Google designers have been working overtime trying to get
their Chrome browser up and running on Apple's OS-X.
Chrome Project
Manager, Karen Grünberg told
Ars Technica that Google had to be especially careful when designing the beta version
of the OS-X Chrome browser to make it fit into the Apple
environment. Although she didn't say that Google needed the browser to
say 'smug' there are a lot of indications that the search engine outfit, has
tried to copy the Apple design scheme. You can tell at first glance
that this is the Chrome browser and at the same time, it feels like a native
application, she said.
OK the screen components are a bit clunkier than
Apple users are used too as it uses Google's fonts and icons which are
clearly not blessed by Steve Jobs, however otherwise it uses all the
standard Cocoa elements, from menus to window buttons to scrollbars to
resize handles.
Senior Software Engineer Amanda Walker said that Mac
Users were all about style rather than substance so Google paid particular
attention to those details while integrating with the OS.
Chrome is
built on Webkit, an open source web browser engine that was originally
developed by Apple by the KDE project and which helps power OS X's Safari on
the Mac and the iPhone.
Quite why Google is going to such lengths to
integrate with the Apple form is anyone's guess. Most Apple users think that
Safari is a good browser so anything would be a step up. Apparently it is
going to take some time before Apple users can get a workable beta.