Every developer sooner or later ends up in a situation in which he is confronted with a new interesting technique and/or its corresponding API. This always happens on a moment in time where you simply do not have the time to really get into it, or where you have the time but simply do not know where to start. The books have not yet been published, or they have been published, but you’re not much of a reader; you’re the ‘doing’ type. Nobody will ever do you a favor by getting you a book, … any book.

In such a situation one  needs an environment in which you can experiment at your heart’s content without running the risk of ruining something. An environment in which it is always possible to return to the original situation. An environment which allows you to re-use, extend and change relevant code. We now have such an environment.

Mid January Google introduced its ‘AJAX playground’; the place for freely playing and experimenting with all kinds of functionality Google has been offering for some time now. The place for getting acqainted with the underlying code, for ‘stealing’ code, and – foremost – for gaining an understanding of the multiple Google API’s.

Visualisation

The playground offers opportunities for freely playing around with attractive and often more usable ways of displaying data. Not only does the API offer easier, more attractive and dynamic data display. The API also offers you more interactive data display, for instance in socalled ”Motion Charts’. With these one may display data in a way in which dependencies and developments become more obvious using sliders and animation. Next to all this the Google API offers multiple ways to enhance interactivity in tables.

Google Maps

A frequently used API is of course Google Maps. It is hard nowadays to imagine a web without Google Maps. The playground shows some of the possibilities Google Map offers. Of course you may play around with alle the parameters and methods on offer.

Google Earth

Perhaps less used, but definitely not less interesting, is the API involved with Google Earth. To use this API, one needs the  Google Earth Plugin installed on its computer.

Javascript libraries

The Google API’s can be quite easily integrated with existing libraries like jQuery, Prototype, Dojo etc. The playground makes the first steps in this area easy to take.

Code ‘jatten’

Through the ‘Code Menu’ in the upper right corner of the interface, you are offered multiple ways of reusing and adapting source code to fit your own demands. Because the playground interface has its limitations, the export functions are a great way to take the examples and code to your own local development environment.

Conclusions

Google definitely reaches out to the development community with this ‘AJAX playground’. Businesses could definitely profit from what Google has on offer with all these API’s. The playground is a nice way of discovering what it exactly is that Google offers.

Yesterday [September 2nd 2008] at work this was the topic of the day; where to download Chrome. Yesterday evening at  21.09h I found the download location. For now Chrome will only available for the Windows platform.

The first reactions on the news of Google launching a new web browser varied. On one side one finds those who see Chrome as yet another web browser that adds nothing for the average user, but forces developers to expand their testing labour to also cover Chrome. A quote from ZDnet: “Why on earth do we need another browser? One more damn thing to develop exceptions for – AND ZERO value to endusers …’
Others welcome Chrome and claim that compatibity problems should be small provided one adheres web standards. This last claim is probably true as the Chrome engine borrows from  Apple’s webkit and Firefox; engines that have implemented standards quite well. Besides that; major compatibility problems still arise with all versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, so how could this be an issue with Chrome (?).

Personally I’m asking myself however what the added value might be? And in which area should browsers be competing with each other when the’re currently all growing towards ever better honouring the web standards. Who needs more of the same? 
 

First impressions

I just installed Chrome. The first impression is definitely positive. It’s looks reflect simplicity and a focus on functionality. No bells and whistles for this new kid on the block. It starts in a second.

One feature that will definitely please a lot of users is a startpage showing thumbnails of recently and frequently visited websites. Besides that one may configure the startpage in a number of ways. There’s probably one to your liking. For developers Chrome default comes with colored source code, a javascript console and a javascript debugger; things you may also find in Firefox.Through a built in taskmanager any crashed tab may be closed when needed. The built in ‘stats for nerds’ inform the diehard user on things like memory use of every browser instance and tab. This includes other browsers when active.
Interesting is a new functionality built into the adress bar. As soon as you start typing, Chrome suggests websites and possible searches. For the average user this may lead to confusion however. It would have been nicer had this been offered as a configuration option. 

Added value

So Chrome has some tools for developers that compare with those offered by Firefox. But Firefox currently also offers a world of addons to further enhance it. These addons are currently not available for Chrome. Other than that: Chrome offers functionality that we also find in the Beta 2 of Internet Explorer. This includes the independently  functioning tabs, and ‘incognito’-mode. One thing that still is not available in IE8 however is a better way to manage your bookmarks. Then again: we’re still looking at Beta 2.

So despite the fact that Google now offers a sympathetic browser with Chrome, the question remains whether Chrome adds some essential feature, which makes it stand out from the rest of the browser base.
An absolute plus however is the  fact that  the sourcecode is released to the community.

All in all a nice start for this new kid on the block. Let’s give it a chance and check back in half a year or so and discover how Chrome has developed technically and in terms of functionality. Let’s also see how this browser is welcomed by the community of developers.