Chrome for Mac Release Scheduled

Google revealed on Friday that its team of engineers was working hard to meet the self-imposed deadline of releasing a version of Chrome for Mac in the first half of 2009. Linux users will also be happy to hear that its release will occur simultaneously. In the meanwhile, Windows users got their hands on a yet another version of the browser, which adds Greasemonkey support and exciting new features, soon to be found on the Mac side as well.

"That's what we've been hoping for," Brian Rakowski, Chrome's product manager, said, when announcing the company's plans for the Mac and Linux versions of Chrome last Friday. "Those two efforts proceeding in parallel. They're at the same level of progress," the man could confirm.

Specifically, the Mac and Linux versions of Chrome are up to the level of a basic "test shell" that can show Web pages. However, this offers a pretty basic experience, Rakowski added.

"That team now is able to render most Web pages pretty well. But in terms of the user experience, it's very basic," Rakowski explained about the Mac version. "We have not spent any time building out features. We're still iterating on making it stable and getting the architecture right."

Netfornews reported that a Mac version was the second most common barrier to getting people to switch to Chrome, in a survey carried out by CNet News. The focus was faster performance. Evidently, the Mac version of Chrome is important to Google, as it is to Mac users anticipating the big release. Speaking of which, the latest version released for Windows PC users includes an array of new features (besides Greasemonkey support), among which the following caught our attention:

• Autocomplete - Chrome can remember what you've typed into Web forms and enter them again. "A lot of people asked for that. It turns out it's more complicated than it seems on the surface," Rakowski stated.

• Full-page zoom - using Ctrl+ and Ctrl- to increase or decrease elements on a Web page works better (before, only text grew or shrank, but now other elements do, too).

• Browser profiles - you can set up a browser configuration with particular settings, such as bookmarks and cookies.

• The ability to import bookmarks from the Google Bookmarks site.

• Autoscroll - slide around larger pages by clicking a mouse's middle button, then moving the mouse

• Faster Safe Browsing, a feature to issue warnings about sites that may conduct phishing attacks or other malicious behavior.

The Chromium wiki offers instructions on how to build the browser on Mac OS X. "Chromium" is the dubbing for the Mac version of Chrome.