Firefox 4 – 10 Google Chrome

March 24th, 2011

I’ve long been a Firefox user, and up until yesterday was happy with each update that arrived – but version 4 was different, it was pretty disappointing to say the least. I’ve always thought that Firefox embedded itself well into the Mac OS X environment, taking a pinch of its looks from Apple’s own style guide. But this latest version — released to the world simultaneously on the 22nd of March and with already more than 20 million downloads — doesn’t have that same look and feel to it. It may be quicker but it feels clunky to use, it’s user interface may have had some tweaks, but it has lost it’s polished exterior.

I downloaded, installed and opened version 4 and glanced over the change in design, noted that more than half of the extensions I regularly use were incompatible and set about rolling back to the previous version. I was disappointed to say the least and I wasn’t alone, after I tweeted my feelings some of my followers replied with similar thoughts.

I know I can select other themes for Firefox and the extensions will hopefully catch up and become compatible in the near future – but first impressions are important – and I’m not the most patient of software users, if I don’t “get it” straight away – I’ll find an alternative.

Before I switched to Firefox I was an avid Safari user, but looking into Safari felt like a step backwards – so I turned my attention to Google Chrome. I’ve had the browser installed for about 9 months – mainly for testing purposes – I don’t think I gave it much attention on that first install as I always assumed Google were too late to the browser race, but now with a healthy 24% share in browser use, Chrome is very quickly catching up with Firefox and Internet Explorer.

My first impressions after using it for about 10 minutes was that it was quick, looked good and seemed to fit in with Mac OS X – feelings I didn’t get with Firefox 4. Extensions were one of the reasons for ditching Firefox 4, so it was important to find Chrome versions / alternatives for my set of favourites.

Firebug is a popular web developer tool used to debug and look underneath the code of a website, a Chrome version wasn’t needed as it has similar functionality embedded. RIght click on any element of a web page and click Inspect Element from the resulting menu to view the HTML, style sheets and more attached.

Delicious is one service I’ve struggled with in Chrome, I’ve installed the official extension to allow me to bookmark pages and websites, but this extension doesn’t allow you to view your bookmarks, which just seems ridiculous! So I’ve installed an additional extension called Chromelicious, although it’s not being supported any more, it works fine – I couldn’t get Felicious to work, which is the alternative suggested by the developer.

Update: I’ve also just realised that the Firefox Delicious extension would allow me to tweet about the link I’ve just added, but these Chrome versions do not. So instead I’ve set up a new profile on my TwitterFeed to check for new entries into my Delicious RSS Feed and will the title, description and the bit.ly link. I’ve headed the tweet with “New Delicious Link: ” so people know where the tweet content was generated from.

CSS Viewer is an additional developer plugin and a shorter route to viewing all the CSS properties attached to an element. It’s quicker than using Chrome’s built in inspector and allows to hover over an image, layer or button and view all the properties – all with a click of a button. Install here.

Digg was another social bookmarking site I used within Firefox and the official extension for Chrome seems just as functional. Install here.

I wouldn’t go as far to say that Chrome’s victory is as emphatic as 10 – 4, but it has been a very positive switch, one that reminds me of getting a new gadget; where exploring the options and possibilities in the first few hours of use is exciting, then using it day after day is natural, instinctive and goes without a thought, then after a while you wonder how you ever got by with out it. I do hope that’s how my relationship with Chrome will play out, or maybe I’ll switch again after Chrome’s 11th shot on goal.

Download Google Chrome here, and let me know of any recommendations you have for Chrome Extensions in the comments below.

Tags: browser extensions, chrome 10, firefox 4, fx4, google chrome, mozilla firefox