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Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

jtaby.com

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Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#81

Post by visural »

carussell wrote: post #65
treeface wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case, I don't really see any validity in the complaint. The search function is a temporary UI addition with a single purpose that goes away the moment you hit escape. Better yet, if you hit ctrl-f again, it comes back with the same text already entered.

Okay. These are all facts with respect to the find UI; yes, the things you say regarding hitting the escape key and the keyboard shortcut to make the find UI reappear—these are all true, factual things. But this isn't a concession. You can say these things, but every one of them is immaterial to point that the find UI, when present, obscures parts of the page , where potentially those parts are functional UI for that…

So? If it doesn't cause a problem... it isn't a problem.

Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#82

Post by visural »

jtaby wrote: post #13
callahad wrote: post #6

There are a couple of things to point out jtaby's critique of Chrome: 1. There's no small, unobtrusive way to monitor the progress of downloads. Actually, in OS X, the Chrome icon in the dock has a small pie chart overlay during downloads that indicates both the number of pending downloads as well as the aggregate progress of all downloads. If your dock is hidden, you can quickly and easily check the progress by hitt…

Thanks a lot for your comment, callahad. I'll try to respond to your comments. 1. You're right, I hadn't actually noticed that until after I wrote the blog post. I think it's because I hide the Dock by default (still doesn't explain why I didn't notice it in the app switcher) My point was, there are three places to manage downloads. I have to manually close the Downloads bar. Worst of all (and this is something I for…

In regards to #1 - I'm not sure what you mean by "manage".. the 3 places cater to 3 distinct use-cases -

- The downloads bar works in the 90% use case - we just want to download something and open it. When you click a download(s) in the bar, the bar closes after the download is complete.

- The dock icon lets you know how the download is going, when you're in another app / away from the browser.

- The download tab gives you your complete download history, for when you want to look back for old downloads.

Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#83

Post by memetichazard »

> Massive Preferences List - Looking at that screenshot, the list doesn't seem massive. I seem to recall Firefox (or maybe Opera, this was a while back) having a large grid of options that was several pages long.

> Other Bookmarks - I don't have that on my current Chrome. I think this is because this is a folder that comes with the default install - if you go to the bookmarks manager you should be able to remove it.

> Status Bar - I kinda like it - you don't want the status bar popping up and hiding your cursor. Except in your video it's a lot more erratic than on mine at the moment.

> Favicons/Too many tabs - Favicons help when there are too many tabs. A common problem for me.

> Can you tell at a glance whether this site is loading or not? It's loading - the icon next to the URL is an X and not the reload icon.

There are some things that bug me, like broken pdf support - the built-in pdf viewer doesn't support rotation, for instance.

Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#84

Post by Newky »

starwed wrote: post #59
redthrowaway wrote: post #31

Favicons: This is by far my favorite feature of modern browsers, and I in no way apologize for loving them. They make bookmarks actually useful for sites you visit regularly. Take a look at my bookmark bar: [1] The favicons allow me to fit all of the links I visit regularly in one easily accessible, compact place. I don't care if they look "tacky", they're incredibly useful. [1] http://min.us/l5aGM

I find it weird to even think of a bookmark bar anymore. At least in FF, the URL bar does such a good job searching history/bookmarks that I have no use for it, and I thought chrome was now in a similar position?

My only usage for a bookmark bar is for javascript bookmarks such as readability and HackemUp

Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#86

Post by v21 »

carussell wrote: post #65
treeface wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case, I don't really see any validity in the complaint. The search function is a temporary UI addition with a single purpose that goes away the moment you hit escape. Better yet, if you hit ctrl-f again, it comes back with the same text already entered.

Okay. These are all facts with respect to the find UI; yes, the things you say regarding hitting the escape key and the keyboard shortcut to make the find UI reappear—these are all true, factual things. But this isn't a concession. You can say these things, but every one of them is immaterial to point that the find UI, when present, obscures parts of the page , where potentially those parts are functional UI for that…

Hm. I don't know that this is a defense either - but this design decision was at least made deliberately, with awareness of the trade-offs involved.

