Chrome, Chrome, Chrome….

I’ve been making an honest effort to use Google Chrome.

Really, I have.

It seems like such a better idea–one process per tab, faster Javascript, easy interface, incognito mode, integrated search from address bar–it’s positively beautiful on paper.

But I just can’t accept it as a ‘serious’ browser.

To help you understand this, let me walk you through a typical weekend Firefox session:

Open Firefox, all the tabs I was looking at last time are up. Finish reading/digesting them, and close them as I finish. Check my mail, Twitter and Facebook, writing when necessary. Check the stats for this blog, as well as my ad performance. Read everything new on Google Reader, and if I want to read some more, do a bit of Stumbling. If a new term comes up in Reader or SU, look it up on Wikipedia. Write a post for this blog or my other one, if I have the time, and maybe check the Programming section of the Ubuntu Forums–either I learn something or I can help someone out. If I still want something to do, then I open up either my C or wxPython tutorial, and start learning.

Now let’s consider Chrome:

• Open up the tabs from last time: Check.
• GMail/Twitter/Facebook: Check.
• Blog info: Check.
• Reader: Check.
• StumbleUpon: Fail.
• Wikipedia: Fail (this will be explained.)
• Blogging: Check.
• Ubuntu Forums: Check.
• Programming tutorials: Err…I program in Ubuntu, and use Chrome in Windows, so Fail.

Besides StumbleUpon (and Wikipedia(?)), everything looks fine. So what’s the problem?

Ease of use.

But Timmy, Chrome is ridiculously easy to use–Google has long been famed for its superior design, interface and usability!

So I present my humble list of Five Usability Fails on Google Chrome:

1. The Omnibar. I think Google’s trying to one-up Firefox 3′s Awesome Bar with this. I think they failed. Firefox does a superior job of searching ALL parts of a URL and putting the MOST relevant one on top. I have mastered the <Down><Enter> hand flick. Chrome tries, but it seems to weigh the first part of the URL a LOT more. Take this blog–I access it frequently, and in Firefox always used “Ran…” to do so (it found Rannsaich mo Inntinn) Even though I acces it a lot in Chrome, Google puts Rand McNally (rand.com) as the first result. I haven’t even been there! This is just Google outsmarting itself.
2. The search box. Chrome doesn’t have one. Fail.
3. Number two cheated. If I want to search Google in Firefox, I hit <Ctrl><K>. If my cursor is in the location bar, I hit <Tab>. If I want to search Wikipedia, Ninjawords, or BibleGateway, I use <Ctrl><Arrow Keys>. This is exceedingly easy and fast. What’s more, if I’m Feeling Lucky (say I want the Wikipedia page on Agile Programming), I just type “wiki agile programming” into the location bar, hit enter, and BAM! there it is. This has about a 97% success rate. Good enough for me. Chrome, on the other hand, only lets you use ONE search engine, and you can NEVER feel lucky. What’s more, to access ‘real’ webpages (see #1) you have to scroll through the search entries in the drop-down list.
4. Chrome. As in, the decoration around the browser, not the browser. I feel like Firefox provides a lot of power with its UI–navigation, bookmarks, tabs, extra third-party toolbars, menus, etc. If I feel cramped for screen space, guess what? I hit <F11> and it all goes bye-bye. Chrome is stuck in this middle ground of having less power than FF’s complete chrome, and less screen space than FF’s fullscreen. Why can’t Chrome have a fullscreen too? I have no idea. Feature request!!!
5. Tab layout. Call this minor, but it really bugs me. I have grown fully accustomed to new tabs being opened at the far right. Maybe it’s just the way my brain works, but I’d much rather see things chronologically instead of topically. I’m probably crazy, but the fact that Chrome opens links in adjacent tabs drives me cuckoo. They could at least make it optional….

I know that I could learn to live with a lot of these, but why? Firefox works fine for me, and I see no reason to change.