If you’re a Web developer then you’re already familiar with how difficult it can be to get a page to look good and function properly across all of the browsers out there.  While Internet Explorer still has the majority of users, Firefox has made significant inroads and Safari is continually increasing its numbers as well.  In addition to the “Big 3” there are also a lot of smaller, lesser-known browsers out there in the wild as well.  Just when you thought you’d seen enough browser choices, Google has decided to jump into the mix and release a new browser called Chrome.  Chrome’s based on Apple’s open source Webkit code base and Chrome’s code base will be contributed to the open source community as well from what Google has said.

I downloaded Chrome right after it was released since I was interested in how well it performs and renders sites.  After using it for awhile I have to say that I’m impressed with the speed and features so far.  Here’s what it looks like in action:

So why did Google build a new browser with so many choices out there?  The obvious reason is that they if they can get millions of users to use it then they can have more control over the search market.  However, when I installed Chrome it respected my default search engine (live.com…I alternate between Live and Google) and didn’t try to override it which was a positive surprise.  The also wanted to add features that they felt today’s popular browsers are missing such as support for individual processes per tab (so that other tabs can’t crash the tab you’re working with), more efficient memory allocation and cleanup, a faster JavaScript engine, built-in support for Google Gears, user friendly placement of tabs (tabs are at the top of the browser like most users would expect and can easily be re-arranged), a URL textbox that supports URLs and searching, the ability to create shortcuts to online applications, a start page that lists all of your most frequently visited sites, plus more. 

While most end users won’t see any earth-shattering differences between Chrome and other browsers out there, developers may certainly embrace it if it performs like Google is suggesting.  I haven’t had time to run Chrome through the ringer yet but will be checking it out against heavy AJAX sites over the next few days.

Google has a nice cartoon strip that walks through their rationale for building a new browser that provides several details about the features they felt browsers should have.  Time will tell how popular it becomes but with Google pushing it I’m sure it’ll start moving up the browser stat charts.  One thing is for sure….competition isn’t a bad thing especially when it comes to tools such as browsers that we use on a daily basis.  Download Chrome at http://www.google.com/chrome.