Vendor Info

• Privacy. Google announces a so-called incognito mode claiming that it “lets you browse the web in complete privacy because it doesn’t record any of your activity”. No features of this, and no implications of the default mode with respect to Google’s database are given.

• Features. Chrome has added some commonly used plugin-specific features of other browsers into the default package, such as an Incognito tab mode, where no logs of the user activity are stored, and all cookies from the session are discarded. As a part of Chrome’s javascript virtual machine, pop-up javascript windows will not be shown by default, and will instead appear as a small bar at the bottom of the interface until the user wishes to display or hide the window. Chrome will include support for web applications running alongside other local applications on the computer. Tabs can be put in a web-app mode, where the omnibar and controls will be hidden with the goal of allowing the user to use the web-app without the browser “in the way”.

• Rendering Engine. Chrome uses the WebKit rendering engine on advice from the Gears team because it is simple, memory efficient, useful on embedded devices and easy to learn for new developers.

• Tabs. While all of the major tabbed web browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox) have been designed with the window as the primary container, Chrome will put tabs first (similar to Opera). The most immediate way this will show is in the user interface: tabs will be at the top of the window, instead of below the controls, as in the other major tabbed browsers. In Chrome, each tab will be an individual process, and each will have its own browser controls and address bar (dubbed omnibox), a design that adds stability to the browser. If one tab fails only one process dies; the browser can still be used as normal with the exception of the dead tab. Chrome will also implement a New Tab Page which shows the nine most visited pages in thumbnails, along with the most searched on sites, most recently bookmarked sites, and most recently closed tabs, upon opening a new tab, similar to Opera’s “Speed Dial” page.