Google Chrome facts for kids
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Google Chrome running on Windows 11
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| Stable release(s) [±] | |||||||||||
| Microsoft Windows 52.0.2743.116 (August 3, 2016) Linux and Mac OS X 52.0.2743.116 (August 3, 2016) |
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| Written in | C, C++, Assembly, HTML, Java (Android app only), JavaScript, Python | ||||||||||
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| Platform | IA-32, x86-64, ARMv7, ARMv8-A | ||||||||||
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| Available in | 47 languages | ||||||||||
| Type | Web browser, mobile browser | ||||||||||
| License | Proprietary freeware, based on open source components | ||||||||||
Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, and also for Android, where it is the default browser. The browser is also the main component of ChromeOS, where it serves as the platform for web applications.
Most of Chrome's source code comes from Google's free and open-source software project Chromium, but Chrome is licensed as proprietary freeware. WebKit was the original rendering engine, but Google eventually forked it to create the Blink engine; all Chrome variants except iOS used Blink as of 2017.
As of October 2022[update], StatCounter estimates that Chrome has a 67% worldwide browser market share (after peaking at 72.38% in November 2018) on personal computers (PC), is most used on tablets (having surpassed Safari), and is also dominant on smartphones and at 65% across all platforms combined, making it the most used web browser in the world today. Because of this success, Google has expanded the "Chrome" brand name to other products: ChromeOS, Chromecast, Chromebook, Chromebit, Chromebox, and Chromebase.
History
Google CEO Eric Schmidt opposed the development of an independent web browser for six years. He stated that "at the time, Google was a small company", and he did not want to go through "bruising browser wars". After co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page hired several Mozilla Firefox developers and built a demonstration of Chrome, Schmidt said that "It was so good that it essentially forced me to change my mind."
In September 2004, rumors of Google building a web browser first appeared. Online journals and U.S. newspapers stated at the time that Google was hiring former Microsoft web developers among others. It also came shortly after the release of Mozilla Firefox 1.0, which was surging in popularity and taking market share from Internet Explorer, which had noted security problems.
Development of the browser began in 2006, spearheaded by Sundar Pichai. Chrome was "largely developed" in Google's Kitchener office.
Announcement
The release announcement was originally scheduled for September 3, 2008, and a comic by Scott McCloud was to be sent to journalists and bloggers explaining the features within the new browser. Copies intended for Europe were shipped early and German blogger Philipp Lenssen of Google Blogoscoped made a scanned copy of the 38-page comic available on his website after receiving it on September 1, 2008. Google subsequently made the comic available on Google Books, and mentioned it on their official blog along with an explanation for the early release. The product was named "Chrome" as an initial development project code name, because it is associated with fast cars and speed. Google kept the development project name as the final release name, as a "cheeky" or ironic moniker, as one of the main aims was to minimize the user interface chrome.
Public release
The browser was first publicly released, officially as a beta version, on September 2, 2008, for Windows XP and newer, and with support for 43 languages, and later as a "stable" public release on December 11, 2008. On that same day, a CNET news item drew attention to a passage in the Terms of Service statement for the initial beta release, which seemed to grant to Google a license to all content transferred via the Chrome browser. This passage was inherited from the general Google terms of service. Google responded to this criticism immediately by stating that the language used was borrowed from other products, and removed this passage from the Terms of Service.
Chrome quickly gained about 1% usage share. After the initial surge, usage share dropped until it hit a low of 0.69% in October 2008. It then started rising again and by December 2008, Chrome again passed the 1% threshold. In early January 2009, CNET reported that Google planned to release versions of Chrome for OS X and Linux in the first half of the year. The first official Chrome OS X and Linux developer previews were announced on June 4, 2009, with a blog post saying they were missing many features and were intended for early feedback rather than general use. In December 2009, Google released beta versions of Chrome for OS X and Linux. Google Chrome 5.0, announced on May 25, 2010, was the first stable release to support all three platforms.
Chrome was one of the twelve browsers offered on BrowserChoice.eu to European Economic Area users of Microsoft Windows in 2010.
