature” is there by default in Firefox.
Press “CTRL+SHIFT+T” to open last closed tab. Keep pressing to go back further.

Or… you could just go to History -> Recently Closed Tabs

The day Chrome supports Ad Block Plus which can block Google Ads, will be the day I think of even switching to Google Chrome.

Not only that Chrome brought the unique features, but it also brought a nicest Logo in the Browsers History so far. And that was not really expected from the otherwise Black & White style company – Google. Is there a change in the Google Marketing Strategy on the horizon?

Hi.
i downloaded google chrome and started using. this is something real good. i like the interface. thanks for sharing this useful info.

Amit, the recently closed tab menu is available in both Opera and Firefox. Why did you list it in here? It has been in Opera since ages, that small trashcan on the top right.

In my opinion Google has ripped features from all the browsers and created a new combined browser.The name itself a copy of Microsoft codename for multimedia browser!!!

RSS feed feature of FF3 is missing and so are some of the useful addons. I think shifting to Chrome will take time till all these features are corrected

The features are pretty cool,the coolest i think..but as it is now it doesn’t open the sites properly.and that is something that irritates the most.Hope ,google fixes it as soon as possible

i’ve been using Chrome for about a day now and it seems to be a lot faster than FireFox or IE… though i do miss the “recently closed tabs” feature in Firefox

The undo close tab feature is way more complex to use than in Firefox (right-click on tab or tab bar and select the option, or CTRL+SHIFT+T) or Opera (CTRL+Z), unfortunately. I do not feel it deserves a spot on this list.

Google’s Chrome is as useful as other Google products. I like the new features added to this browser. But I find difficult to use my ‘Scroll button’. It does not respond quickly to the page scrolling.

A simple “:%” typed in the address bar crashes chrome (with all its tabs)!

Originally Opera was the only browser that would save a page with pictures into a single directory. This method is safe and secure.

All browsers that I know of including Chrome , as well as the later versions of Opera, now save a page [complete] by making a virtual directory for the data with the .html outside this virtual directory.

Although I have tried Chrome and like it, I will still need to use Opera 7.2 to save a page with pictures into a single directory.

I could not find page setup for printing which is available in Firefox,

Print Background Images, remove all tags on top and bottom of page at print, also the margins for printing.. These are not easily available..

excellent analysis…this is exactly what I want to know before I switch from firefox to anything else

Too much Ram.. I feel that too.

When I run Chrome I get pop-up ads that do not get through on either Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. Wondering if anyone else has had that problem or is it just my lack of savvy.

I am having a acer notebook 4520. I am having a problem with chrome. I am able to scroll down in the webpage but not able to scroll up in the webpage in chrome brower. My mouse pad drivers are working well in all other application……..

Amazingly innovative.Google is bringing operating system Features to browsers.

I, too, noticed that a lot of the features here are available, in one form or another, in Opera.

I got the impression when reading it that the author was probably and IE/Firefox user with little or no experience of what Opera can actually do.

Whilst not wanting to push the boat for out too much for Opera here, it does sound as though there would be little point in using Chrome, other than as an alternative to using IE, but I only use IE for sites with ActiveX content – can Chrome handle such content? Opera can with the Neptune plug-in, but that’s not without it’s problems and security issues (so it’s easier to just use IE). But if Chrome supports ActiveX then I’ll give it a try.

A real killer for me not considering it for use as my main browser is that one of the comments above says that there are no mouse gestures. I even have mouse gestures for IE6, so surely this is a gross oversight by Google not to see that this is one feature they must have wanted including.

Is this correct, that there are no mouse gestures?

Does it have anything like the page scroll position indicator which Opera has just introduced? (little flags at the edge of the page which remind you how far up or down a page you’d previously scrolled to)?

Quote: “But Chrome may be a good thing if you are web publisher as it has no adblock plus – good for Google as well.”

Hmmm…. isn’t this a BAD thing for the people who Google want to use their browser.

Surely, this is one feature that we positively DO NOT miss in other browsers?

Can anyone help replicate feature 4 on Firefox…searching from the address bar?

AdBlock Plus and lack of Addons are the only things keeping me from using Chrome.

Some pages are simply so full of spam and ad content it’s unbearable, or the flash-ad content slows everything down so much that it makes things crawl. I can handle and respect and even suport web-based ads, but it’s been over-done to the point where it significantly degrades the performance and effectiveness of even causal web browsing. That is why ad-block plus has become almost a necessity.

And there are SO many fantastic, browing addon enhancements available in firefox that all the combined features, as nice as they are, that chrome has can trump the usefulness of the hundreds of firefox adons that. ad-block plus, case in point.

There’s simply no contest and there never really was.

I open up a web site that has a weekly updated file in PDF format. Opens up nicely to read, but how can I print a copy?
Right mouse click gives me options but not print.

Hey, there are some features that are present in Opera since ages. You can’t boast Chrome.

But the Task Manager is an all new feature no browser has ever provided.

OK, I’m a big fan of Google. I downloaded their Picasa photo editing software, and it is wonderful! HOWEVER, I did try Google Chrome, and wasn’t all that wild about it. There were things I missed: toolbars, buttons, menus, etc. and I didn’t have the time or the smarts to explore enough to see if these things could be added.

So I uninstalled it. And I think it’s haunting me.

The desktop shortcuts to my much-used websites that I had created in IE7, once they were opened in Google Chrome, no longer worked once I uninstalled Chrome. AND I can’t create any new ones in IE7 that work! I keep getting a message that “Windows Cannot Open This File” saying it does not recognize what program created the shortcut.

And I don’t know if this is related or not, but all of a sudden, links on my incoming e-mail no longer work (I use Outlook Express). I have to copy the shortcut and paste it in the browser address bar.

If anyone out there knows how to fix these glitches, I’d be eternally grateful. And please be kind…I’m a 53 year old, self-taught computer grandma!