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Chromium-Based Spinoffs Worth Trying
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp takes an in-depth look at six Chromium-based spinoffs that bring privacy, security, social networking, and other interesting twists to Google's Chrome browser. 'When is it worth ditching Chrome for a Chromium-based remix? Some of the spinoffs are little better than novelties. Some have good ideas implemented in an iffy way. But a few point toward some genuinely new directions for both Chrome and other browsers.'"
6 more goofy names that mean nothing (internet explorer? ok, Netscape Navigator? ok, SRWare Iron, Comodo Dragon, Iceweasel? wtf)
ps here is the print version, so you dont have to wade through 6 ad infested pages
http://www.infoworld.com/print/184923
The one thing that keeps me from switching to Chrome is the lack of customization. With Firefox I have the wonderful about:config, but Chrome has no such feature. Even basic settings like moving where the tabs are or fine-grained privacy settings are missing from Chrome and most Chrome derived browsers.
Until Firefox somehow becomes totally unusable or Chrome actually lets me change basic settings, I'm sticking with Firefox.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Define "extra crap".
Chrome, includes Flash and PDF plugins, no extra functionality, 82M installed.
Mozilla, no Flash, no PDF, no extra functionality, 38M.
Opera, no Flash, no PDF, built-in news reader/mail, URL-based adblocker and a bunch of other stuff commonly installed as extensions on FF/Chrome - fits it all in 35M
Can you spell "b-l-o-a-t"?
The interface is what ruins Chrome, how come no one bothers to fix it? A good interface is consistent, internally and externally: the app must belong with the operating system around it. Chrome is alien in any system, it does not have the same window borders, menu bar, or anything else as every other app. That's tolerable from a tiny indie team, like jDownloader, but from a megacorporation like Google this is simply cringeworthy.
Chrome ignoring the system's window decorations to build its own isn't just annoying, it's an accessibility and usability nightmare. If a user is disabled and needs, for example, larger close/minimise/etc buttons, Chrome's custom decorations still draw at their own size regardless of system setting. It also puts the window control buttons in the same place regardless of how your system is set up, so a user with motor control problems is going to be more likely to hit the wrong button by mistake due to the close placement and small size.. Since it ignores colour scheme, too, that means users that need high-contrast themes are screwed there, too.
These problems are especially obvious in KDE, because Kwin allows you to change button placement and decoration size. Even for a user without disabilities, the fact that Chrome and Chromium completely override your settings and does what it wants is a usability killer. I have custom window decoration placement, size, and a dark theme, so Chromium is absolutely horrible to look at by default.
Luckily, Chromium has two useful appearance options under the "Personal Stuff" section that mitigates this. You can choose "Use GTK+ theme" to get your system colours, and "Use system title bar and borders" to put your window manager back in control. No idea if it works in Windows, but it was a huge improvement for me in Debian.
Sadly, RockMelt is the most significant entrant on the list. #1 is Chromium, #2 is SRWare Iron (the legitimacy of which remains under debate), #6 is just Chrome itself (brilliant list-padding idea guys; include the official branch not once but twice to pad your pitifully short list), #3 is Comodo Dragon (dumb new UI + hardcoded DNS), and #5 is a Chinese thing that throws in the same old IE Mode and mouse gestures that we've seen a billion times everywhere else. There aren't six Chrome "remixes" out there, there are two.
From now on I think all stories that start with a quantity of items being reviewed, or the fragment "top n", are going to be purged vehemently from my system with a bit of JS. Sad, sad, sad.
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Well as someone who uses Comodo Dragon what extra crap are you referring to? The " send everything to Google" stuff being removed, or the completely optional Comodo Secure DNS (which i've found blocks most phishing and malware sites) which is not only changeable at install but can be toggled on and off with a checkbox? Or the single button that lets you use Comodo site inspector to check a site's malware history, again a single checkbox to remove? that extra?
if you care about security and privacy i urge to to read TFA and give the Dragon a try, its fast, has some really nice completely optional security features, can be installed standalone or on a thumbstick, and with each release frankly its gotten better both in performance and security. With the Dragon and Avast free just for shits and giggles i tried to get a machine i was gonna wipe anyway infected, threw every 'look at teh tittiez!" and 'get a free iPad!" topsite and crapsite i could find at it and between the two everything was stopped cold. i did a half a dozen offline and online scans and nothing, zero zip nada squat, which is good enough of a result i've switched my entire family to the Dragon with Avast and haven't had a single call, it all 'just works" smooth as butter. give it a try, its free and the standalone won't even mess with Chrome if that is your main browser so what have you got to lose?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
IE9. Microsoft has matured with its browser from the medieval times of IE5.
Speaking as an end-user; no, it hasn't.
Speaking as a web developer; no, it hasn't.
Use Firefox, Opera, Safari or Chrome. Not IE in any version.
Not yet anyway, IE9 is far better than previous IE's, so I've got some hope for IE10.
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