Not another Web browser! Think again, Chrome is worth a try

Posted by John Keller

Who ever thought we'd need another Internet browser? We've seen the demise of a few over past several years -- remember Netscape and Mosaic? -- and we've become pretty comfortable with the industry standards of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari. I think Opera is still around, but I haven't used it in a long time. Still, there's a new free Web browser on the block, and it's worth a try.

I've been using Google's new Chrome Web browser for nearly a week now, and I like what I see. It's compact, fast, and does exactly what I need, even in the first beta version. I especially like the large feel of the screen. You see a lot of Web page with this streamlined browser.

What impressed me with the beta version of Chrome is its ability to handle our sometimes-quirky company-internal sites for our Military & Aerospace Electronics Website content management system, as well as for Website tracking software that for a while only seemed to render correctly with Internet Explorer. Not even Firefox did that from the get-go, and I'm a serious Firefox devotee.

You don't have much to loose by giving Chrome a try. Just don't tell the program to become your default Web browser unless you're really sold on it. I find I'm using Chrome almost all the time lately, but Firefox is still my default browser. I may change eventually -- or maybe not.

A couple of things you need to know when you first download Chrome. It initially comes without a button that brings you to your browser's home page. You can get a home page button to come up, however, by clicking on the little wrench icon on the upper right of the screen, choose options, and click on the "basic" tab. About halfway down, in the home page section, make sure the show home button on the toolbar box is checked. Believe me, that will head off some serious frustration while checking out the program.

Next, be advised that you can make a bookmarks toolbar appear by hitting Control-B on your keyboard. With just those two navigation tips, you'll be off and running very quickly.