Today I have divorced Firefox once and for all (once upon a time, it used to be my hero browser). I was tired of the various issues (choppy scrolling, slowdown of webpages, bloated memory usage) that I had been facing with Firefox for a long time now. I tried making as many fixes as I could (changing profiles, removing cached files, deleting all the extensions) by searching through the Internet, but nothing helped at all. Over the time, it went from bad to worse. It was a tough decision but it had to be taken. So, Goodbye…..Firefox (Though it still resides on my hard-drive, but I am not going to use it anymore)!!
As a replacement, I downloaded Google Chrome (Ver 10.0) and WOW! Just WOW! It really beats Firefox hands down. The browser installation was a breeze, and, orgasmic feelings took over soon after (BTW, this post is being written using Google Chrome). There was no slowdown at all and the pages were scrolling smoothly (thanks to Google for making such a light-weighted browser).
Here are some things that I noticed when I launched Chrome 10.0 browser for the first time :-
Better window size vs Firefox
List of 8 most visited Websites
When you open a new tab in Google Chrome, it displays a list of your 8 most visited websites with screenshots. So, its a neat way of quickly accessing your favorite websites.
Incognito Browsing Mode
Google Chrome gives you an option to browse in the Incognito mode (I call it the secret agent mode). 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.
Faster Page Scrolling and browsing speed
All the pages that were slow in Firefox 3.6.15 are much faster when browsing through Google Chrome 10.0. The page scrolling is smoother and there is no choppiness at all.
No Restart of Browser after Installing Extensions
In Firefox, my biggest irritation was the restart of the browser window whenever a new extension was installed. Its not like that in Google Chrome. All you have to do is install your favorite extension and continue working.
Quick Import of Bookmarks
If you worry about backing up and importing your bookmarks, Chrome gives you a one-click option to import all your bookmarks from another installed browser. Its a breeze.
Better Crash Handling
Chrome is built for stability. If an individual tab freezes or crashes, the other tabs are unaffected. In Firefox, the whole browser window had to be closed down in case of a crash.
Chrome Experiments (Not your mother’s JavaScript )
Chrome Experiments is a showcase for creative web experiments, the vast majority of which are built with the latest open technologies, including HTML5, Canvas, SVG, and WebGL. All of them were made and submitted by talented artists and programmers from around the world. The experiments include games, Physics demos, Interactive Emulators, Utilities etc.
Conclusion
Google Chrome has taken the lead from Firefox in many aspects. Most notable are :- Fast loading, Smooth Scrolling and a better looking browser.
But since Firefox was launched much before Google Chrome, there are a lot of extensions that have been developed for Firefox that are not available for Chrome. Although now, Chrome’s library has also expanded and contains almost all the extensions that you need for a better browsing experience :- https://chrome.google.com/extensions/?hl=en
What Next?
Here is a list of some cool Extensions that I use on Google Chrome (had alternative extensions on Firefox for the same purposes) :-
Eye Dropper :- Eye Dropper is open source extension which allows you to pick colors from web pages, color picker and your personal color history.
Awesome Screenshot :- Capture the whole page or any portion, annotate it with rectangles, circles, arrows, lines and text, blur sensitive info, one-click upload to share. Support PNG and shortcuts.
MeasureIt! :- Draw out a ruler that will help you get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.
SmoothScroll :- Scrolls the websites smoothly when scrolling with the mouse wheel or the keyboard.
Downloads :- Access the Downloads window directly from the toolbar
