Webstock 2009 - ReadWriteWeb http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/webstock-2009/ Webstock 2009 on ReadWriteWeb en Copyright 2009 Richard MacManus readwriteweb@gmail.com Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:07:30 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.23-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Ben Goodger on Google Chrome Ben Goodger, who leads the UI team of Google Chrome, presented today at the Webstock conference about browsers. He said that Google decided to build Chrome simply because "browsers suck". Existing browsers were too slow (especially with javascript heavy apps), there are too many crashes, too easy to get pwned (security issues), and UIs were becoming more and more bloated. He said that Google has a history of improving on browsers and creating add-ons - including contributing to Mozilla's Firefox, where Goodger used to work before Google. But Google wanted to re-architect the browser and do something more ambitious than current browsers, including Firefox.

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]]> One of Chrome's innovations is to isolate and "pre-emptively multi-task" applications, just like operating systems do. This provides high performance, stability and security. So Google created the feature which has perhaps been Chrome's distinguishing one so far - enabling tab processes to function independently, so if one tab crashes the rest stay operational. Plugins also have their own processes, so that too provides more stability. Goodger referred to this as a "jail cell for web content", preventing people from exploiting security issues in the browser.

Google also found that this independence of processes resulted in less "jank", which is Google's term for unresponsiveness in the browser. Google wanted Chrome to be the "fastest and least janky browser around." 200 miliseconds is their baseline for performance in startup speed, page load time, javascript execution. Responsiveness matters, said Goodger. He said that the user must always be in control of their browsing experience. As a sidenote, Goodger mentioned that the latest version of Internet Explorer 8 also now has the separate processing for different tabs feature.

Goodger talked about the user interface that Chrome has, which he said is a bit different from other browsers. He said they "stripped down the UI" and focused on the mantra "content not chrome", which he acknowledged was ironic given the browser's name. He showed the following video, from Japan, to illustrate this approach:

There are obvious differences in the UI in Chrome, for example the lack of menu buttons. There are also other subtle differences, such as fewer "attention-grabbing" popups. Goodger also noted that Chrome has "fewer options, better defaults". His rule is that "options are never an excuse for bad design".

Goodger talked a little about Chrome's release cycle. Google uses channels to release versions of Chrome: stable, beta and dev (bleeding edge). Google aims to treat Chrome just like any web app, that releases early and often and in an automated method. So users get automated updates to the latest stable version, without having to manually update anything.

Finally Goodger reiterated that Google Chrome is open source, with community discussions happening at dev.chromium.org.

]]> Discuss]]> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ben_goodger_on_google_chrome.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ben_goodger_on_google_chrome.php Browsers Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:07:30 -0800 Richard MacManus Webstock 2009 Webstock, a conference for Web professionals, is happening in Wellington New Zealand this week. As usual it's a classy lineup of speakers and a number of international webheads will be jetting in for the event. They include science fiction author Bruce Sterling, Flickr's Heather Champ, Social Web designer Joshua Porter, Dopplr's Matt Biddulph, Institute for the Future's Jane McGonigal, Six Apart's David Recordon, The Guardian's Meg Pickard, NZ Foo Camp's Nat Torkington, Yahoo's Tom Coates, online performance artist Ze Frank, and many more.

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]]> Webstock focuses mostly on web design topics, but in past years we've seen many great discussions on a variety of Internet issues. In 2006 the heads of Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer presented updates about their competing products. And a highlight for me last year was Tom Coates' talk on the Web of Data.

As a resident of Wellington, I don't have far to go to attend Webstock. Some of the sessions I'm looking forward to checking out include David Recordon on the 'Open Social Web', Fiona Romeo on 'Astrotagging bots and citizen scientists' (got to attend that for the title alone!), Heather Champ on 'Shepherding Passionate Communities', and Google Chrome impresario Ben Goodger on 'A retrospective of ballet classics' (witty titles galore in Webstock this year).

Also who can resist Bruce Sterling's talk entitled 'The Short but Glorious Life of Web 2.0, And What Comes Afterward' (!)

If you're local and want to attend, you can still pick up a ticket. It runs from 19-20 February, with workshops happening earlier in the week. If you can't attend, stay tuned for coverage on ReadWriteWeb later this week.

]]> Discuss]]> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/webstock_2009.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/webstock_2009.php Conferences Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:06:13 -0800 Richard MacManus