Google Chrome 18

One area in which the Google Chrome Web browser has trailed competitors Internet Explorer and Firefox has been graphics hardware acceleration, which can speed up webpage rendering. In my tests of previous versions, Chrome's acceleration only worked with specific graphics cards. With the release of the latest of version of the browser, Chrome 18, Google erases this drawback with extended hardware acceleration that works with more hardware. In other graphics news, the browser now extends 3D WebGL graphics support to older computers, such as those running Windows XP.

This is just another chapter in the overriding theme for Google and its Web browser? "instant." First, there was Google Instant, by which Web search results start appearing as soon as you start typing in the Google search box. Then came Instant Pages, in which Chrome tries to guess which link you're likely to click on next, and preload that page in the background. Another "instant" feature, pre-loads the first-proposed autocomplete site in the background when you start typing in the browser's address bar, so that it springs into view instantly when you click on the auto suggestion's entry.

Chrome 17 also added a new security protection, taking a page from Internet Explorer's SmartScreen Application Reputation protection. This extra layer warns you when you're about to download a file (especially a program file) from a known malware-distributing site.

As it increases in popularity, Google Chrome is becoming more and more a conduit for Google services. With the previous release of Chrome, the Internet search leader also changed just one user-facing feature?the new tab page, which has been tweaked to give more prominence to the Chrome Web app store. Though this isn't a huge improvement, Chrome remains your best Web browser, thanks to blazing speed, and ground-breaking features. ?It boasts unique features like Chrome Instant, built-in Flash and PDF display, leading Web standards support, and a minimalist application window that lets Web pages shine unimpeded.

Despite the lack of exciting new eye candy or super-duper capabilities in Chrome 18, the competition?Firefox 9 (Free, 4 stars), Internet Explorer 9 (Free, 4 stars), Safari 5.1 (Free, 4 stars), and Opera 11.60 (Free, 4 stars)?still struggles to equal Chrome's sparse user interface, speedy operation, and emerging standards support. For this, Google Chrome remains our Editors' Choice. Its recent expansion of graphics hardware acceleration, which previously trailed that in Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox, renders Chrome's performance unrivaled.

Previous releases have brought major new features, such as bookmark syncing, a built-in PDF reader, and extensions, though others have just added speed, stability, and new standards support. The remarkable Chrome Instant loads pages before you even finish typing their addresses or titles. And in an homage to IE9, Chrome continues to build on its graphics hardware acceleration. The browser's fine design, compatibility, and especially the speed have impressed the Web community enough to make Chrome the fastest growing browser in terms of market share. On this measure, it's nearing 20 or 25 percent, depending on whose numbers you believe, and poised to overtake Firefox as the number-two browser. Let's take a look at what makes this browser so special.

Swift Setup
Even the setup process shows Chrome's commitment to speed: Just click the Install button on the Chrome Web page, and you'll have the browser up and running in less than a minute, with no wizard to go through and no system restart. The browser's available for Mac OS X and Linux, as well as Windows. In each platform the browser's up and running before you realize it, and it updates itself automatically in the background.

With version 17, a change in the first-run appearance of the browser occurs. You still see a generous dialog box giving you the option to use Bing, Google, or Yahoo as your search engine, but the first view of the browser wind asks you to sign into a Google account. This doesn?t change the behavior of the browser, but it does show Google?s increasingly solipsistic view of the Web, and raises concerns about browser tracking. On the plus side, it does give you the benefit of being able to sync your different browser settings and bookmarks on different computers (more on this later).

Chrome Instant Pages
Not to be confused with Chrome Instant (see below) or Google Instant (which works on all browser to load Google search results as you type), Chrome Instant Pages requires both Chrome and a site that supports the feature. Of the latter, there is now just one important one: Google Search. The idea is that when you perform a search in Google, the browser will pre-load the page for the result link you're most likely to click on.

In several tests on a slower Wi-Fi connection, however, I only noticed an occasional improvement for simple pages. It seemed only to work for the first result link. Heavy multimedia sites still took their time to load. On a very fast wired connection, some page result were extremely fast, but in that case, you don't really benefit from pre-loading. I saw a definitely faster load for grainger.com than in Opera on the same connection. The idea makes a lot of sense though, particularly for multipage articles, where it's most likely that the next link you'll hit is the one labeled "Next."

The only drawback: If the site guesses your next click wrong, page load could be slower than without Instant Pages, and you'll have wasted bandwidth loading a page you never visited. But this is a technique that's been done using JavaScript or HTML and CSS for years, so I'm not sure why we need a browser-specific solution to preloading pages, but Instant Pages does have the ability to load outside sites, rather than just pages of your own. If you don't like the idea of your browser loading pages before you click on a link, you can turn off the feature in the Under the Hood section of Options (accessible from the wrench icon), and uncheck "Predict network actions to improve page load performance."

Built-in Flash and PDF Support
Chrome is the only browser to come with Adobe Flash built in, rather than requiring a separate (and annoying) installation. And not having to perform the frequent required updates of the Flash plugin separately is another boon?it updates automatically with the browser. With version 10, many of the security issues with Flash (famously bemoaned by Apple's Steve Jobs) went away, thanks to running the plugin in an isolated sandbox so that it doesn't have access to critical system areas.

Chrome boasts a PDF reader as well, so you don't have to worry about installing any Adobe plugins for viewing specialized Web content. When you load a PDF, an intuitive toolbar shows when your mouse cursor is in the southeast vicinity of the browser window. From this, you can have the document fill the width of the window, show a full page, or zoom in and out. By default, you can select text for cutting and pasting, but I couldn't copy and paste images. You can print the PDF as you would any Web page.

Chrome's PDF viewer not only does what its name implies, but also serves as a print preview feature. Unlike IE's print preview, Chrome's shows up in a tab rather than its own window. But you have to go through it to print: In IE, I can just click the printer icon to send a page to the printer if I don't want to fuss with settings. I could choose between color and B&W, portrait and landscape, and choose the target printer, or print to PDF.

An Advanced button got me into the printer's own settings dialog, but this dismissed the print preview, making me have to choose Print from the menu again. But Chrome didn't let me choose a zoom percentage for the printout as Firefox and IE did, nor did it let me turn page headers on and off or choose margin sizes in a Page Setup dialog as those two did. So Chrome's print preview is a decent start, but it's still a bit behind the competition.

Interface
Minimalism has been a hallmark of Chrome since its first beta release. Tabs are above everything, and the only row below them holds the combined search/address bar, or "Omnibox." Here you can type any part of an address or page title, and the most likely site candidates will be presented in a dropdown. Optionally you can display bookmark links in a row below this. And the control buttons on the top-right of the browser window have been reduced to the absolute minimum?just one.

Google has removed the Page icon and placed some of its functions under the wrench button. Some of the Page options have been combined into buttons on one line in the menu, such as Cut, Copy, and Paste. I like what Google's done with the Zoom choice on the menu, adding plus and minus buttons that save you from having to fly out another submenu.

Another theme in the Chrome interface is that everything looks like a Web page, displaying in the main browser window, rather than in separate dialog boxes. This includes the interfaces for History, Extensions, Bookmarks, and even Options.

Mac users haven't been overlooked in the interface department, either. The browser now supports OS X Lion's full screen view, along with overlay scrollbars that only appear when you're scrolling. Other more minor characteristics of the OS X "Aqua" style give Chrome on the Mac a more Mac-y appearance.

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