I’ve been using Chrome, Google’s new browser, for almost a week now and have really enjoyed poking around and seeing how it measures up to Firefox, my browser of choice. Chrome’s tabs have been one of the more interesting things to look at from a usability standpoint, with quite a few functions that are better, but also a few that are sorely lacking.
Here’s the rundown of my Love-Hate relationship with the tabs on Google’s new toy, and how they compare to Firefox.
Love it
Removed tab creates new window – When you pull a tab off a window it automatically allows you to create a new window simply by dropping that tab anywhere on your screen. This is has an obvious advantage over Firefox where you can only move tabs between windows.
Position on top – Chrome decided to break from the pack and place the tabs at the very top of the window, where most browsers display the information contained within the title tag of the webpage. This gives you a bit more screen real estate with the only loss being that you now have to hover over the tab to see the full title of the webpage.
Moving tabs from Firefox to Chrome – If you have Firefox and Chrome both open then try grabbing a Firefox tab and drag it over to the Chrome tab bar. Pretty cool, eh? I got a real kick out of this one when I first discovered it. It’s come in handy when Firefox craps out on me (probably because of my 3 million add-ons).
Hate it
Bookmark all tabs – I frequently have multiple tabs open that I want to bookmark simultaneously, especially if I’m shutting down the computer and want to pick back up right where I left off. In Firefox I can do this with a couple of quick clicks but Chrome has no bookmark all tabs option so I have to bookmark each one individually.
Browser closes when you close the last tab – If I want the browser to close then I’ll click that big fat X in the upper right hand corner. After accidently closing Chrome for the 3rd time this started to tick me off.
Saving tabs when closing the last window – Firefox has a new option that pops up when you’re closing the last browser window and you have multiple tabs open. It asks you if you would like to have those tabs open up the next time you start Firefox. Much like the bookmark all tabs function this sure is helpful when you want to pick up where you left off, but nowhere to be found in Chrome.
Easily moving tabs from one window to another – This will not be as big of a problem for people that are on duel monitors, but for those that just have one and surf with the browser maximized, it can be a real pain. With Firefox you can pull a tab off a window and hover over the window you want the tab on in the taskbar and then easily place it in that window. No such thing with Chrome if you have the window maximized. Once you pull the tab off there is no way to get to the other window without letting go of that tab.
