Chrome gaining more users

According to computerwold.com chrome has surpassed Safari in terms of worldwide browser usage. So what does this really mean? With the launch of chrome for mac and linux users it has moved into the number three spot. Net application, which monitors web usage said that between December 6-12 seen an increase of .04% . That pushed moved chrome pass safari with total of 4.4%.

Chrome was designed for people who live on the web. People searching for information, checking email, shopping or just being incognito!!!!!! Chrome wanted to re-think what operating systems should be. Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that was initially be targeted at netbooks.

3% is a large number of points in the real world but a relatively small fraction when it comes to internet explorer. It will be a long time before any browser to come anywhere near IE % usage, but the competition creates a better web experience for all users!

Google Chrome Developer Tools

There happens to be a developer tool built into Google Chrome that helps you debug your javascript, manipulate the DOM, and check the performance of a webpage. Of course at this point, most of us are wrapping up our work on our projects, so the discovery of this tool might not help anybody immediately in this class, but some of the features could help you down the road.

The Google Chrome Developer Tool functions a lot like Firebug does for Firefox. With this tool you can breakdown the code of a webpage, manipulate html, css, and javascript codes, and test the speed/latency of your code. Below you can find a video showcasing how to use the developer tool to manipulate your code.




My favorite feature of the devtool is that you can check the speed of your application. They call this feature "Profiling and Optimizing". It allows you to record a page as it loads and then tells you which part of the code is using the most resources or taking the longest. If your code is taking a long time to load, you can use this tool to troubleshoot the problem. You can also create stops in your javascript code to troubleshoot problems as well. Essentially, it functions just like putting an alert box in your code. The benefit of this tool is that you don't have to keep uploading new iterations to the server. You can perform all of your testing without touching your real code, thus saving you from having to rework a page after over-testing it. The video below demonstrates this functionality.



After a bit of use, I like the Chrome Developer Tool more then Firebug. It is easier to work with then Firebug and I find it runs lighter and faster then Firebug too. I think it would be a very useful tool for us to use in our presentations of our projects, since we can display the functionality of the site as well as the underlying code without any hassle. Anybody else agree?

IE 9 is on the Horizon

While a launch date hasn't been set, IE 9 is on the way. Microsoft developers started work on it a little over three weeks ago. I must admit I've become a Firefox user myself because of the lack of performance on IE 8. Interestingly, Microsoft is boasting that IE 9 comes with a "serious performance boost". Also, "according to Microsoft figures, an early build of IE9 already scores four times as high on the Acid3 benchmark for Web 2.0 applications" (on Techradar). IE 9's performance gains will rely on PC hardware. It's the first browser to do this (render pictures, videos, etc) using hardware acceleration.

Here's a list of highlighted changes:

• Performance (using something called Direct2D system to improve client-side rendering



• Richer web support (more rounded corners available via css3)



• Support for HTML5
  


• Faster Java Script engine
  

While Microsoft boasts IE9 will show performance improvement, it still lags behind the competing browsers. Here's a graphic depicting a benchmark of performance:

It amazes me that Microsoft has been in the browser business for so long and can't compete against a new comer like Google's chrome. It goes to show it's not their niche. I give them credit for trying to stay in the game though and it's high time they improved on IE8 which is almost unusable compared to the other browsers (in my opinion). The graphic above says it all. Given the release of this browser version is at least a year out, Microsoft may throw more bells and whistles in there. They will need to release this version somewhat soon if they want to remain competitive. There are many users of the current IE version who already have a sour taste in their mouth. For more information from a developers view, you can visit http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/11/18/an-early-look-at-ie9-for-developers.aspx

Chrome Browser now has 30 million users

Google Chrome was designed for people who live on the web. People searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, or stay in touch with family and friends.With chrome only being just over a year old, it already has 30 million users. That is an astonishing amount of users in this short amount of time. In 10 years if this trend continues chrome should be a lot closer to IE.

It was designed to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. I prefer to use google over IE, or Firefox. I can counton one had the number of times I received a pop up. It has a clean look and everything in right in reach with one click. Chrome allows you to customize your window with backgrounds and patterns. It also features and incognito mode for times when you want to browse in stealth mode, for example, to plan surprises like gifts or birthdays. Webpages that you open and files downloaded while you are incognito aren't recorded in your browsing and download histories. So thats a good way of saying it won't track you going to porn sites. LOL

Microsoft still has a considerable advantage over it's competition. It's going to be awhile before a web browser will trump IE. One reason is because it's installed on every window based PC so some older people that are not computer savvy will stick with the blue E on their desktop. I have to take my hat off to chrome for making a small but yet large leap in the browser wars.

Firefox Gains 80 million users in 8 weeks

Microsoft has dominated the the web browser markey, but FireFox has something to say about that! "According to

Chief executive John Lilly revealed the increase in user adoption in a Twitter post on Monday, and Tristan Nitot, president of Mozilla Europe, confirmed it to ZDNet UK on Tuesday."

I feel so may people like the FireFox is because it has better speed and more add ons to make browsing more convenient. They also have a user friendly interface with customisable themes (like Chrome) and less bugs, crashes, problems than Internet explorer (like Chrome). The main reason i feel so many have stop using Internet explorer is because and security and privacy issues. FireFox along with other web browsers have have had great success when it comes to those issues compared to Microsoft.

Web browser are becoming very competitive these days. I personally use Chrome by google, but my second choice would be FireFox.What I look for in a browser is the look, the feel/comfort, and the dependability. I want to be able to customize it from the home page to having my favorite sites a click away. It's always good to see competition.This allows companies go further to make a better product.