What Chrome has brought to browsers

Upon its release in 2008, Chrome had many advantages over competing browsers. One must admit today that they have disappeared for the simple reason that all the improvements it has made ​​have been taken over by competitors, including Microsoft' Edge!

Reaction of Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft:

"If you talk to Google they’ll say it's thin client computing but then they’ll issue a new browser that’s basically a big fat operating system designed to compete with Windows but running on top of it."
Reference The register.

That's exactly what happened to Internet Explorer 9 and more again agter Edge.

Improvements in Chrome

Most of them are now implemented in other browser, actually they are improvement on the Web.

A refined interface
It allows devote himself entirely to the point, the content of the page, which is even more helpful for a Web application, such as the online word processor Google Docs. Having more room for content may be required on a laptop or a netbook.

Omnibox
The address bar is meant to be intelligent, it offers a completion which suggests to Net surfers what remains to type. It is both a search bar and a URL bar, that takes into account the habit of surfers who type directly the name of a site in the search bar rather than the complete URL in the URL bar...

Tabs
They are in Chrome separate applications, you can also drag and drop a page to the desktop to create a different window. This allows to work on two pages at the same time, for example, on GMail to write a letter while a document is consulted.

Slideshow of sites
As on the screenshot on the right, the start page presents a slide show of sites previously consulted, an idea which comes from the Opera browser.

JavaScript compiled
We know that Chrome will be joined on this plan by other browsers, the V8 compiler runs the JavaScript code up to 40 times faster. Soon Firefox will be equipped with TraceMonkey and Safari with SquirrelFish.

HTML 5 and WebGL
Some parts of HTML 5 were already implemented in Webkit, including Canvas, the graphics rendering surface, before other browsers. You can use Canvas with Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Safari. The advantage trends to disappear, but WebGL is more advanced.

Private mode
To navigate without a trace, without cookies, without cache. On Chrome it is called Incognito.

Open source
The code is open, it is possible to see what does the browser and that should calm the fears of those who believe that Chrome spy them. This facilitates the development and allows for unofficial versions, some of which operate on Mac and Linux.

PDF reader
A readed embedded to display document in the printable PDF format to get rid of the Adobe's plugin.

Disadvantages

PHP locally
If you want to load a PHP page locally, Chrome ask you what software to use to display it! Why not Chrome itself? For a webmaster, that prohibits testing pages before putting them online.

Syndication
Chrome does not display RSS feeds formatted with the aspect of web pages, and does not allow to subscribe automatically.

Hidden commands
Finding command needs to have the manual in the eyes, it is the counterpart for this interface so clean.

Conclusion

Chrome has no longer its major advantages compared to other browsers which have all adopted its sleek interface, its multiple processes, web search in the URLs bar.

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