7 Google Chrome Features That Rock

This blog is from our content partner LostInTechnology.
Google, the king of everything, recently released a Web browser called Chrome. It's young, but rapidly improving, and is quickly becoming the first browser I open on a regular basis.

Even though it's out of beta officially, Google is still in the early stages of the building of Chrome. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and forgo the "what I wish Chrome had" post. Instead, I'm going to focus on the things Chrome does so well that I'm willing to forget all the downsides, and still use it.

This is both a pro-Chrome list, and a wish list for other browsers (cough Firefox cough), features that would send me back to my old browsers.

Here are seven things I love about Chrome, and that I wish Firefox would adopt:

1. Google Gears Integration

Google Gears is a browser plugin that allows you to continue to use certain applications offline. It syncs to your computer, and then syncs back to the Web once you're connected to the Web again. In these apps, you'll ideally never notice whether or not you're online. Right out of the box, Chrome comes with Google Gears support. That means applications like Google Reader, Remember the Milk, Zoho and others can be accessed offline. Nothing to install, no bugs- it just works, right away.

2. Application Shortcuts

My Gmail page is open constantly. Instead of having it open in a browser, and having it get lost among the abyss of tabs I have open, I can have it in its own window thanks to Chrome. On any given website in Chrome, click the paper-looking thing in the top right corner, and select "Create Application Shortcuts…"

This will allow you to have a shortcut to that particular application that opens in its own window, without bookmarks or an address bar, and will work and feel just like a desktop app. If there are one or many applications you have perma-opened, this is a must-use. Read the rest of this entry »