Ongoing Issues with Google’s Chrome Browser

I installed Google’s Chrome when it was released in late 2008 in order to give it a test run. I fell in love and it has been my primary browser ever since.

I had already burned out on Internet Explorer and gone to Firefox, which I was never completely happy with. It seemed like a better version of Internet Explorer: it rendered pages better and was definitely faster, but many aspects of it were the same, namely the enormous amount of pixel real estate it took at the top of the screen.

That was the primary thing that brought me to Chrome: There was no application title bar at the top of the screen, which immediately made the whole experience seem cleaner and roomier. Next, the most important elements, the tabs, were at the top. I’m much more interested in what page I’m on than the words File, Edit, etc, which I rarely use. Those top links are straight out of the old days: Firefox copied them over seemingly without questioning if they should be there or not. Chrome did much better by reorganizing them and combining them into one drop button on the right hand side of the screen.

I also liked how each tab was touted as it’s own process, meaning that if one tab crashed, it wouldn’t bring down the whole browser. I’ll talk about that a bit more in a minute.

Looking back over the last 2ish years, there are some things about Chrome that really bother me. They’re big issues and I’m surprised they havn’t been fixed yet.

1. It is a myth that one crashed tab doesn’t bring down the whole browser, separate process or not.
   Google Chrome crashes on me at least once every other day. Funny enough, this crash is often caused by Google’s Gmail: either the attach file function or the chat sidebar widget. When it happens, I get a popup that Flash Shockwave has crashed, and it knocks out Flash functions in all tabs along with sometimes crashing the entire browser.  Other times, the entire browser just crashes with little explanation as to why. I can’t remember a time when a tab froze and I was able to close it while continuing with the rest.
2. Chrome often fails to load images or the entire stylesheet, and I have to hit refresh two or three times for them to work.
3. Chrome doesn’t seem to recognize RSS feeds.
   I’m really tired of seeing images like these:
   
   Is it too much to ask that Chrome recognize them, as other browsers do? I know Google doesn’t really like RSS that much, even though they have a decent reader app, and RSS’s future isn’t quite clear, but this is just sloppy.
4. Chrome is extremely forgetful when it comes to remembering passwords that you check “Remember” on.
   Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but Chrome seems to be the most forgetful browser I’ve ever used. Some websites I continually find myself checking “Remember Me.” It’s gotten to the point that I automatically open certain websites in Firefox or Internet Explorer because I know those browsers will remember the password.

I like Chrome, though I wonder how long I’ll be able to continue tolerating these issues. Did I miss anything?

Update: Here is a screenshot of the Gmail “Attach File” bug crashing Chrome in Windows 7 (not just 1 tab, the whole thing).