Development
Chrome was assembled from 25 different code libraries from Google and third parties such as Mozilla's Netscape Portable Runtime, Network Security Services, NPAPI (dropped as of version 45), Skia Graphics Engine, SQLite, and a number of other open-source projects. The V8 JavaScript virtual machine was considered a sufficiently important project to be split off (as was Adobe/Mozilla's Tamarin) and handled by a separate team in Denmark coordinated by Lars Bak. According to Google, existing implementations were designed "for small programs, where the performance and interactivity of the system weren't that important", but web applications such as Gmail "are using the web browser to the fullest when it comes to DOM manipulations and JavaScript", and therefore would significantly benefit from a JavaScript engine that could work faster.
Chrome initially used the WebKit rendering engine to display web pages. In 2013, they forked the WebCore component to create their own layout engine Blink. Based on WebKit, Blink only uses WebKit's "WebCore" components, while substituting other components, such as its own multi-process architecture, in place of WebKit's native implementation. Chrome is internally tested with unit testing, automated testing of scripted user actions, fuzz testing, as well as WebKit's layout tests (99% of which Chrome is claimed to have passed), and against commonly accessed websites inside the Google index within 20–30 minutes. Google created Gears for Chrome, which added features for web developers typically relating to the building of web applications, including offline support. Google phased out Gears as the same functionality became available in the HTML5 standards.
In March 2011, Google introduced a new simplified logo to replace the previous 3D logo that had been used since the project's inception. Google designer Steve Rura explained the company reasoning for the change: "Since Chrome is all about making your web experience as easy and clutter-free as possible, we refreshed the Chrome icon to better represent these sentiments. A simpler icon embodies the Chrome spirit – to make the web quicker, lighter, and easier for all."
On January 11, 2011, the Chrome product manager, Mike Jazayeri, announced that Chrome would remove H.264 video codec support for its HTML5 player, citing the desire to bring Google Chrome more in line with the currently available open codecs available in the Chromium project, which Chrome is based on. Despite this, on November 6, 2012, Google released a version of Chrome on Windows which added hardware-accelerated H.264 video decoding. In October 2013, Cisco announced that it was open-sourcing its H.264 codecs and would cover all fees required.
On February 7, 2012, Google launched Google Chrome Beta for Android 4.0 devices. On many new devices with Android 4.1 and later preinstalled, Chrome is the default browser. In May 2017, Google announced a version of Chrome for augmented reality and virtual reality devices.
Features
Google Chrome features a minimalistic user interface, with its user-interface principles later being implemented into other browsers. For example, the merging of the address bar and search bar into the omnibox or omnibar Chrome also has a reputation for strong browser performance.
Web standards support
The first release of Google Chrome passed both the Acid1 and Acid2 tests. Beginning with version 4.0, Chrome has passed all aspects of the Acid3 test.
As of May 2011[update], Chrome has very good support for JavaScript/ECMAScript according to Ecma International's ECMAScript standards conformance Test 262 (version ES5.1 May 18, 2012). This test reports as the final score the number of tests a browser failed; hence lower scores are better. In this test, Chrome version 37 scored 10 failed/11,578 passed. For comparison, Firefox 19 scored 193 failed/11,752 passed and Internet Explorer 9 has a score of 600+ failed, while Internet Explorer 10 has a score of 7 failed.
In 2011, on the official CSS 2.1 test suite by standardization organization W3C, WebKit, the Chrome rendering engine, passes 89.75% (89.38% out of 99.59% covered) CSS 2.1 tests.
On the HTML5 web standards test, Chrome 41 scores 518 out of 555 points, placing it ahead of the five most popular desktop browsers. Chrome 41 on Android scores 510 out of 555 points. Chrome 44 scores 526, only 29 points less than the maximum score.
User interface
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By default, the main user interface includes back, forward, refresh/cancel and menu buttons. A home button is not shown by default, but can be added through the Settings page to take the user to the new tab page or a custom home page.
