Already switching back to Firefox from Google Chrome

When Google Chrome hit the scene a little while ago, I was excited. Scott McCloud’s online comic book (although confusing at times) was a good sell on Chrome’s features, and I particularly liked the way it handles each tab as a separate process.

Immediately, on my computer at work, I installed Chrome and started using it as my default browser. The speed was amazing. In terms of rendering pages, it seemed to be as fast as Opera, and the interface responsiveness made it seem even faster. I also dug how Chrome’s version of the “speed dial” was dynamic based on the pages you’ve visited (in Opera’s you have to set the speed dial pages manually).

But, alas, Chrome (like Opera) has annoying tab behavior. It opens new tabs next to the current tab. That doesn’t work well with how I browse. I like to open links in new tabs at the end of the row so that I can get to them eventually. I don’t like to switch to them right away after closing the current tab. I tried to put up with it for a while, but Firefox is the browser that works with my style. Maybe someone will come up with a preference hack for Chrome that will change the tab behavior. Until then, I’ll remain a Firefox user.

12 comments

  1. I like the new browser, too, but I’m sticking to Firefox because of my tabs. Oh, and I don’t like that the New Tab button moves to right if you have many tabs open; I want the button to be the same place for the whole time.

  2. Actually my complaint about Chrome is that I can’t download it!

    We use only Ubuntu at our house, but we give away CDs of free software for local Windows users (these are applications which we used to use back in our Windows days). We do this so that even Windows users can benefit from the joy of free software, especially those on dial-up for whom downloading applications like OpenOffice.org is a bit arduous (127 MB). We hope they will like free software enough to try Ubuntu later on.

    A description of what we have on our free CD is at http://web.ncf.ca/adamandruth/wincd.html

    Anyway I was going to download Chrome and add it to our free CD. When I went to the download page at http://www.google.com/chrome there was no button to download it.

    I confirmed with some Windows users that there is a link when viewing the page from Windows. I guess it recognizes our PC as running Linux and doesn’t allow downloading the currently Windows-only Chrome browser.

    I was also told by Windows users that even if you have Windows, the download is only a 474 kB program called “ChromeSetup.exe” that then goes and gets the actual application.

    Google is really trying hard to make it difficult for well-intentioned people to distribute their browser and get it more widely accepted.

    Ironically I tried to submit a bug report to Google on this problem, but you can only use Chrome to submit a bug report on Chrome!! Phhht!

    Our Windows CD has Firefox 3.0.1 for Windows on it. Mozilla allows you to download any version for any operating system and it is a single complete download. I guess Firefox is all we will be giving away!

  3. I don’t know if it was just me, but it seemed too minimalistic. Do you know how to view a page’s source code? I hadn’t tried it out long, but I couldn’t find that

  4. Just so you know, Opera, by default, opens tabs at the end of the row. If you don’t like that, you can change it in the preferences so it opens next to the active tab ;)

  5. Yeah, but Opera has a different annoying behavior, which is that it always switches back to the last tab I was viewing after I close a tab, regardless of tab positioning.

    Sometimes I like to keep a particular tab open for viewing later, and Opera will keep bringing me back to that tab instead of following in the logical sequence of right-to-left-focus from right or left-to-right-focus from left.

    And that’s regardless of what settings I choose. Believe me, I’ve tried.

  6. –which is that it always switches back to the last tab I was viewing after I close a tab, regardless of tab positioning.–

    eh?

    Tools > Preferences > When Closing a Tab > Activate the next tab

  7. Awesome, ikt. I couldn’t sworn that option wasn’t available in earlier versions of Opera, but it actually seems (with the limited testing I’ve done) to behave the way I want it to behave. Of course, that’s not the only reason I don’t use Opera, but it’s nice to know I have one less reason not to use it.

  8. I spoke too soon. No, it seems to still have the same annoying behavior. Every time I close a tab, it’ll still go back to my save-for-later tab on the left instead of going to the next tab on the right.

  9. As a case-by-case (but not persistent) fix you might try dragging the “save for later” tab to a different position within the row? Not sure if that would have the desired effect and I know it is not “the right” solution….but more of a “half-assed one”

  10. That thing about Opera annoyed me as well. Thanks for telling me how to fix it! :D

    ubuntucat, I don’t know why it didn’t work for you:
    Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Tabs -> Under “When Closing tab” change from “Activate last activate tab” to “Activate next tab”.

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