When Google released the beta version of their new Chrome browser, I was very surprised. Why would they want to bring another browser into the mix? Surely it couldn't top what Firefox provided! Nonetheless, out of curiosity, I downloaded it. The installation was very easy, and completed smoothly. Then my journey into simplicity started, and here is what I have concluded after using the browser for almost three weeks.
When Firefox 3 came out, I was so impressed with how fast it loaded. But Chrome is even faster. Sure, it doesn't have the features that Firefox 3 has, but that is another issue, which I will get to soon. Chrome's load time right after booting your computer is lightning fast. Once you start loading pages, you notice how they load even slightly faster than in Firefox 3. Speed - that's the first advantage that Chrome gives you over most other browsers.
Once you've used the browser for a bit, you'll notice a listing of your most visited web sites on the home page each time you load the browser or click on Home. This gives you fast and easy access to your most-used sites.
Bookmarks in Chrome are not as advanced in Firefox 3. You have a bookmarks bar that you can hide or display, and also a separate bookmarks menu, but organizing your bookmarks is not as easy as in Firefox 3. But it is expected that later versions of Chrome will improve in this respect. But one bookmark feature seems very handy already. On your home page, you also get a list of recently added bookmarks. This makes bookmarking the ideal method to mark pages you want to read later, but don't want to necessarily keep in your bookmarks indefinitely. Once you get around to reading the material, you just click on the link in the recently-added bookmark list, read whatever it is that interested you, and then delete the bookmark.
Another missing feature is a plug-in architecture. Firefox provides a model that is excellent for developing pretty much any functionality you can imagine. And thousands of add-ons already exist for this purpose. Whether Chrome will allow for add-ons in later versions is unclear.
But in reality all this simplicity has not detracted from Chrome's value. At least not for me. I find its simplicity refreshing and inspiring. Life is getting more complicated each day, and I often find myself wishing things were simpler. So I decided to start using Chrome as my primary browser. Browsing web-sites may not be particularly stressful to most people, but every little simplification helps. And here's how my browsing habits have changed.
I no longer use the bookmarks menu. For the sites that I visit every day, I have the most-used list on the Home page, where I just click on the page I want. Then, for content that I want to check out later, I use the bookmark bar, even though I keep it hidden while I'm browsing. The bar does, however appear on the home page, and the most recent items are also displayed in a list. And once I've had a chance to properly view a page, I remove it from the bookmarks bar. That keeps everything nice and tidy. Now, you may ask what happens to all those interesting sites that I find and might want to go back to multiple times later on. Well, I see it this way. If it's really such a great site, I'll remember it anyway, and I'll come back often. Then it will appear on my home page, and I won't need a bookmark for it. If it's a site that I will only check out once, I simply add it to my bookmarks bar, come back to it later, and finally delete the bookmark. But what about that site that you think you might need to look at in the future, but you're not sure yet when you'll need it? I either read the page then and there, or I forget about it. In my experience, if you're not 100% sure that you're going to need the site, you probably won't need it anyway. And if, by chance, you do need that site a year later, you will most definitely find it, or something similar by searching for it on Google or any other decent search engine.
I must admit that there are a few add-ons in Firefox 3 that I thought I would miss in Chrome. But I have decided to look ahead and forget about what has been. And you know what? It's not so bad! Already after one week of browsing I haven't really missed Firefox 3 all that much. Sure, some of you need Firefox 3 add-ons for your work on a daily basis, but I believe this is the exception for most people. I'm convinced that simplification is always, with one or two exceptions, the better choice.
So I challenge you to look at your daily life. Examine areas that seem complicated or stressful. Decide to simplify things. If you really commit to it, you won't regret it.