Google Chrome: A User Interface Review
When Google’s Chrome was announced, I made some comments based on the information we had to hand at the time. To summarise, I thought the layout of Chrome was badly considered when assessing it based on Fitts’s Law. Now that Chrome is actually out (for Windows, at least), we can take a closer look at it, put it to the test as it were. But unlike some other sources, who seem really caught up on whether Chrome is actually the fastest browser out there (Chrome on Windows XP through a VM doesn’t feel as fast as Safari on OSX, but that’s neither here nor there), I wanted to look at it from a user’s point of view. After all, if Google wants to be a success in the Browser Wars II (this time it’s personal?), they’re going to have to win the hearts and minds of ordinary users, and that isn’t done by rendering a JavaScript heavy page x milliseconds faster than FireFox. It’s done by being easy to use, and friendly. So let’s look at Chrome from a Use Experience and Usability point of view.
Disclaimer
Before I get any further, I want to point two things out. Firstly, Google Chrome is a very early beta product. It’s not ready for your Gran to use yet, it may not be ready for you to use yet, depending on your disposition. So tread carefully. And let’s take this as an IR beta, and not a Google beta. I don’t expect it to be flawless, neither should you.
Secondly, I’m an OSX user (you’ll find that many people in the field of user experience favor Macs). As such I’m testing Chrome on an iMac through Parallels Desktop which is running a Win XP Pro Virtual Machine. Results are indicative of this setup.
Breaking Conventions
Google seem intent on breaking some well established conventions with Chrome. We’ve seen with the iPhone that breaking established conventions can be a liberating thing, something that frees designers from the shackles of the past and allows them to come up with something truly great. There is, of course, a downside. Unless your new interface is truly intuitive, which is very difficult to do in an IT system, there’s going to be a steeper learning curve than usual. There’s also going to be mistakes and failures. And when you knowingly introduce failures and mistakes, you run the risk of user abandonment. Sometimes this will be abandonment of a task, but in cases like Chrome, and the iPhone, it will be abandonment of the tool.
Interface Differences between Chrome and FireFox 3
The image to the right highlights some of the differences you will notice between Chrome and a more conventional browser, in this case I’ve used FireFox version 3 on Windows XP in vanilla form.
I’ll be addressing each of these differences in turn.
Standard OS Interface Elements
Something that’s been a pet peeve of mine over the years has been where applications choose to change some interface elements that are intended to be common throughout the Operating System’s interface.
Unfortunately, this is something Google has chosen to do with Chrome. You’ll notice in the top right hand corner of the Chrome window that it appears to be using Windows Vista interface elements, even though it was running on Windows XP. Is this important? Yes. The problem here is not that it is using Vista’s icons, but more that it is not obeying any customisations made by the user. For example, I know users who have poor eyesight, they tend to increase the size of these controls so they can easily minimise windows without accidentally closing them.
Window Controls in Chrome and FireFox
If you enlarge these controls through Windows XP, the controls on Chrome do not change. It’s also worth noting that the buttons don’t have the characteristic coloration that controls on other windows do, this is also likely to confuse less experienced users.
To some users, the large red button that closes the window has now become the small blue button, but only for Google Chrome. And that last point really is key. Google Chrome performs differently to the rest of the OS. It’s the one car in the showroom with the steering wheel on the roof.
State-Sensitive Objects
You’ll see on the screenshot earlier in this post that I’ve highlighted the status bar and the tab bar in Chrome. The reason I’ve singled these two elements out is that they behave inconsistently. The status bar only becomes visible when there’s something to display, and it works fairly well. Essentially, it only shows up when you mouse over a link (to display the destination URL) or when the page is still loading. It’s working on the principal that at all other times, there really is nothing interesting that needs to be fed back to the user, so there’s no need to eat up valuable screen space and display extra interface elements that may confuse users.
What’s more interesting is the approach to tabs. Unlike FireFox, Google Chrome always displays the tab bar, regardless of how many tabs you have open. FireFox hides the tab bar if only one tab is open. In Chrome, the result is that you have a state-sensitive status bar (i.e. the status bar only displays when the browser is in a certain state) and a tab bar that is not state-sensitive. This is likely down to the push by Google to emphasise the tabbed aspects of Chrome. It’s a selling point, something they want to push, so I suspect the decision to keep the tab bar constantly visible was taken with more a marketing hat on, rather than a UI one.
Personally, I’m ambivalent about this. I feel it warrants being pointed out, but it’s not a huge issue. Just a difference that people need to be made aware of.
