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Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

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Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#241

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

quotemstr wrote: post #229
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only difference is that Google has endlessly more clout and depth than AOL and my fear is that where AOL failed, Google may succeed. With Firefox succumbing this week, this is pretty horrible. I’m not a Richard Stallman type, but I think it’s come to the point where if you have even the slightest pretense of being a “free web” person, using Chrome or a Chromium-based browser has become unconscionable. This compan…

The problem is that there are simply no good free browsers that are not Chromium-based or Firefox. It doesn't seem viable or worthwhile to write a web rendering engine from the ground up. We're heading rapidly towards a Blink/Webkit monoculture.

Why exclude FF? It’s good.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#242

Post by saagarjha »

madeofpalk wrote: post #184
khaledh wrote: post #12

IMO this is the real reason why they're pushing hard towards this: However, it's also worth considering that making the web address less important, as this feature does, benefits Google as a company. Google's goal with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and similar technologies is to keep users on Google-hosted content as much as possible, and Chrome for Android already modifies the address bar on AMP pages to hide that…

I don't think this is true at all. If anything, this change actually hurts AMP because now none of the original host url is visible at first. I don't like browsers that do this, its the first thing I turn off in Safari, but how does Apple manage to get away hiding the full path under positive intent, but when Google does it its because they're evil? I think it's pretty fair to say that the wider population of users a…

> I don't like browsers that do this, its the first thing I turn off in Safari, but how does Apple manage to get away hiding the full path under positive intent, but when Google does it its because they're evil?

I don’t like it either, but I assume the difference arises from the fact that Google would benefit from deemphasizing the URL and has done work already in faking it, while Apple probably does it because it looks clean and it thinks its users will be tricked by apple.com.help-virus-14682825821&824826.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#243

Post by curiousllama »

I wonder to what degree Google becoming increasingly a Walled Garden provides an opportunity for a new type of search engine. Instead of having to grapple with the breadth of services on the Internet, it grapples with the depth of each Walled Garden - Apple, Google, WeChat, etc.

I simply can't imagine that any one platform, however large, can truly grapple with the full range of use cases for the consumer internet.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#244

Post by saagarjha »

izacus wrote: post #186
khaledh wrote: post #12

IMO this is the real reason why they're pushing hard towards this: However, it's also worth considering that making the web address less important, as this feature does, benefits Google as a company. Google's goal with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and similar technologies is to keep users on Google-hosted content as much as possible, and Chrome for Android already modifies the address bar on AMP pages to hide that…

If that conspiracy theory is true, what reason does Apple have to do this exact same thing on iOS Safari?

It looks marginally cleaner.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#245

Post by gravitas »

scott_s wrote: post #107

Something I haven't seen anyone here bring up yet: many URLs are meaningless to humans past the domain. For an example, look at the top of this page. The only semantic meaning in the URL for this post is `news.ycombinator.com`. The rest, `item?id=24156986`, is meaningless to a human. (But, of course, meaningful to HN's backend.) A lot of (most?) of the URLs on the web are not semantic . They're naked application look…

> For an example, look at the top of this page. The only semantic meaning in the URL for this post is `news.ycombinator.com`. The rest, `item?id=24156986`, is meaningless to a human.

I agree, but I'm going to say the unpopular thing: HN has problems and is an archaic design from the past, and this issue is due to the proliferation of changing the titles of posts (thereby breaking a vanity URL) or changing the URL that the story points at to some other website. Using a vanity URL doesn't work for how the owners run this website and its my belief that it's in the minority along with forum (phpBB e.g.) websites and does not represent the larger percentage of the internet using vanity URLs with human readable text strings in them.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#246

Post by BookHeretykow »

crazypython wrote: post #109
filleduchaos wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, I know the 95% out there who don't even know what a browser is but only know Chrome's icon gives access to the web won't understand any of this I find it fascinating how some people in tech bubbles think everyone else is a stupid sheep who can't possibly understand such incredibly complex concepts like what a "browser" is.

People think the screen is the computer. People think Google is the web. People think the search engine is the browser.

More or less this is true. I encountered even web devs who thought it was unimaginable to change browser. Because extensions, because differences in css and so on. IE8 PTSD. For common user largest tragedy is lost of opened tabs. I seen this over and over again. So many people think there's no such thing like bookmarks and they keep their tabs open until OS crush or something.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#247

Post by 3PS »

Beldin wrote: post #173
walrus01 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I encourage everyone to use Firefox on Android just for the one killer feature of being able to install the full desktop ublock origin plugin.

I tried. Tab switching was - for me - horrible compared to Chrome (chrome:swipe down, swipe address bar down, select tab you want from carousel). I kept looking if i missed this obvious feature. I tried to live without it, but Firefox mobile's tab switching just turned out to be a deal breaker for me. If anyone had some tips: please!! I'd vastly prefer using FF on mobile.

Tab switching on Firefox Nightly is much better as of a week or so ago. You can now swipe left and right on the address bar to go between tabs, just like in Chrome. It's particularly nice when the address bar is on the bottom.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#249

Post by ehutch79 »

This has nothing to do with amp, and everything to do with users thinking http://printer001.cpalawyer.bz/mircosoftoneline.acutallogind... is a legit office 365 login page.

Not that they're going to notice that the url bar says something random anyways.

Re: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

#250

Post by clairity »

google is not attacking the url bar, it's attacking dns, just like aol and verisign (and others) before it. google wants to replace the decentralized dns system with a centralized google lookup service, powered by their principle competitive advantage, search. google wants to control the internet itself.

they're banking on the idea that the average user wants to type (or speak) "macdonalds" and end up engaging with mcdonald's in some form. google wants to be the gatekeepers of the whole internet, not just the browser. the browser is small peanuts in comparison.

the simple narrative of this title/story is the kind of distraction we need to see right through with large organizations everywhere, whether it be a corporation, a government, or anything else. we the people must keep these entities in check so that they serve the greater good for all of us, not just the narrow and corrupt.

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