" The find bar is presented as an overlay in order to prevent page relayout when the bar is shown or hidden. If the text the user is looking for is under the bar, it will scroll the page, or slide out of the way."

http://www.chromium.org/user-experience/find-in-page

There seems to be a consistent, understandable aversion to pop up windows within Chrome. Excepting the Downloads bar, there also seems to be an aversion to shrinking the display area of the screen. Putting the Find in Page UI overlaying the site causes the browser to show more of the page than if it shifted the page down, something that is clearly a high priority for them (see the Status bar for an example).

Every design involves compromise. I think I prefer the way Chrome went on this one.

Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#88

Post by wickedchicken »

> the effective draggable area in Chrome is a thin 10px strip at the top of the window.

Weirdly enough, if you use a tiled window manager (http://awesome.naquadah.org/) this is a feature instead of a detriment. On my netbook pixels really are at a premium and chrome is admirable in its space-saving efforts. I wish they would fix the download bar thing, but they're aware of that and I believe it's a priority for some of the next releases.

Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#89

Post by akdom »

carussell wrote: post #68
akdom wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you're searching for specific content it seems to fall into two categories: A) The content _is_ the UI element that's being covered and the search box moves out of the way. B) The content _is not_ the UI element that's being covered and you are looking to find something else on the page. I don't leave the "Find on Page" box open when I'm normally using a page. So when searching I'm not really interacting with…

There's one detail ignored here. You hint at it when you say that, regarding yourself : > I don't leave the "Find on Page" box open when I'm normally using a page. (emphasis mine) When you have the find UI open and you click on a link within the page, the find UI disappears when it navigates to the new page. This allows you, for example, to open the find UI and use it until you've reached your goal, then promptly dro…

Alright, I can see the case where someone doesn't habitually close it and stumbles upon a site where it is obscuring. It seems rather mild to me, but I guess I could regard that as a UX failing.

The only solutions that immediately come to mind:

A) Place the "Find on Page" box at the bottom of the window.

Advantages: It would get out of the way for the common practice of placing web UI at the top of the viewing pane. Also the tradition of putting other UI elements at the bottom (namely the download bar comes to mind) means that it wouldn't be too unfamiliar.

Drawbacks: This _would_ put it rather far from it's omnibox UI-sibling and the rest of the prefs UI, breaking some of the association for the UX. It doesn't resolve the problem of UI elements being obscured the bottom of the viewing pane.

Seen also in: I know at least Firefox does this.

B) Have the "Find on Page" UI element displace the page so as to not cover any page UI while "active"

Advantages: Won't cover UI. Potentially more room for search terms.

Drawbacks: Takes up more screen real estate.

Seen also in: I know at least Firefox does this as well.

Alright, so those are potential solutions... what I'm more interested in are the ones I _haven't_ thought of. Does anyone in the HN community have a brilliant solution for how to deal with designing a "Find on Page" UI?

Re: Google Chrome – Why I Hate It And Continue To Use It

#90

Post by pasbesoin »

kbatten wrote: post #74
treeface wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Continuing assault on the address bar. (First they came for "http", then they came for me.) Could you please explain why this is an issue to you?

The only issue I have with the missing http is that when you copy the link, it automatically adds in the http. Most of the time when copying a link I either don't care if the http is there, or I specifically don't want it (for example if I am sshing into a box.) If they stuck with "copy what you see", at least for me, it would resolve one of my biggest peeves with Chrome. The other being useless tab text if you have…

There's my own convenience. I want to see where I'm at. The address also often contains information not reflected in/on the page itself.

Then there's the average user. They don't constantly, instantly adapt. It's taken us time and effort to train our parents, friends, coworkers, etc. how to examine addresses for useful clues. E.g. Is my connection secure? Is this really the server I want to reach?

There are security paradigms that have taken considerable time and effort to establish in the public's mind.

Now some designers decide they want -- need -- to toss this for the sake of 30 pixels and a notion of "visual purity". Without, in Chrome's case, even an option to make the control visible if we so choose. (Although, as I understand the current situation, it will still appear in some kind of hover presentation.)

Some may think it looks all shiny. For me, it makes my life harder.

EDITED: For (somewhat) less grumpiness.

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