Google Chrome is Google's newest web browser, released on 3 September 2008 with much fanfare all over the world. Whether or not
Website Designers actually want to use the browser for your daily browsing, there are 6 things about Chrome that you need to be aware of as a webmaster, since they actually affect your website.
No webmaster should underestimate Chrome. When Firefox wanted to increase its user-base, it had to launch a massive publicity campaign, involving probably millions of volunteers, paid advertisements in newspapers and so on. When Chrome launched, Google didn't have to bother with any of that. Everybody on the Internet spontaneously talked about it. It was big news. The launch even made it into many newspapers without Google having to pay for any advertisements. Within a day or two after the release, some technical sites reported that their web statistics show that between 5% to 10% of their users were using Chrome.
The exact percentage will probably stabilise over time. Right now, the sudden jump is probably because there are a lot of people curious about Chrome and are trying it out. They may or may not continue to use it. Only time will tell. And the fact that these are technical sites should also tell you that the users are more likely to be people who are willing to try out new technology. It doesn't necessarily mean that they will stay with it.
However, don't fool yourself with this and be lulled into complacence. The huge publicity, and the fact that the publicity is not just through official channels (like some press release) but from ordinary bloggers and webmasters, will have long term effects. I have a feeling that Chrome's rise through your website's statistics will be nothing like the glacial rise of Firefox, Safari and Opera.
What I'm saying is that you will probably need to add Chrome to the staple of browsers you test your site with.
Chrome Uses the Same HTML/CSS Rendering Engine as Safari and KonquerorSince Chrome was built using WebKit, the rendering engine used by the Safari browser and inherited from Konqueror, sites using purely HTML and CSS that rendered fine in Safari will probably appear the same way with Chrome. In general, for most sites coded according to web standards, that have their HTML and CSS code validated, and are tested with standards compliant browsers like Firefox, Opera and Safari, Chrome's release is a non-event. However, this applies to sites that only use HTML and CSS, and do not use JavaScript in any significant way.