Tabs are the main component of Chrome's user interface and have been moved to the top of the window rather than below the controls. This subtle change contrasts with many existing tabbed browsers which are based on windows and contain tabs. Tabs, with their state, can be transferred seamlessly between window containers by dragging. Each tab has its own set of controls, including the Omnibox.
The Omnibox is a URL box that combines the functions of both the address bar and search box. If a user enters the URL of a site previously searched from, Chrome allows pressing Tab to search the site again directly from the Omnibox. When a user starts typing in the Omnibox, Chrome provides suggestions for previously visited sites (based on the URL or in-page text), popular websites (not necessarily visited before – powered by Google Instant), and popular searches. Although Instant can be turned off, suggestions based on previously visited sites cannot be turned off. Chrome will also autocomplete the URLs of sites visited often. If a user types keywords into the Omnibox that do not match any previously visited websites and presses enter, Chrome will conduct the search using the default search engine.
One of Chrome's differentiating features is the New Tab Page, which can replace the browser home page and is displayed when a new tab is created. Originally, this showed thumbnails of the nine most visited websites, along with frequent searches, recent bookmarks, and recently closed tabs; similar to Internet Explorer and Firefox with Google Toolbar, or Opera's Speed Dial. In Google Chrome 2.0, the New Tab Page was updated to allow users to hide thumbnails they did not want to appear.
Starting in version 3.0, the New Tab Page was revamped to display thumbnails of the eight most visited websites. The thumbnails could be rearranged, pinned, and removed. Alternatively, a list of text links could be displayed instead of thumbnails. It also features a "Recently closed" bar that shows recently closed tabs and a "tips" section that displays hints and tricks for using the browser. Starting with Google Chrome 3.0, users can install themes to alter the appearance of the browser. Many free third-party themes are provided in an online gallery, accessible through a "Get themes" button in Chrome's options.
Chrome includes a bookmarks submenu that lists the user's bookmarks, provides easy access to Chrome's Bookmark Manager, and allows the user to toggle a bookmarks bar on or off.
On January 2, 2019, Google introduced Native Dark Theme for Chrome on Windows 10.
In 2023, it was announced that Chrome would be completely revamped, using Google's Material You design language, the revamp would include more rounded corners, Chrome colors being swapped out for a similar dynamic color system introduced in Android 12, a revamped address bar, new icons and tabs, and a more simplified 3 dot menu.
Built-in tools
Starting with Google Chrome 4.1 the application added a built-in translation bar using Google Translate. Language translation is currently available for 52 languages. When Chrome detects a foreign language other than the user's preferred language set during the installation time, it asks the user whether or not to translate.
Chrome allows users to synchronize their bookmarks, history, and settings across all devices with the browser installed by sending and receiving data through a chosen Google Account, which in turn updates all signed-in instances of Chrome. This can be authenticated either through Google credentials, or a sync passphrase.
For web developers, Chrome features an element inspector which allows users to look into the DOM and see what makes up the webpage.
Chrome has special URLs that load application-specific pages instead of websites or files on disk. Chrome also has a built-in ability to enable experimental features. Originally called about:labs, the address was changed to about:flags to make it less obvious to casual users.
The desktop edition of Chrome is able to save pages as HTML with assets in a "_files" subfolder, or as unprocessed HTML-only document. It also offers an option to save in the MHTML format.
Desktop shortcuts and apps
Chrome allows users to make local desktop shortcuts that open web applications in the browser. The browser, when opened in this way, contains none of the regular interface except for the title bar, so as not to "interrupt anything the user is trying to do". This allows web applications to run alongside local software (similar to Mozilla Prism and Fluid).
This feature, according to Google, would be enhanced with the Chrome Web Store, a one-stop web-based web applications directory which opened in December 2010.
In September 2013, Google started making Chrome apps "For your desktop". This meant offline access, desktop shortcuts, and less dependence on Chrome—apps launch in a window separate from Chrome, and look more like native applications.
Chrome Web Store
Announced on December 7, 2010, the Chrome Web Store allows users to install web applications as extensions to the browser, although most of these extensions function simply as links to popular web pages and/or games, some of the apps like Springpad do provide extra features like offline access. The themes and extensions have also been tightly integrated into the new store, allowing users to search the entire catalog of Chrome extras.