Auto Feed Discovery
As highlighted in the image towards the top of this post, Google Chrome does not feature automatic feed discovery. This seems like a strange choice given that Google runs one of the most popular Feed Reading services on the planet, Google Reader, as well as the hugely popular FeedBurner. Whether this is a feature that’s yet to be implemented, or something that’s been intentionally omitted in the name of simplicity remains to be seen. But it would appear that yet another common interface element is gone, at least for now.
Miscellany
There are a few other things that I just briefly wanted to mention that doesn’t fit in with the “breaking conventions” theme of this post. So consider this a miscellaneous section.
Task Manager
Google Chrome Task Manager
I have a real issue with my browser requiring its own Task Manager and it seems strange that Google are pushing this as a feature. Windows Mobile has been mocked repeatedly for it’s use of a Task Manager, in fact Apple referenced it in a keynote about the iPhone, that’s how laughable the feature is. The reason it doesn’t work is that Windows Mobile runs on mobile devices. People don’t want to manage their mobile devices, they just want them to work.
I think Web browsers are similar. My browser is a gateway to services, in the same way a phone is a gateway to a service. The best browser, much like the best phone, is the one that allows me to most easily access and make use of the service I am trying to connect to and utilise. Making me consider things like memory and resource usage is not going to achieve that, I just don’t want to think about it. I want my browser to just handle that back end stuff, and leave me get on with what I want to do.
Options
The Options available in Chrome
Another of my pet peeves is options. Many applications have many different ways of structuring and organising options. Currently there are very few options available in Chrome, which isn’t a bad thing. I’d personally like to see more customisation opportunities, and it is required before it becomes mainstream, but at the moment it’s fine.
What’s not fine is the structure, grouping, wording and logic of the existing options. I won’t go into any details, as I could spend an entire post on it, but it needs a complete overhaul.
Have you been using Chrome? If so, what do you think? If not, why not?
Tags: Browsers, Google, Usability, Usability Review
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I have one comment on the task manager - it’s an awesome innovation. Why?
Because people code websites, and people aren’t perfect. If I have 10 tabs open (which I may do at work - 3 for work apps, some things half read or to read, gmail and reader, etc), and one tab freezes because of some bad Java code or flash app, I can now just kill that - not loose my whole browsing experience. FF went a long way to at least store the last state so I can get back to it - this is the next step - just kill the stupid plugin that joe smith wrote and get back to where you were.
Just my 2 pennies :D
September 4th, 2008 at 7:55 am
The tab bar is integrated into the title bar so there is no penalty to have it always visible. Although this approach makes certain tab-management techniques harder to implement (see https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5890).
September 4th, 2008 at 8:13 am
I checked out Chrome last night and like Drewe, I was particularly interested in google’s claims that the separate sandboxes for each tab.
I tested it on a Dell Inspirion running Windows XP and found that some processor intensive web applications can still bring the browser to a grinding halt.
For example, I pulled up Papervision 3d Flash demos and the whole browser just froze. To me, it felt like there’s still some work to do in this area. But i think google’s claim that the separate sandboxes may help with enhanced security seems to hold water.
-M
September 4th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Drewe - I don’t disagree with your assessment, what I do disagree with is Chrome making me deal with these problems. If a plugin, or JavaScript crashes out or stalls, realistically there’s nothing I can do except quit it. Making me go into a task manager - something that many less technical literate users will be immediately weary of - to attempt to identify and diagnose the problem seems unnecessary.
To put it another way, my car has suspension. I know the road has bumps and imperfections, but my car does it’s best to hide the bumps from me so I can enjoy a comfortable ride. It doesn’t make me manually assess each road and set up my suspension accordingly. There are people who want to do this, but the vast majority of users just want a smooth ride.
Petr - As I said, I’m really not sure. On the one hand, you’re right, it doesn’t take up any space given the current layout. However, is presenting it in tabbed form going to confuse users, or offer them a plethora of options.
Mark - I think the claimed stability improvements are offset by potentially higher memory usage. Given how poorly Windows XP handles memory, this could be more a hindrance than anything else. Separate processes as Chrome seems to use may also be difficult to port onto systems with different underlying memory structures, such as OSX. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
September 4th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Google Chrome is really fast!
Now I can sort 200,000 records inside of Browser (Chrome) just in 1 sec. (Faster than Microsoft Excel):
http://www.ardentedge.com/ex_if.htm
September 5th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I agree with this write-up. I came to the same conclusions when I wrote about it at a forum. I give it the leeway of being a 0.2 beta and hope Google will listen to feedback and give it the usability considerations it deserves. I’m also curious to see what the Mac version will look like, I’m guessing that’s why it’s taking longer, because they want the Mac one looking perfect.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Great post. I completely agree with the browser speed comment.
