SOFTWARE: Chrome? No.

I mentioned Google Chrome the last time I posted before today. I tried it. Gussied it up with add-ons and then put it away, except for specialized use. I can/should use it for sites like this one, gmail and the various Google Docs stuff. But here I am using Firefox to do my posting anyways.

Chrome is fast, but a lot of that is pre-fetching, which I hear Firefox is catching up with. I shaved micro seconds off my normal bulk loading process and there are things like the FasterChrome add-0n that just works waaaaaay better than a key Firefox add-on AutoPager.

But there are things I need and want in a browser and Chrome doesn't have them. First and foremost is NoScript. Scripts don't run in Firefox until I tell them. And that's a key to survival, surfing the 'net these days. There's MORE likelyhood of a drive-by javascript infection these days than you downloading a virus through email. I simply don't want that worry. Bad enough that a trusted site COULD get infected and get you anyways, but there's only so much paralyzing fear you're allowed before you might as well shut off the computer permanently.

There's other bits and stuff I have gotten used to in Firefox that I don't want to give up. I LIKE my zooming of images and text separately and easily, with site settings remembered if I want. I like the control I have for placing close buttons to the far right of the tab bar, rather than on each individual tab. And there are a whole raft of tiny little useability aids that I'm loathe to lose for the sake of less than a second every now and then.

But NONE of that is the REAL REASON I won't switch. Chrome, BY DESIGN, doesn't support bookmarks as I know them. You can't open a side window with your organized bookmarks where you can drag and drop the current site easily. You CAN drop down a folder icon in your tab bar and cruise to your intended bookmark and open it up. But a drop-down menu and a visibly open-all-the-time bookmark window are two different things. And Chrome can't/won't ever have that most basic of browser needs. EVER.

Sooo, I turned off XMarks synchronization of bookmarks between Firefox and Chrome (and on my various machines) and fine-tuned Chrome to be my Google access machine. For that, I will continue to keep using Chrome.

For my regular browsing otherwise? Firefox. End of discussion.