The Battle of the Browsers Turns Inter-net-stella

It’s been two weeks since the world’s biggest Internet company released its Beta version of a (debatably) brand-spanking-new web browser called Google Chrome. So, now that there’s a potential browser war hotting up like supernovae, we thought we’d have a look at what’s being said about it, and what relevance it might have for web users and web designers.

We’ll also get a little insight about how Google Chrome might affect the popularity of other browsers such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and particularly Mozilla’s Firefox.

First of all however, let’s find out what Google has to say about its minimalist web-browser:

“On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.”

Google Chrome – Minimalistic, Clean and Fresh

At first glance, it’s certainly very fresh and clean. Owing much to the interface of the Norwegian designed Opera browser, incorporating quick image links on opening which show the most frequently viewed websites as a visual web history, Google Chrome should appeal to those who want simplicity when browsing.

Will Firefox Get Its Fingers Burnt?

However, being an open source product, Google Chrome is relying on users to generate additional ‘plugins’ or ‘applications’, similar to those much favoured by users of Mozilla’s Firefox. At this early stage, it’s difficult to imagine where these will sit on the new interface – it will be interesting to see how crisp the browser will look with the addition of such add-ons.

Google already supports Firefox substantially, but many are now wondering if Firefox might lose Google as a major supporter if Google Chrome’s intentions are to muscle in on its ground. Might the ubiquitous Google Toolbar be withdrawn from other browsers and incorporated into Google Chrome? Who knows, but at Landingnet, the feeling is that users who would choose Google Chrome as their default browser would already be using Firefox (happily too) and that for Google Chrome to succeed in its own right, it would need to reconsider its patronage of other browsers. Of course, it may make marketing sense to continue to give the Google Toolbar away – and no doubt the best course of action is or already has been heavily debated deep within Google’s barracks.

Process Per Tab

Perhaps what’s more important to web designers and programmers is the fact that each new tab in Google Chrome will generate its own process. Google wrote that:

“Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today’s complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated “sandbox”, we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers.”

The ‘Process Per Tab’ will allow greater stability to web users, due to its more efficient use of computer memory. There’s nothing more infuriating when browsers crash, and for Internet Marketing companies like Landingnet, our client’s websites are essential to their business – the last thing a web designer or programmer wants after hours of hard work, is for the end product to fail due to poor browsing power. Perhaps then, with Webkit as the rendering engine used to build Google Chrome, web developers can have more confidence that their products will work consistently.

Will Browsers Rise to the Challenge?

There may be some truth in stating that added competition will encourage the other browsers to ‘up their game’. Certainly from Firefox’s point of view, who were the first browser to really popularise tabbed browsing, the ‘Process Per Tab’ built into Google Chrome’s architecture will give it food for thought. What will quite happen over the next few months will no doubt give the industry a better idea of Google’s intentions – and perhaps then, when the first really useful usage figures are known, will the other players respond.

More About Google Chrome

Follow these links to interesting articles about Google Chrome:

PC ADVISER Google Chrome V Firefox & Internet Explorer – Should Microsoft and Mozilla be afraid?

GUARDIAN REVIEW Is there anything original in Google Chrome?

MARKET WATCH Google Chrome gets 2 million US visitors in one week!

GOOGLE BLOG Fresh Take on a Browser

GOOGLE CHROME COMIC BOOK Words by Google, comics adaptation by Scott McCloud

DOWNLOAD GOOGLE CHROME Try Google Chrome yourself – from the Official Google Website

Adding to the increasing complexity of the AdWords “Quality Score” algorithm, Google has announced that page loading times will soon become a key factor.

The intention is that sites runing advert-heavy pages will be penalised in an effort to improve the “user experience”. Google claims conversion rates are lower when page loading times are poor, as users abandon the site, a claim supported by many frustrated browsers.

Losers

Flash Sites and Image-Heavy Websites – as Flash sites tend to require more image requests from the server than a typical html site, they may be penalised under the new calculations.

Poorly Hosted Websites – the jury is still out on whether cheaper hosting packages result in slower server responses, but inferior hardware undoubtedly takes its toll.

Winners

Text-Only Sites – we might see retailers using incredibly simple text-only landing pages (or maybe defaulting to the low-graphics accessibility pages?).

Google have not (and will not) release details of how much effect loading times will have on the quality score, for all we know it could be minimal, but Google are generally very commited to providing the best search results for their users. There are several conspiracy theories and there is no doubt that any changes will benefit Google’s profit margins but ultimately those who abide by the rules will be rewarded.

The media has been inundated over the last few days with details of the proposed Yahoo buy-out by Microsoft for £23bn.

Google is said to be concerned and wants regulators to oversee the deal, as it would allow one company too much control over email and instant messaging accounts.

Over the last few years, both MSN and Yahoo have failed to make any major dents in Google AdWords monopoly of the search engine market.

Google still represent in excess of 70% of searches made via the internet, with MSN and Yahoo fluctuating between 2% and 10% over the last 5 years.

Various shake-ups and “aggressive restructures” have failed to improve the situation at Yahoo and the final quarter of 2007 saw a 27% drop in profits.

This is a potentially exciting time for pay per click marketing as ROI (return on investment) and customer service from MSN and Yahoo have been well documented as far inferior to Google.

The merger/acquisition may finally create a search engine platform that can challenge Google, hopefully providing a few incentives for advertisers to reassess the distribution of their search engine marketing budgets.

LandingNet await the outcome with baited breath!