Google Chrome Search and Spell

Ok - it's been about a week and I've had some time to use Google's Chrome browser and still find it a nice browser. I'll touch on two nice features real quick I've come across thet have been helpful for my needs.

The first, and this is great for me, is an auto spell check or sort of. I haven't quiet figured this one out because some sites will spell check and others will not. I assume it's a bug that will get resolved. But when it does work it was great. If I misspell a word it automatically underlines the word and I can right click for spell suggestions. This seems to be pretty much the same as Google's spellchecker for the "other" browser. I like it because, when it works it takes care of spell checking as you type. By the was the spell check is not working now so I'll blame Google for any misspellings.

The second feature I came upon by trial and error. Sometimes I'll search a web document itself using the "find" feature which is usually the ctrl+f shortcut. Given the fact Chrome is pretty scaled down there is no toolbar for the "find" feature therefore leading me to try the ctrl+f and voila, a small drop down box pops down at the top right of the browser. No big deal right? Well this is what I expected so I typed in my search and all instances on the page were highlighted. The other nice feature was that on the scroll bar all areas where the word occurred were also highlighted, nice. Since I was looking at a lengthy database web document the scroll highlights allowed me to scroll quickly to each instance of my search. It's hard to explain so just try it!

Chrome still has some issues but it's still only a few days old. I will keep plugging away and what doesn't work in Chrome I will simply pull up my old IE clunker and go back to the good ole days!

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Google Chrome hits the streets or uh Web

Google has entered a new battle - the browser wars. While Microsoft currently dominates the market with Firefax and Safari hanging second and third, Google has subtly created a "new view" of the web. On the surface it may look similar to other browsers but under the hood it's running on a new engine.

Having some programming skills I can appreciate this new approach. Ever since I opened Mozilla way back when, sometime in the early 90s, each new browser or version of a browser has built upon previous versions. This has led to some "in the box" thinking and one way thinking of how a browser should work. It has also led to some hefty browsers.

Users over the years though have changed their browsing habits. In the early days having one browser open was normal, but now having several browser windows open and ultimately the "tabs" feature is common. Email, blogs and blog editing, social websites like facebook, are all open at one time. This is great. The problem with browsers like Internet Explorer is they all occupy the same memory space, or home and when one goes bad everything goes bad - crashes.

Google has taken a new approach in that each tab uses a new memory space or different home. When one tab or site causes a problem it doesn't effect the other tabs - or neighbors. This is really nice so your email or blog post doesn't crash because another site sitting in another tab goes haywire.

Another nice feature is the one address bar. It acts like a URL bar as well as your search box. It also fills in sites below the box for faster typing. For example if I type in weather, weather.com shows up below the box so I can click directly on the url rather than go through the Google search process.

I am giving all this praise after one day of use. So I'll put it through the rounds and do a follow up in a week or so. In the meantime drop by Google and download Chrome and give it a spin. Another nice feature is it's very light in that it's a small download and installs quickly.

Enjoy!

Resources:

http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/How_Chrome_Changed_the_Web_Overnight

http://www.google.com/chrome

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Blogging about Blogging

Blogs are everywhere. They aren't a bad thing. In fact many are quiet useful.

Back in the day I owned an ISP. This was before blogs and even when a 28.8 modem was considered fast. Even though the term hadn't evolved, Blogs were in use. Essentially a Blog is some form of web editor that lets you update a web page easily. It probably has some form of backend database, a bit of coding to connect to the database, and voila, Blog.

People, this was happening way before Wolf Blitzer thought about saying "So let's see what the blogs are saying.." on the CNN Situation Room.

Many of the pages I created for our Intranet and main Website could be updated via a web browser and had a database for the backend. I am not going into the technical details but my point is: Blogging is great but it's been around.

That's how most technology is anyway. Someone or a small company will invent a widget and it's useful and cool and the nerds may play around with it, but when corporate gets a hold of it and gives it "a name" then it's the latest and greatest.

So create a Blog, read a Blog (mine please), but just remember Google, or typepad, didn't invent the Blog they just made a nice package and threw to the masses. Somewhere the nerds are cooking up the next "new thing".

Later
EB

visit my website earlb.com for more goodies

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