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Google Chrome for Mac!

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More on this later but I’ve gone ahead and installed the beta release of Chrome for Mac and there are a few things that stand out right away:

Developer ToolsSpeed (but we already knew this). Google is putting their money where their mouth is by optimizing their browser for speed just as they may be using speed as a criteria for search engine ranking in the near future. Luckily, they’ve included an awesome set of developer tools to help us see what’s slowing our site down. I’m not sure if this is an exact install of Page Speed but check out the beautiful resource analyzer. You can also view and edit elements just like using Firebug. Again, it’s early so I haven’t done a feature to feature comparison of the dev tools and Firebug but they look very similar in functionality with the Chrome dev tools looking much better.

import settings to ChromeAnother thing that stands out for me is how easy it was to import my Firefox settings (and Safari if you choose to go that route instead). Just click the Chrome link in the menu bar and choose “Import bookmarks and settings.” Chrome then allows you to specify if you want to pull in history, bookmarks, autofill settings, etc. Very easy.

Chrome recognized where I had been and displayed an accurate History right after importing. It also did a good job of auto-filling forms without any extra effort from me and completed the fields n the same way that Firefox does. I’m not sure yet if the info and remembered fields is pulled from Google Toolbar for Firefox, which I have installed, but I would guess it was.

At this early juncture – I’ve been using the current version of Chrome for a couple of hours now and previous betas on and off for the last few months – would I switch from Firefox? Well they’ve made it easy with a good Firebug substitute but I’ll have to dig through the initial extensions before I commit. Since those aren’t yet available for Mac, I’ll have to come back later and make the final decision. As a developer and designer I can’t abandon any browsers, obviously (IE 6, I’m looking at you), so my decision is only for the primary browser I use and so far, with some key extensions added on, I give Chrome an excellent chance of supplanting Firefox for Mac users who aren’t married to Safari.

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Dec 8, 2009 / Blog / , , , ,

How to make Firefox a little more like Google Chrome

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Mozilla Firefox IconImage via Wikipedia

One of the cool new features of Google Chrome is the ability to check out your frequently used web sites and web pages at a glance using tiny little thumbnails. Little did I know that this feature has pretty much been an extension on Firefox for quite some time. Check out Fast Dial and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Plus, it works on a Mac.

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Sep 6, 2008 / Apple / Free Stuff / GTD / Geek Toys / Recommendations / , , , , , ,