The Chrome Web Store was opened on February 11, 2011, with the release of Google Chrome 9.0.
Extensions
Browser extensions are able to modify Google Chrome. They are supported by the browser's desktop edition. These extensions are written using web technologies like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. They are distributed through Chrome Web Store, initially known as the Google Chrome Extensions Gallery.
On September 9, 2009, Google enabled extensions by default on Chrome's developer channel, and provided several sample extensions for testing. In December, the Google Chrome Extensions Gallery beta began with approximately 300 extensions. It was launched on January 25, 2010, along with Google Chrome 4.0, containing approximately 1500 extensions.
In 2014, Google started preventing some Windows users from installing extensions not hosted on the Chrome Web Store. The following year Google reported a "75% drop in customer support help requests for uninstalling unwanted extensions" which led them to expand this restriction to all Windows and Mac users.
Notable examples
- Adblock Plus
- Adblock for Chrome
- Cut the Rope
- Dropbox
- Evernote Web
- Facebook Messenger
- Ghostery
- Google Maps
- HTTPS Everywhere (discontinued)
- Pandora Radio
- Pixlr Express
- Privacy Badger
- Streamus (discontinued)
- Turn Off the Lights
- TweetDeck
- Stop Tony Meow
- uBlock Origin
Speed
The JavaScript virtual machine used by Chrome, the V8 JavaScript engine, has features such as dynamic code generation, hidden class transitions, and precise garbage collection.
In 2008, several websites performed benchmark tests using the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark tool as well as Google's own set of computationally intense benchmarks, which include ray tracing and constraint solving. They unanimously reported that Chrome performed much faster than all competitors against which it had been tested, including Safari (for Windows), Firefox 3.0, Internet Explorer 7, Opera, and Internet Explorer 8.{ However, on October 11, 2010, independent tests of JavaScript performance, Chrome has been scoring just behind Opera's Presto engine since it was updated in version 10.5.
On September 3, 2008, Mozilla responded by stating that their own TraceMonkey JavaScript engine (then in beta), was faster than Chrome's V8 engine in some tests. John Resig, Mozilla's JavaScript evangelist, further commented on the performance of different browsers on Google's own suite, commenting on Chrome's "decimating" of the other browsers, but he questioned whether Google's suite was representative of real programs. He stated that Firefox 3.0 performed poorly on recursion-intensive benchmarks, such as those of Google, because the Mozilla team had not implemented recursion-tracing yet.
Two weeks after Chrome's launch in 2008, the WebKit team announced a new JavaScript engine, SquirrelFish Extreme, citing a 36% speed improvement over Chrome's V8 engine.
Like most major web browsers, Chrome uses DNS prefetching to speed up website lookups, as do other browsers like Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer (called DNS Pre-resolution), and in Opera as a UserScript (not built-in).
Chrome formerly used their now-deprecated SPDY protocol instead of only HTTP when communicating with servers that support it, such as Google services, Facebook, Twitter. SPDY support was removed in Chrome version 51. This was due to SPDY being replaced by HTTP/2, a standard that was based upon it.
In November 2019, Google said it was working on several "speed badging" systems that let visitors know why a page is taking time to show up. The variations include simple text warnings and more subtle signs that indicate a site is slow. No date has been given for when the badging system will be included with the Chrome browser.
Chrome formerly supported a Data Saver feature for making pages load faster called Lite Mode. Previously, Chrome engineers Addy Osmani and Scott Little announced Lite Mode would automatically lazy-load images and iframes for faster page loads. Lite Mode was switched off in Chrome 100, citing a decrease in mobile data costs for many countries.
Security
Chrome periodically retrieves updates of two blacklists (one for phishing and one for malware), and warns users when they attempt to visit a site flagged as potentially harmful. This service is also made available for use by others via a free public API called "Google Safe Browsing API".
