The advantages of using a modern browser.

Google just released a new browser today built on the WebKit rendering engine (same as Safari). It is Windows only for now, and they named it Chrome. It has several new cool features, some of which are shared by Firefox 3 and IE8. However the item that caught my attention most is its speed running web applications.

Google Chrome has a blindingly fast javascript rendering engine, which can only help modern web applications like Haiku LMS. Google has a vested interest in making javascript heavy web applications fast due to their investment in Google Apps, Gmail and countless others.

There's a wonderful benchmark article conducted by ZDNet that shows that the new browser is 10x faster than IE7, 3x faster than IE8, and the only browser that comes close is Firefox. Check it out: http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009139o-2000331777...

Interesting enough, people don't understand the importance of using a modern browser, and benchmarks like these are just reminders of how much of an impact your browser choice can have on the speed of your software.

I was thrilled by this article so I just thought I would share. :)

Has anyone else experimented with Chrome yet? What are your thoughts?

Tags: Chrome, Google, benchmarks, browsers

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bruce Nelson on September 7, 2008 at 2:30pm

Being a Mac guy at home, and on a locked down XP network (I can't even access the control panel) running some numberless version of IE (No, I'm not bitter... ok maybe just a little) I'll have to see if I can get around the blocks and try out Chrome. Don't tell anyone, but I do have Safari on my desktop. I'm thinking of rewriting the picture book The Library Dragon and make it Technology based... The hardest part about adopting new things in a school setting is getting the gatekeepers to give you access, but that is off topic (like this reply).

Permalink Reply by Bruce Nelson on September 8, 2008 at 8:22pm

I attempted to download Chrome this morning... all I got afterwards were error messages. I'll try to troubleshoot it when I have a chance. I'm excited to try it, but I may just have to be patient and wait for the Mac version.

Permalink Reply by Jenna on September 13, 2008 at 9:53am

I have looked in on Chrome on my colleagues machines. I am interested in downloading it into my vm... but there is no mac version so I can't use it on the mac side and I am there far more often. I think modernity is important... especially as seems we may be reaching a critical mass of users. I think the current trend of companies and developers seeking user input and influence on development decisions is helping modern browsers to meet current needs. I hesitate to jump right on board to the 'newest' though, because so often there are glitches that interrupt my productivity. I have had issues in simply the upgrade from Firefox 2 to 3 for example. The range of machines and browsers does make it challenging to troubleshoot issues people have in online classes, though...

RSS

Welcome to
Classroom 2.0

Sign Up
or Sign In