Nate's Tumble Log

Google out-Appling Apple

You probably use Chrome :) It’s already surpassed Firefox and Safari.

http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201111-201111-bar

What do you think the reason for that is?

It’s not about preinstalls. Safari like IE is preinstalled on tons of computers. And these stats from StatCounter are about desktop browser market share, not mobile.

Is it about speed? I don’t think so? Safari has always seemed pretty wicked fast to me. So what gives?

Is it because of the developer tools window. Though that developer stuff is nice, I’ve spoken with plenty of folks who barely understand how to turn on their computer who use Chrome on a daily basis.

My theory? The address bar.

I think the biggest reason I’ve stuck with Chrome was one simple feature.

Search and the address bar in the same box.

I can’t believe how many times I’ve opened up Safari, especially on my phone, to find myself typing in the wrong box. I try searching in the address bar, or I start typing addresses in the search box.

Or how many times I’ve watched someone who has used computers for years still struggle to find something because they still can’t can’t figure out how to get to Google. They’d just like to start typing words somewhere on the screen to get to something. But which box do they type stuff in? They don’t even know what you mean when you ask them “what’s the address you’d like to go to.”

It’s crazy Apple is the one that doesn’t have this feature.

Apple is the one that refused to use more than one mouse button. Why have 2 or 3 buttons when 1 will suffice. It’s simpler. There’s no choice for a novice to figure out. It’s just one option.

So why give a user 2 places in the address bar to start typing for things they need, when 1 place would suffice?

Why doesn’t Safari move to a single box now? I think it’s just because they’ll seem like followers now :)

I bet they really want to.