There’s been so much hoo-ha over the launch of Google Chrome I thought I’d do a direct comparison with the power user’s favourite, Firefox. Chrome is a barren wasteland at the moment – it’s literally a browser and nothing more – whereas Firefox is riddled with add-ons and tools. So how can I compare them? Well, I’ve chosen some basic key features I think no browser should be without and picked a winner in each category. Read on for the results…
The Logo
This is probably a matter of personal taste but I’ve always liked the Firefox logo. It’s striking and fun and does exactly what it says on the tin.
The Chrome logo on the other hand looks uncannily like a Pokeball. Sorry Google, but I keep expecting Pikachu to jump out.
Winner of Best Logo: Firefox
The Address Bar
Firefox 3 gives you URL suggestions when you start to type in a web address. These include your favourites and pages you’ve visited recently. Unfortunately the top suggestions are never what I’m looking for so I’m not impressed with this feature. What is neat is if you type enough letters it gives you the exact page you want – great if you’ve forgotten the address but know what it was about (it records the page title for reference).
Chrome’s address bar on the other hand is also its search box. It has access to Google’s web results so offers you search suggestions as well as relevant web pages out of those you’ve already visited. Unlike Firefox it doesn’t just search the page title, it searches the whole page to find your phrase. This makes for fantastic results.
Winner of Best Address Bar: Chrome
Web History
Firefox’s history is functional. It shows web addresses or page titles in a neat little sidebar, so it doesn’t intrude on your browsing. It’s functional and practical – no complaints here.
Chrome’s history on the other hand is far more informative. You get the time of your visit, a cute little logo for each webpage and the links look exactly like links. There’s more space and you can see the full page title – Firefox offers a simple record but Chrome offers browsing options. The one letdown is the history appears as a separate page, not a sidebar – not good for multi-tasking.
Winner of Best Web History: Tricky one this, but from a usability standpoint I think Firefox wins. Chrome’s history offers maybe TOO much information
RSS Reader
I really wanted to cheat here because I use the Sage plugin and it’s fantastic, but I’ve stuck to Firefox’s inbuilt RSS reader. You access your feeds through the bookmarks folder and get a simple list of headlines. It does exactly what an RSS reader should do – gives you the info you want without interrupting your browsing.
Chrome also has an inbuilt RSS reader and just like Firefox you can access feeds through the bookmarks folder. Forget about sidebars or lists though – clicking on a feed opens the whole thing in
your browser, presented as a complete (stripped down) webpage. It’s pretty but intrusive and defeats the object of RSS. If it doesn’t save me time I’m not going to use it.
Winner of Best RSS Reader: Firefox
The Scores!
Firefox
Chrome
Even with Chrome’s stripped-back simplicity it just doesn’t deliver on convenience of use. Firefox wins by a hair!
Popularity: 7% [?]
