Turn Firefox into an even better Chrome Clone

Before:

 

 

After:

 

Lifehacker has the full guide. It requires 10 extensions and one theme.

SRWare Iron

This is another Chrome article, so those who are frustrated with all of the Chrome craze might not lie this article. SRWare Iron is a Chrome derivative which is for privacy fanatics. It is based on the Chromium open-source code-base with some privacy enhancements:

1. No user-ID

2. No info sent to google, at all

3. No Google Updater

4. No alternative error messages

It looks and acts in a way almost identical to Chromium. Available here.

Crossover Chrome

Crossover Chrome, built by Codeweavers, is Chrome for the Mac and for Linux. Its buggy and unstable, they used the Wine API’s to port it over. It does not auto-update. Available at Codeweavers. If you can wait though, the official team at Google is working on Mac and Linux native ports.

Stainless, When will the Chrome craziness end?

Stainless is a new Chome-based browser for the Mac, and it looks pretty good(image and original article from TUAW).Its just a tech demo at this point, but it would be great if this was ported over.

Chrome Channel Chooser

Previously, I told you how to update Chrome to the latest dev build. Google now has an official way to do this. It is called the Chrome Channel Chooser.

http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel/

It basically lets you tell Chrome to update using the built in updater, but to download dev builds instead of official builds. (Note, this only works for Chromium, not Chrome)

Chrome interview

Chrome now has history! And by that I mean that Brian Rakowski, Google group project manager, revealed some of Chrome's development history in an interview. Things I find interesting from it:

Chrome always looked about the same as it looks now, and most of the big changes like a multiprocess architecture were implemented early on.

The interview is available here:

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-15-n69.html

Chromifox

So, you want to have chrome as your default browser, but you still need firefox to access that one page that doesn't work in chrome(I know there are more, but the average person won't have more than one or two pages that they use frequently that don't work with chrome).  This is what Chromifox is for.  It makes firefox look pretty much like Chrome.

There are some minor differences, but it is close enough that I don't feel like I'm out of Chrome(except for the loss of speed and some functionality).

Available here, Chromifox should tide those Chrome fans over until it works on every site.

What Chrome needs

I've decided that the review of Chrome that I was going to write is just a composite of all of the Chrome posts I've been making, so I might someday make one big Chrome post, but for now its lots of little ones. This is a list of five things that Chrome really needs to be a better browser:

1. Bookmark management - This is virtually non-existent in Chrome, and needs to be fixed. There is not much more to write about this.

2. Saved sessions - When I close my browser, I want to be able to save a session. When my browser(or computer) crashes, I want my tabs restored. Chrome does this to a limited extent, allowing you to autostart with the last session, but that will do it every time without asking you. It needs to manage sessions in the same intelligent and useful way that firefox does.

3. A cross-client version that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

4. Ask after install if you want data sent to google, tell the user that this will happen if they approve it, but that the data will not be used for anything bad.

5. Addons and Extensions like those for Firefox.

Cool Chrome Feature

Just noticed this, but if you click on a download in Chrome before it finishes, it will just open the download when it finishes. I thought this was immensely cool, especially if the download will go through some long process after opening and you don't want to wait for it to download.

IE Marketshare Falls

Internet Explorer marketshare fell by 1.4 percentage points to 71% today. Chrome grew to 0.7%, firefox grew by 0.3% points, safari grew by 0.4% points, and opera grew by 0.01% points. It seems that all of the publicity comparing Chrome to the other alternative browsers has gotten some of the less likely users to experiment, at least that's my theory. Whatever the cause, this is good news for the opensource movement.

Chrome.....WINE?

So in the opensource community Chrome(or its counterpart Chromium) is making a big splash, but Linux and Os X users have been left out, as Chrome is currently windows only. Sure, on a Mac, you can run parallels or something like it, but what to do on linux. This is what WINE is for. WINE allows some windows programs to be run under linux. Fortunately, lifehacker has a guide to WINE. Hopefully that should tide you over until linux gets Chrome natively.

Chrome Comic Mashups

You know that really funny comic introducing Chrome? Well, some clever photoshoppers have been making mashups of it ever since its release, and here they are.

(Image courtesy of Valleywag)

Chrome happenings

Seeing as Chrome is all that has been in most blogs, I thought that it would be appropriate to get all of the chrome out of my system and do a marathon. So, Portable chrome. It functions just like regular chrome, but you can stick it on a flash drive, network drive, or any other medium that doesn't requires the that software not require installation. It is available here.

Chrome vs Chromium

There have been a lot of reviews of Google Chrome, but it is often forgotten that it is opensource and therefore can be edited and compiled by anyone. Chrome and Chromium look the same.

I've honestly forgotten which is on the left and which is on the right they look so similar. Chromium feels a bit faster, and some flash videos seem to play better. Checking the builds shows that the current Chromium build is a bit newer than the Chrome beta. Chromium is available here.

I'll be reviewing the two together in full tomorrow, not looking at the differences, but treating them as one browser because of the similarities.

Update: As of build 1800 of Chromium, the tabs do not scale correctly. They cover up(when there are enough of them) the minimize and maximize buttons, and the add-tab button covers up the close button. The workaround for now is to right-click on a tab to close it, and to use the tasbar to alter the window.

Its Chrometastic

Google recently released a new web browser, Chrome. I've been using it as my main browser since it came out, and on the weekend there will be a special Chrome post(lots of screenshots and tests). Until then, here's one screenshot: