Chrome May Drop the URL Bar 343
An anonymous reader writes "There isn't much Google can still eliminate from the browser's interface. Yet Google appears to be considering a drastic step to free up space in the UI: It may simply kill the URL bar. Instead of showing the URL bar all the time, it may be hidden within tabs. There are some other features coming as well. For example, Google will allow users to be logged into different Google accounts at the same time, as long as you use those accounts in different windows."
Really Stupid Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Lets go phishing! (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds like a GREAT way to make phishing attempts easier
Re:Who needs the URL bar? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ummmm, no (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry but I don't like searching for every single thing when I already know the address. This is just dumb. Far too much emphasis place on searching these days. I rarely need to search anymore as I've been online long enough to basically know where most of the important stuff is.
Just an attempt to generate hits for google here. I dumped Chrome for Firefox the other day for reasons like this. Google controls enough, it's time to take them down a notch. They make some cool stuff but I'm not willing to tie so much into one company.
Re:Really Stupid Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you RTFA? Stacking the tabs at the side is one of the layouts, and the "Address bar hidden in tab" Compact layout is one of four.
Actually I like the idea a lot, it's especially annoying on smaller resolution screens to lose space to something we hardly ever type or read. Sure, it helps people who know what they're looking for against phishing, but such people are unlikely to click on random emails anyhow.
Chrome has been doing a good job pushing browsers forwards, after years of bloat and slowdown, and I'm looking forward to what comes out of this.
Re:Okay, I like my screen real estate... (Score:5, Insightful)
Eh, nowadays people just type what they want in the Google Search bar, remember the Facebook login debacle [uxmag.com]?
On the other hand, URLs are going back to the AOL keyword origins anyway, look at this domains: http://nyti.ms/ [nyti.ms], http://flic.kr/ [flic.kr], http://youtu.be/ [youtu.be] . Yes, they're real. And yes, I hate them.
Re:Who needs the URL bar? (Score:5, Insightful)
You wouldn't believe how many people actually browse that way. I have seen my fair share of people that type URLs in the searchfield of their google homepage.
Just stop it already (Score:2, Insightful)
Mozilla and Google both seem to be on a crusade to completely fuck up their browsers and make them as shitty and useless as possible. I just don't get their mindset of constantly changing things, removing things, adding things, not to make them better, but to simply make them different. It makes sense for commercial products, whether it's Windows, automobiles or toothpaste, where you have to constantly get people to buy the latest version of your product in order to maintain your revenue stream. But for a product that is given away for free, it makes no sense.
Re:Okay, I like my screen real estate... (Score:5, Insightful)
And that's probably the reason Google thinks it's a great idea. If you just search instead of using the URL bar, you're feeding their core business.
Hell, I can imagine them going through all the trouble of maintaining the Chrome browser *just for that*. Nobody should use the URL bar again! In 10 years nobody will even remember what it was.
Re:Really Stupid Idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Who needs the URL bar? (Score:3, Insightful)
Chrome validates sites for you, and i guess the assumption must be that it is better than the average user at it. That is probably true when you consider that phishing only works because people don't understand URLs.
"Don't make me think" (Score:2, Insightful)