As a Chrome fan, I’ve definitely found great usage of the Chrome browser. If you are still trying to decide which one to choose in between Chrome and Firefox, read this article.

This morning, Google released its stable version of Chrome browser, called Chrome 4.0.249.78 officially.  I just installed it.  Having tested it for the past hour, I do feel this new version works better with all the extensions and bookmark sync.  If you have a hard time finding the right extensions, begin with these ones that I recommend.

Here are the new features included with this new version:

• Extensions
• Bookmark sync
• Enhanced developer tools
• HTML5: Notifications, Web Database, Local Storage, WebSockets, Ruby support
• v8 performance improvements
• Skia performance improvements
• Full ACID3 pass, due to re-enabled remote font support (with added defense against bugs in operating system font libraries)
• HTTP byte range support
• New security feature: “Strict Transport Security” support
• Experimental new anti-reflected-XSS feature called “XSS Auditor”

To try it out, download it here.  This version is only for Windows for now.  You can check out more information about it at the Google Chrome Blog.

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Chrome Browser

I have made it very clear in my previous post that I am a big fan of Google Chrome browser.  Not only do I like its speed, here are also many other reasons why I cam crazy about Chrome.  However, Chrome is not perfect.  Compared to Firefox, often times I am troubled by its lack of extensions.  Sometimes, it took me a long time to search for useful Chrome extensions.

This post summarizes the best (most popular) 20 Chrome plugins that I’ve found.  If you are a Chrome user, you will find them extremely helpful. Enjoy!

1. Google Mail Checker – Download
Gmail is the most popular email client nowadays. I don’t know about you, but I check my Gmail numerous times a day. This plugin displays the number of unread messages in your Google Mail inbox. You can also click the button to open your inbox.

2. Google Translate - Download
This extension translates entire webpages into a language of your choice with one click. It shows some very cool features.

3. AdBlock - Download
Have you ever find ads annoying and distractive? AdBlock removes Facebook ads, Flash animations, and ads from all over the web. It helps you focus on the real content on the Web.

4. RSS Subscription – Download
Like the content of this website?  With this plugin, you can subscribe to any site with just one click.

5. Xmarks Bookmark Sync – Download
I installed this plugin when I used to use Firefox.  I found it extremely useful. It backs up and syncs your bookmarks across all your computers and browsers. Now you can do this easily with Chrome as well.

6. Chromed Bird – Download
Supercool feature.  With this extension, now I don’t need to log in my Twitter site to check my timeline and tweet. With one click, Chromed Bird allows you to interact with your Twitter account.

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As a media professional who devotes most of his time online, I pay a lot of attend to the speed of my internet browser.  It means efficiency for me.  Before I was introduced to Google Chrome, I have always been a Firefox fan.  I’ve even written a post about how to make Firefox go faster (Check it out).  Lately, I started experimenting Google Chrome.  Surprisingly, I really began to like this browser.  Although Chrome is new (debuted on Sept. 2008), there is definitely potential for its future.  In comparison to Firefox, I will outline 7 things that make Chrome a better browser for me.

1. Much Faster Loading Time

On Chrome’s home page, it says “Google Chrome runs web pages and applications with lightning speed.”  Basically Chrome uses something called “multiprocess foundation,” meaning one slow site won’t slow down your browsing experience.  In other words, each site is isolated.  Besides, when I click on the Chrome icon to launch the browser, the program itself opens within seconds.  To be fair, this distinct feature has separated Chrome apart from most of its competitors.

2. No Browser Crash

Because of the multiprocess feature, a bad web page won’t drag down your entire Chrome browser.  My Firefox browser used to crash all the time, which was really frustrating for me.  Since I am used to keeping many tabs open, it usually takes a long time to recover all those tabs.  For Chrome on the other hand, every tab, window, and plug-in runs in its own environment.  This limited environment won’t let an individual site affect other sites that you are browsing simultaneously.

3. Impressive Tab Features

Unlike Firefox, you don’t have to install addons to have those impressive tab features.  With Firefox, I used to install Tiny Menu and Tab Mix Plus.  Chrome does them all by itself. My favorite tab feature with Chrome is its ability to close those unwanted tabs all at once while keeping your current tab open (Use features such as “close all other tabs” and “close tabs on the right“). Again, sometimes I have around 20 – 30 tabs open. This feature allows me to close unwanted tabs at once altogether without wasting time.  For other tab-related features, check out the following video.

4. Amazing Default Home Page

The default home page is the newly opened tab. It displays a snapshot of the most frequented websites and recently closed tabs (See my screenshot below).

My Chrome Default Home Page

As you can see from the above picture, here is a list of my most visited websites:

• My Entrepreneur Group on Meetup
• PayPal where I manage most of my online payment transactions
• My Facebook Account
• Gmail
• My Tech Blog – Web Studio 13
• My LinkedIn Account
• My Twitter Account

Every time I want to frequent any of those websites listed above, I just open a new tab and click on the corresponding link.  The whole process takes me no longer than 3 seconds.  As you may have noticed, at the bottom of this default page is a list of recently visited websites.  In the scenario where I mistakenly closed a tab, I now can always find it from this list and reopen that tab (or use the “reopen closed tab” feature).

5. The All-Purpose Omnibox

The Omnibox in Chrome is what we refer to as the address bar in Firefox.  Chrome merges both address bar and Google search, meaning you can type in either an URL or a search term in the Omnibox and Chrome takes you to the right place without asking any questions.  See the following demo for example.

6. The “Incognito” Mode

By staying incognito, you are actually participating in Chrome’s private browsing option.  Under the incognito mode, Chrome will not record any of your login information, browsing history, etc.  Chrome’s Incognito window is isolated from your regular browsing windows.  So the incognito feature won’t interfere with your normal browsing experience and will operate independently.

7. A Promising Future

Unlike Firefox, Chrome was just released on Sept. 2008. Currently, Google is still experimenting many new features with this browser.  It’s safe to assume that there will be more exciting features and addons to this browser in the future. That’s why I choose to stay with Chrome now.  In general, its future seems very promising.

Conclusion

To clarify, by writing this post, I am not saying Chrome is better than Firefox or any other browsers.  Instead, I indicate it works better for my particular needs, such as faster web browsing experience.  I have introduced some killer features that the current Chrome browser has to offer.  If this is something that sounds promising to you, you should definitely try it out.  Would love to hear your opinions about it.

Related posts:

1. 20 Great Google Chrome Extensions You Must Have I have made it very clear in my previous post...
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