1. Web browser crashes are history

Traditionally, all web browsers run as a single process. This means if a web page gets hung due to memory leakage, the whole web browser crashes and had to be opened again. But in Google Chrome, each web page and plug-in (Flash, Shockwave, Java etc) are independent processes with their own memory and global data structures.

For the end user this translates to negligible web browser crashes. If a web page misbehaves, it only affects that particular web page and not the whole web browser. And you can free up the memory of the misbehaving web page by opening the Chrome Taskbar by pressing the keyboard shortcut [Shift + Esc]. Then kill the misbehaving process.

Task Manager provides a list of each tab, the memory consumed by each tab and the percentage of CPU cycles consumption.

2. Webkit Open source rendering engine

Google Chrome makes use of the open source Webkit rendering engine.  It is the same rendering engine that powers Safari – Apple’s web browser.  It is claimed to be very fast.  It has an inbuilt JavaScript virtual machine called V8 which is way superior to the JavaScript engines found in alternate web  browsers.  V8 has better garbage collection and automatic memory management which translates to better interactive performance of web applications.

3. Superior Tabbed Browsing

In Google Chrome, you can re-order the opened tabs by sliding them around. You can even detach a tab to show the web page in its own window or move the tab from window to window. The tab retains its state when it gets moved to the new window.

When you open a new tab, instead of a blank page, Chrome presents you with a page which contain thumbnail links of nine most visited sites , the sites you search on the most and your recent bookmarks.

4. More versatile address bar

Search within a website the easy way

Lets say you visit a website which has site search. The next time you visit this website, you can enter the first few characters of the website name and press Tab key to search that website.

Auto-Completion

Lets say you have previously visited Cnn.com. The next time you visit Cnn, you do not have to type the whole name, rather, just type the first few characters and press ‘Return’ key and you will be automatically taken to Cnn.

5. Privacy Mode in Google Chrome

Google Chrome web browser can be used to browse the web in incognito mode. While in this mode, nothing that occurs in that window ever gets logged by the web browser. All cookies and browsing history of the websites you browse in that mode are wiped off once the window is closed. The interesting thing is this privacy mode can be enabled on a per website basis. So you can browse websites in normal mode and simultaneously browse other websites in incognito mode.

6. Sandboxing of each tab process

While developing Chrome, Google engineers ensured that each webpage or tab process cannot communicate with other processes thus ensuring prevention of malware from installing itself on your computer or using what happens to one tab to affect what happens to another. Of course plug-ins are exempt from being sandboxed.

7. See memory used by different web browsers

Suppose you have multiple web browsers open at the same time – say Firefox, IE and of course Chrome. In Chrome, there is an inbuilt nifty trick of learning the memory consumption of each web browsers. Here is how ….

Open a new tab and enter “about:memory” in the address bar.  Now you can see a list of open web browsers. the memory they consume and the details of the processes running in Chrome.

8. Launch websites from the start menu or quick launch bar

I open Gmail  daily to check my mail. I was pleasantly surprised that you can create shortcuts to individual websites from within Chrome and they can be inserted on your Desktop, Start Bar and Quick Launch Bar with just a few clicks. Here is how you do it …

Open any site and choose “Create application shortcut” from the File menu as shown in the following figure.

9. Visual browser history

This is another feature which I love to use. To access this press the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + H“.

10. Google Chrome for Linux

Google Chrome is released as Open Source. The clean UI coupled with the superior browsing experience makes Google Chrome a wonderful web browser in Linux.