Chrome uses a process-allocation model to sandbox tabs. Using the principle of least privilege, each tab process cannot interact with critical memory functions (e.g. OS memory, user files) or other tab processes – similar to Microsoft's "Protected Mode" used by Internet Explorer 9 or greater. The Sandbox Team is said to have "taken this existing process boundary and made it into a jail". This enforces a computer security model whereby there are two levels of multilevel security (user and sandbox) and the sandbox can only respond to communication requests initiated by the user. On Linux sandboxing uses the seccomp mode.
In January 2015, TorrentFreak reported that using Chrome when connected to the internet using a VPN can be a serious security issue due to the browser's support for WebRTC.
On September 9, 2016, it was reported that starting with Chrome 56, users will be warned when they visit insecure HTTP websites to encourage more sites to make the transition to HTTPS.
On December 4, 2018, Google announced its Chrome 71 release with new security features, including a built-in ad featuring system. In addition, Google also announced its plan to crack down on websites that make people involuntarily subscribe to mobile subscription plans.
On September 2, 2020, with the release of Chrome 85, Google extended support for Secure DNS in Chrome for Android. DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), was designed to improve safety and privacy while browsing the web. Under the update, Chrome automatically switches to DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), if the current DNS provider supports the feature.
Stability
A multi-process architecture is implemented in Chrome where, by default, a separate process is allocated to each site instance and plugin. This procedure is termed process isolation, and raises security and stability by preventing tasks from interfering with each other. An attacker successfully gaining access to one application gains access to no others, and failure in one instance results in a Sad Tab screen of death, similar to the well-known Sad Mac, but only one tab crashes instead of the whole application. This strategy exacts a fixed per-process cost up front, but results in less memory bloat over time as fragmentation is confined to each instance and no longer needs further memory allocations. This architecture was later adopted in Safari and Firefox.
Chrome includes a process management utility called Task Manager which lets users see what sites and plugins are using the most memory, downloading the most bytes and overusing the CPU and provides the ability to terminate them. Chrome Version 23 ensures its users an improved battery life for the systems supporting Chrome's GPU accelerated video decoding.
Dinosaur Game
In Chrome, when not connected to the Internet and an error message displaying "No internet" is shown, on the top, an "8-bit" Tyrannosaurus rex is shown, but when pressing the space bar on a keyboard, mouse-clicking on it or tapping it on touch devices, the T-Rex instantly jumps once and dashes across a cactus-ridden desert, revealing it to be an Easter egg in the form of a platform game. The game itself is an infinite runner, and there is no time limit in the game as it progresses faster and periodically tints to a black background. A school Chromebook administrator can disable the game.
Platforms
The current version of Chrome runs on:
- Windows 10 or later
- macOS 10.15 or later
- 64-bit versions of Ubuntu 14.04+, Debian 8+, openSUSE 13.3+ and Fedora 24+
- Android Nougat or later, Android 10 and later for 64 bit Chrome
- iOS 15 or later
As of April 2016[update], stable 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available for Windows, with only 64-bit stable builds available for Linux and macOS. 64-bit Windows builds became available in the developer channel and as canary builds on June 3, 2014, in the beta channel on July 30, 2014, and in the stable channel on August 26, 2014. 64-bit OS X builds became available as canary builds on November 7, 2013, in the beta channel on October 9, 2014, and in the stable channel on November 18, 2014.
Starting with the release of version 89, Chrome will only be supported on Intel/Intel x86 and AMD processors with the SSE3 instruction set.
Usage
Chrome overtook Firefox in November 2011, in worldwide usage. As of September 2022[update], according to StatCounter, Google Chrome had 67% worldwide desktop usage share, making it the most widely used web browser.
Along with Safari and Mozilla Firefox, Chrome receives a weekend "bump", which boosts its market share by as much as three percentage points on weekends, at the expense of Internet Explorer.
It was reported by StatCounter, a web analytics company, that for the single day of Sunday, March 18, 2012, Chrome was the most used web browser in the world for the first time. Chrome secured 32.7% of the global web browsing on that day, while Internet Explorer followed closely behind with 32.5%.
