In an ironic twist on its name, Google Chrome sets out to do just that. By reducing the new browser's "chrome"--the graphical interface of the browser--Google has improved on an area where Microsoft Internet Explorer has historically lagged. Click on the image below to view 3 slides highlighting the impact of each browser's chrome on the screen.
If you're into numbers, here are the pixel dimensions of the viewable space within the chrome of each browser configuration on my machine.
Width | Height | Area (px) | |
Internet Explorer 7 | 1440 | 875 | 1,260,000 |
Google Chrome w/ Bookmarks | 1444 | 927 | 1,338,588 |
Google Chrome w/o Bookmarks | 1444 | 955 | 1,379,020 |
Comparing the two extremes--IE7 default with Google Chrome sin Bookmarks menu*--reveals nearly a 10% difference! While this difference may vary depending on your screen size and resolution, it is certainly a reality and something hopefully you'll think about more the next time you're on the web.
Come back next week for reason #2 to switch to Google Chrome: Reliability.
* I'm including the version of Google Chrome without the Bookmark menu due to how close this configuration is to being a default. All it takes is the following keystroke to hide the Bookmark menu (Ctrl + B).
See Related Posts > Pt. 1: Tabs, Pt. 2: Amazing Address Bar