Introduction

Browser is the application which processes the requests to browse for. In this digital world there are so many browsers available in PCs, Android and iOS. While there are numerous debates on choosing the best browser, the most effective and highly used browser by internet users in that list is Google Chrome. It is a free online platform to access World Wide Web and to run web based applications. It is an open source based on Chromium project.

Google has released its own and free internet browser named Chrome on December 11, 2008. This browser is available for various operating systems like Linux, Windows, iOS, Android and Mac. Chrome’s web security has sandboxing-based approach. Chrome supports HTML5 and CSS standards. Chrome is the first web browser to associate search box and address bar called the omnibox, which most of the web browsers adopted later-on.

Chrome allows saving bookmarks and history by signing into their personal Google accounts and also can access web pages through multiple devices. It has launched an online website called “ChromeWebStore” where users can buy and install extensions and web applications to operate within the browser. One of the reasons that make Chrome outstanding is its clean and polished UI and versatility.

Over the past few years Chrome has stand out as the most popular and most used browser. It is simple yet secured web browser meeting the modern web requirement. Chrome is a cross-platform web browser. Though most of the source code of chrome comes from Google’s open source software chromium, it is licensed as a proprietary freeware.

Chrome also works equally efficient with other Google sites such as Youtube and Gmail. Chrome’s engine uses V8 Javascript developed by Google. Chrome makes the essential things you do on internet faster.

The Google CEO Eric Schmidt firstly opposed the development of the web browser stating that “Google was a small company”, and he don’t want to enter into the browser wars. But later on he declared that the idea of chrome is so good that has changed his mind. The whole development was led by Sundar Pichai.

 

 

Development

Chrome was gathered from 25 various code libraries from Google and other third parties such as Netscape Portable Runtime, NPAPI, Mozilla and Network Security Services. It initially used WebKit rendering engine to display all the web pages.

On January 11, 2011, the Chrome product manager, Mike Jazayeri, declared that Chrome would eradicate H264 video codec support for its HTML5 player, mentioning the desire to bring Google Chrome more in line with the currently existing open codecs available in the Chromium project, which Chrome is based on. Despite this, on November 6, 2012, Google released a version of Chrome on Windows which added hardware-accelerated H.264 video decoding. In October 2013, Cisco announced that it was open-sourcing its H.264 codecs and would cover all fees required. On February 7, 2012, Google launched Google Chrome Beta for Android devices. On many new devices with Android 4.1 and later preinstalled, Chrome is the default browser. In May 2017, Google announced a version of Chrome for augmented reality and virtual reality devices.

On July 7, 2009, Google proclaimed plans to advance an open-source operating system, known as Chrome OS. The first devices to use Chrome OS were released in 2011 and called Chromebooks. Chrome OS, which runs on top of a Linux kernel, requires fewer system resources than most operating systems because it uses cloud computing, in which the only software run on a Chrome OS device is Chrome and all other software applications are accessed through the Internet inside the Chrome browser.

Chrome is the first browser to feature remote, or secure, windows for each web page or application running in it. While this means that each new tab that is opened requires as much dedicated computer memory as the first tab, it also means that if any computer code causes one of these tabs to crash, it will not bring down the entire browser. Closing a tab fully releases its allocated memory, thus solving a persistent problem of older browsers, which frequently have to be restarted in order to release the collective amounts of memory that are demanded over time.

Features of Google Chrome

Chrome’s UI(user interface) is very minimalistic. It has merged the search bar and the address bar into the omnibox. Chrome has good status in strong browser performance.

• Bookmarks and setting synchronization is one of the features in Google Chrome which allows the users to sync their history, settings and bookmarks all over the other devices connected with the same account.
• At times Chrome retrieves updates about phishing and malware and also notifies its users while they attempt to open a harmful website or link.

This works based on an API known as GoogleSafeBrowsing. Google extended its security system recently on September 2, 2020 especially for Android. This was designed to improve the privacy and safety of the user while engaging in the web.

• Chrome also supports the gestures which provide no touch control which aid users to navigate from one page to another webpage easily. It has some predefined gestures that we can use while browsing. To activate these gestures initially we are required to go through a URL and make the necessary changes and restart the chrome browser.
• Omnibox, is the direct interface of the Google search engine. It has address bar as well as search bar. It allows users to directly enter the URL of the website that is looking for.
• Sometimes we may accidentally close the tabs, but we need them. For this problem chrome as brought a solution. By entering Ctrl+Shift+T we can navigate any page that has discarded. Also there will be a reopen closed tab option in the browser to access the discarded pages/tabs.
• The time we spend with our phones, tablets and computers daily is rapidly increasing. This is causing a lot of eyestrain and poor battery performance. The solution for this is dark-mode which is currently implementing by all the devices and software. Chrome also provides dark mode option to its user when enabled it displays in dark hue.

• Sometimes unnecessary popups show upon the devices while we are surfing the internet. It makes browsing difficult, distracting and time taking. Chrome has a feature to block these popups not to appear again in the future. Malware and ad blocking is also similar to the popup blocking. Users can choose which ads to be displayed according to their preferences and can block the unnecessary.
• Incognito mode is one of the best features of chrome till date. It is used for more privacy concerns. In this feature browser won’t store any details like history, cookies and other site data. It gives a temporary control over the browsing history.
• To increase the efficiency of the browser to the next we can add some extensions to the browser to make the work easier. To download these extensions and web applications Google provides a Chrome web store which allow people to install and run the add-ons and extensions in the browser
• We have a feature in the Google Chrome known as Get Themes which allows the users to set their unique themes to the browser display. There are many online themes available in the chrome to alter the appearance. Chrome runs on various platforms like Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS.