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Google Confirms Chrome GPU Acceleration

An anonymous reader writes "Google is already experimenting with GPU acceleration in its latest Chrome developer builds. Chrome 7 can separate different layers of a webpage into CPU and GPU processes and combine those layers using the GPU as long as the browser is now launched with certain switches. Chromium 7 has also a new Labs feature that reveals that Google is thinking about moving tabs from the top of the browser to the left side. It seems that Chrome will be catching up with Firefox 4 and IE9 in terms of hardware acceleration soon."

10 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Tabs on the left make sense by RichMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These days most screens are wider than they are taller. And text still reads better vertically.
    So the height is valuable real-estate while there is side space to waste.
    My desktop has the application bars hide on the left/right.

    The more vertical space the better.

    1. Re:Tabs on the left make sense by dave420 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't you have a scroll wheel? Are you a time-traveller from the past?

    2. Re:Tabs on the left make sense by DragonWriter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      These days most screens are wider than they are taller.

      Most screens have been wider than tall since well before the first web browsers.

      And text still reads better vertically.

      Text reads better in columns narrower than most screens are wide at the typical viewing distance, but its often convenient to have more than one block of text on the screen. Tabs take up more room on the side than on the top, and do more on the side to hurt the ability to have more usable windows on the screen.

      Tabs on the side are useful for some people in all circumstances, and for other people in certain circumstances, and (I suspect) for some people in no circumstances. So, if Chrome allows the user to move the tabs to the side, that's good.

      If Chrome just moves the tabs to the side, thats bad.

    3. Re:Tabs on the left make sense by Sancho · · Score: 4, Funny

      I did this on my netbook, but it made it really hard to type.

  2. Re:Let me see if I've got this right... by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You know, I keep hearing this, how Flash keeps crashing browsers. I use quite a few Flash sites ranging from casual games to management applications for security appliances, and I think I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've had a Flash related browser issue over the last couple of years.

    I think it's either a tired meme or some people just don't know how to setup and maintain a stable system.

  3. Vertical tabs by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Have been in there a long time, hidden by the --enable-vertical-tabs switch, so this isn't a new idea. Try it out yourself if you want (about:labs page isn't in yet so you'll need the switch).

  4. Re:Finally ... by sznupi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nah, just keeping the tradition of taking stuff from Opera; life as usual. ;)

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
  5. Re:Let me see if I've got this right... by mikael_j · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem is that in order to keep Flash from crashing you pretty much need to run flashblock or noscript which cripples your browsing experience and unfortunately there are sites out there that actually try to obfuscate their javascript and Flash content to trick you into loading their annoying ads.

    Basically it's a pain in the ass to keep Flash from hogging resources so most users just don't do it even if they know how to.

    --
    Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
  6. Re:Let me see if I've got this right... by mpcooke3 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's true flash is a lot more stable these days, particularly with the release of flash 10.1

    Just the odd browser issue here and there:
    Like it causes IE to crash very frequently on some computers
    http://forums.adobe.com/message/2925919?tstart=0
    and Firefox to crash very frequently on some computers
    http://forums.adobe.com/message/2962506#2962506
    http://forums.adobe.com/message/2920257#2920257
    and then of course there was the Safari crashing problems
    http://fairerplatform.com/2010/08/flash-10-1-crashes-safari-how-to-remove/
    and it crashes some computers with hardware acceleration enabled (the default setting)
    and it causes all browsers to crash on some computers when you try to activate a webcam
    http://forums.adobe.com/message/3031253#3031253
    and of course it crashes chrome a lot too on some computers (also remember the Adobe flash uninstaller doesn't work on chrome now, so need to uninstall in two ways)
    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=461f66d507a8d884&hl=en

    But I'm sure your right, I haven't for instance seen anyone complain of flash crashing safari on the iPhone. oh wait....

  7. Quick way to speed up your browser by Animats · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you want to speed up your browser, just block the following domains:

    *.doubleclick.net
    *.polldaddy.com
    *.quantserve.com
    *.google-analytics.com
    *.scorecardresearch.com
    *.gravatar.com
    *.247realmedia.com
    *.likeme.net

    If you block the top 10 ad services, browsing speed improves substantially. Firefox BlockSite is useful for blocking, or you can edit HOSTS.TXT. This alone will make Slashdot pages load twice as fast. AdBlock isn't enough; it still loads the data, but doesn't display it. There's too much ad code out there which stalls page loading until the ad is served. So you get to wait for the ad servers. Sequentially.