From May 14–21, 2012, Google Chrome was for the first time responsible for more Internet traffic than Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which long had held its spot as the most used web browser in the world. According to StatCounter, 31.88% of web traffic was generated by Chrome for a sustained period of one week and 31.47% by Internet Explorer. Though Chrome had topped Internet Explorer for a single day's usage in the past, this was the first time it had led for one full week.
At the 2012 Google I/O developers' conference, Google claimed that there were 310 million active users of Chrome, almost double the number in 2011, which was stated as 160 million active users.
In June 2013, according to StatCounter, Chrome overtook Internet Explorer for the first time in the US.
In August 2013, Chrome was used by 43% of internet users worldwide. This study was done by Statista, which also noted that in North America, 36% of people use Chrome, the lowest in the world.
| Desktop/laptop browser statistics | ||||
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| Google Chrome | 66.14% | |||
| Microsoft Edge | 10.98% | |||
| Safari | 9.01% | |||
| Mozilla Firefox | 7.21% | |||
| Opera | 3.3% | |||
| Internet Explorer | 0.75% | |||
| Others | 2.62% | |||
| Desktop web browser market share according to StatCounter for December 2022 | ||||
Enterprise deployment
In December 2010, Google announced that to make it easier for businesses to use Chrome they would provide an official Chrome MSI package. For business use it is helpful to have full-fledged MSI packages that can be customized via transform files (.mst) – but the MSI provided with Chrome is only a very limited MSI wrapper fitted around the normal installer, and many businesses find that this arrangement does not meet their needs. The normal downloaded Chrome installer puts the browser in the user's local app data directory and provides invisible background updates, but the MSI package will allow installation at the system level, providing system administrators control over the update process – it was formerly possible only when Chrome was installed using Google Pack. Google also created group policy objects to fine-tune the behavior of Chrome in the business environment, for example by setting automatic updates intervals, disabling auto-updates, and configuring a home page. Until version 24 the software is known not to be ready for enterprise deployments with roaming profiles or Terminal Server/Citrix environments.
In 2010, Google first started supporting Chrome in enterprise environments by providing an MSI wrapper around the Chrome installer. Google starting providing group policy objects, with more added each release, and today there are more than 500 policies available to control Chrome's behavior in enterprise environments. In 2016, Google launched Chrome Browser Enterprise Support, a paid service enabling IT admins access to Google experts to support their browser deployment. In 2019, Google launched Chrome Browser Cloud Management, a dashboard that gives business IT managers the ability to control content accessibility, app usage and browser extensions installed on its deployed computers.
Chromium
In September 2008, Google released a large portion of Chrome's source code as an open-source project called Chromium. This move enabled third-party developers to study the underlying source code and to help port the browser to the macOS and Linux operating systems. The Google-authored portion of Chromium is released under the permissive BSD license. Other portions of the source code are subject to a variety of open-source licenses. Chromium is similar to Chrome, but lacks built-in automatic updates and a built-in Flash player, as well as Google branding and has a blue-colored logo instead of the multicolored Google logo. Chromium does not implement user RLZ tracking. Initially, the Google Chrome PDF viewer, PDFium, was excluded from Chromium, but was later made open-source in May 2014. PDFium can be used to fill PDF forms.
Developing for Chrome
It is possible to develop applications, extensions, and themes for Chrome. They are zipped in a .crx file and contain a manifest.json file that specifies basic information (such as version, name, description, privileges, etc.), and other files for the user interface (icons, popups, etc.). Google has an official developer's guide on how to create, develop, and publish projects. Chrome has its own web store where users and developers can upload and download these applications and extensions.
Impersonation by malware
As with Microsoft Internet Explorer, the popularity of Google Chrome has led to the appearance of malware abusing its name. In late 2015, an adware replica of Chrome named "eFast" appeared, which would usurp the Google Chrome installation and hijack file type associations to make shortcuts for common file types and communication protocols link to itself, and inject advertisements into web pages. Its similar-looking icon was intended to deceive users.
See also
In Spanish: Google Chrome para niños
- Browser wars
- Google Chrome Experiments
- Google Chrome Frame
- Google Workspace
- History of web browsers
- List of web browsers
- Widevine