I actually wish Firefox had made their tabs not state-sensitive. I use their Bookmark toolbar all the time and essentially that’s how I bookmark pages I visit frequently (those aren’t frequently will go into delicious). When there are tabs, I can simply drag the tab onto the toolbar and the page will be bookmarked. However, when there is no tab, I will have to press the keyboard shortcut of bookmarking a page, clicking and selecting the folder I want to bookmark it in, and press done. A lot more complicated than just dragging a tab.
September 8th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I’m surprised no one mentioned the items in Chrome that I find the most exciting, which are its treatment of downloads and web applications.
When you click on a “download this” button in a web page, you get an arrow icon that briefly descends into the status bar, to show you that your download now appears there; all the downloads of your page appear side by side, you then have options such as delete, open, etc. You also have a link to a page showing *all* your downloads, sorted by date.
The web application mode is really simple; it just means you can open a web application with no menus or icons, just a thin title bar (”Create application shortcut). Its a real no-brainer, but just the kind of user-friendly idea that looks like its obvious once it’s implemented.
When you register a page as a web application, Chrome (in windows) gives you the choice of recording the shortcut in the start menu, on desktop, or in the quick launch. So you have real shortcuts to launch the app, just like “real” applications.
I also like the “no-frills” look, but that’s a matter of taste. It really stays out of your way unless you need it.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Just putting my browser user’s hat one of the things I often found frustrating in FF was opening that next tab with the mouse was that I had to use the menu or was forced to ctrl-t. Ok that is not such a big deal but I am an old bugger and I never learned to type in school, so I am more comfortable with the mouse than the keyboard.
Chrome’s always visible tab bar gives me a new tab at a click and always tells me at a glance how many tabs I have open (even if it is one).
However the options do bug me - has anyone else worked out how to make Chrome check for a new version? I stumbled across it when looking to compare my version with the latest download. The auto update checker is under ‘About Google Chrome’. Click this to find what your version number is and it will check against the latest version. Awfully obscure.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:23 am
There is one issue in the options screen I had to post.
The second tab in the screen, where you can configure the download location, is called ‘Minor Tweaks’. What is up with that?
It looks like Google really had no clue how to categorise there setting screen… Minor Tweaks really isn’t a good name when you want to find your options ;) Weird! I’d except better from Google!
September 16th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Ah, web applications. Thanks for pointing them out Francis because I’d missed them. Interesting feature, now my Gmail can be in its own window instead of a tab. Not sure if it is useful yet but at least I know about it now. Something I’d missed.
Anyway I wanted to highlight the nightmare that is the downloads window, it is hard to find and all the ‘downloaded file’ options are hidden in the right click context window. And my real issue; I’m downloading a file but no longer want to use the browser so I close it and guess what happened, the file download was cancelled. Opps. Beta or not that was annoying and against the ‘norm’ for browsers now a days.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Hi all –
Very good points as to Chrome. My own biggest peeve is the current Bookmarking functionality and user flow; I find it hard to believe that the powers-that-be at Google did not simply mimic FF or IE7 browser-based bookmarking features for this Beta launch. There is no need to break this convention if breaking it offers no real benefit (and in fact, more detriment than benefit).
However, on a tangent, I would really have to dispute that: “youâ��ll find that many people in the field of user experience favor Mac.” At least on this side of the pond (in Canada), I know of zero UX Professionals/IAs/Interaction Designers who work primarily in Mac. For example, an established and extremely powerful Usability Test tool like TechSmith’s Morae (http://www.techsmith.com/morae/systemreq.asp) has not been launched in Mac. I find that telling.
It just smacks to me as yet more Microsoft and Vista bashing. Sure they’ve ripped off so many of Apple’s GUI elements, but it doesn’t mean that UX Professionals wouldn’t be using it without complaining every day.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
there are so many advantages and features with Chrome, such as it’s speed, for example; now if only they would take care it’s quirky cookie management…
September 26th, 2008 at 7:11 am
I agree that the average user shouldn’t want to use chromes task manager, but it is a great development tool. If chrome didn’t have helpful development tools nobody would ever try to fix issues there site might have rendering on chrome.
I really like the fact that address bar is under the tabbar. It just seems more correct. But the whole thing is definitely still a beta.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
well, chrome is not that fast. it is only a hype. with the kind of clutter it has it is bound to be much slower than IE
October 19th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
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