From Firefox to Chrome

This post is a follow-up to my original blog regarding browsers

So, I made the leap from my trusty Firefox to Google Chrome, and it was a lot easier and efficient than the last time I tried it.

I used the handy 'Import Bookmarks and Settings' menu option and it pulled my stuff across pretty quickly, it did lose my bookmarked rss feeds - but I can live with that, took a few minutes to grab them again.

Next task was to make Chrome my default browser, which is simple enough (menu option within preferences).

The next thing I wanted to do was grab the same extensions other Clock Chrome users found useful:

• Chrome Sniffer 0.2.11 - Detect web applications and javascript libraries run on browsing website
• REST Console 4.0.2 - REST Console is an HTTP Request Visualizer and Constructor tool, helps developers build, debug and test RESTful APIs.
• Web Developer 0.3.1 - Adds a toolbar button with various web developer tools. The official port of the Web Developer extension for Firefox.

I also got myself familiar with the inspector, the replacement for Firebug and found that it was not nearly as memory hungry.

Tab Mix Plus for Firefox is a fantastic plug-in, and despite a good 15-20 minutes scouring the web, nothing is seemingly comparable on the Chrome extensions webstore. TMP allows a user to open new tabs whenever a bookmark, url or specific content is clicked/used. It does much, much more and is highly configurable - and my first few days using Chrome meant that my navigation of webpages was a bit clunky. I'd become lazy with TMP and now I'd have to remember to click 'cmd+t' to open a new tab each time.

If you are a Firefox user, I highly recommend Tab Mix Plus - tabbed browsing with a boost.

Now everything was set-up, I was ready to see the benefits.. and there are plenty.

Speedy

I love the speed of page rendering, especially given that when you type in the address bar (omnibox) it shows you the page you are about to navigate to. It didn't feel natural at first, as I just wasn't used to it - but I soon realised the advantages of it.

Clean

I was again impressed with how clean the browser felt, not vying for screen space. The menu options are clear and to the point.

Sturdy

In the last 3 weeks that I have been using it, it hasn't crashed once. I do tend to overload with tabs - and Firefox has certainly taken issue with me for that approach in the past - occasionally crashing the entire browser.

Features

I love the fact that page search highlights on the scrollbar, very handy and I've not seen this on any other browser.

Overall

There are more and more features that I am discovering each day. So far very impressed, I'll give it another month and then trial Opera and detail the results.