When Chrome 13 is released (within about 2-6 weeks) Google will begin to pre-render their top search results that they believe you will click on. This pre-caching will give the appearance that the web is loading faster. In truth it is just loading earlier.

Conditions for this to work:
1. The web browser must support the code.
2. The code must be present in HTML.

This isn't new tech, it is simply old tech that has been polished and is now being used more correctly. Every page can't be pre-fetched or it would kill loading. On a page like SydLexia.com this type of thing might work well you are reading a thread with multiple pages. The link to the next page in the thread being pre-cached would make sense.

When Chrome 13 is released I can toy with it and see how it works.

sidewaydriver wrote:

But does anybody really need this kind of speed? This is definitely a smokescreen for something.

The idea for Google is to make the web look as fast as a native application. This will make more people think that it is an adequate substitute for local compiled apps.

If you actually care you can understand and read how Microsoft kinda agrees:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/06/html5-centric-windows-8-leaves-microsoft-developers-horrified.ars

Mr. Satire wrote:

GPFontaine wrote: sidewaydriver wrote: But does anybody really need this kind of speed? This is definitely a smokescreen for something. The idea for Google is to make the web look as fast as a native application. This will make more people think that it is an adequate substitute for local compiled apps. If you actually care you can understand and read how Microsoft kinda agrees: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/06/html5-centric-windows-8-leaves-microsoft-developers-horrified.ars Well, I find Google's feature unnecessary if that's why it is there, since cloud applications that I use (Gmail, Google Docs) run fast enough on any other browser ever that I have used. Also, general websites work fast enough already ever since I got DSL Internet, and now ADSL2+ Internet. In fact, Google Docs is even faster than the non-cloud Microsoft Office.

They don't care what you think. They are invested heavily in HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Speed will continue to be something they strive to improve.

As far as Word vs Google Docs, I have not seen the same speed, reliability, or functionality from a web client yet. Oh, don't get me wrong, it is close and getting better. It just isn't the same yet.

I actually think pre-rendering has its uses. It only hurts you if your bandwidth is restricted by your ISP. Otherwise, it should improve your experience when used appropriately.

Mr. Satire wrote:

GPFontaine wrote: Mr. Satire wrote: GPFontaine wrote: sidewaydriver wrote: But does anybody really need this kind of speed? This is definitely a smokescreen for something. The idea for Google is to make the web look as fast as a native application. This will make more people think that it is an adequate substitute for local compiled apps. If you actually care you can understand and read how Microsoft kinda agrees: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/06/html5-centric-windows-8-leaves-microsoft-developers-horrified.ars Well, I find Google's feature unnecessary if that's why it is there, since cloud applications that I use (Gmail, Google Docs) run fast enough on any other browser ever that I have used. Also, general websites work fast enough already ever since I got DSL Internet, and now ADSL2+ Internet. In fact, Google Docs is even faster than the non-cloud Microsoft Office. They don't care what you think. They are invested heavily in HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Speed will continue to be something they strive to improve. As far as Word vs Google Docs, I have not seen the same speed, reliability, or functionality from a web client yet. Oh, don't get me wrong, it is close and getting better. It just isn't the same yet. I actually think pre-rendering has its uses. It only hurts you if your bandwidth is restricted by your ISP. Otherwise, it should improve your experience when used appropriately. I use Google Docs for almost all my documents, and it has yet to annoy me in some way. Although the features you get are limited compared to a desktop app, I find them all I really need. For speed, Google Docs opens it's file browser, word processor, spreadsheet editor, etc. much faster than any edition of Microsoft Office I have used. For relability, I have seen some issues in Google Docs that were fixed by refreshing the page, not reopening the whole program.

If you are just writing lists of stuff or letters to your friends, Docs is perfect. If you are writing papers that have more formatting or special tools, you might not be as happy.
* Citation tools are limited
* Page numbering isn't easily customized
* Footers and Headers are hard to adjust
* Numbered lists can't be resumed when broken
* Line padding/spacing isn't the same

Don't get me wrong, it is growing in a positive way. It just isn't perfect yet. Video acceleration will help a lot in the upcoming months, and page speed improvements will help too. However, precaching won't really impact documents like this because why would they be preloaded?

Also Excel vs Spreadsheet isn't even close. If you are just presenting tables, great, but pivot tables are infinitely better in Excel. Additionally conditional formatting is stronger, and in general text formatting is better in Word.

Honestly, comparing these two things isn't fair or reasonable. Office has every bell or whistle that you can imagine from the last several decades of development. Docs is a strong web based offering that gives a free, reasonable alternative that has about 99% of the popular features. Once you need more than the popular features though, these are not comparable products, and that is partially due to the fact that the Web is not as robust a platform as compiled code... that is what Google is trying to fix.

Fighter_McWarrior wrote:

See, this is why I switched all my porn browsing to Firefox. Chrome's ridiculous autofill memory makes it way too easy for some asshole using my computer to find all my disgusting history.

That can be turned on and off...

Also, it is true for all browsers by default to cache your browsing.

Quote:

Privacy mode, sometimes informally referred to as "porn mode",[1] is a term that refers to privacy features in some web browsers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_mode

Hacker wrote:

GPFontaine wrote: If you actually care you can understand and read how Microsoft kinda agrees: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/06/html5-centric-windows-8-leaves-microsoft-developers-horrified.ars Yeah didn't they rescind that like two days later saying they weren't going to go with a new architecture.

I haven't seen an article about it. Post it. I'd like to read.