Google Chrome Frame

IE or Internet Explorer is, undoubtedly, the king of browsers. Since the browser was taken over by Microsoft, it has become the standard browser for billions of computers worldwide. Almost anyone who started learning the internet is learning through this browser.

The browser has learned to adapt to market demands and is still the leader. Of course, the browser may have some bumps in the past but the browser is still hailed as the best by many users. Controversies aside, IE can still perform event though there are no browser options for users.

But even though IE is very popular and widely used, the browser has been frowned upon by many developers. This started to happen when IE released their 6th version. In gist, IE6 is a difficult browser to deal with for developers. This is especially true from the developer's standpoint. IE6 opted not to go with the proposed functions of Ajax.

This means the JavaScript engine of IE6 will never recognize the functions created by developers. Other browsers have come out and recognized the JavaScript functions but IE6 opted to ignore the updates. As of this writing, IE is already on its 8th version but more changes are still needed.

JavaScript in an IE

Google saw this as their opportunity to grab some market share. At first they released their Chrome browser which is a pretty impressive browser because of its ability to handle online JavaScript and Ajax based application. This should be expected as Google has practically pushed JavaScript as their main programming language.

While they have attracted some users, it's not enough to sway users away from IE. Instead of pushing Chrome to users, Google opted to create a plug-in for IE so that IE users will experience the environment of Chrome.  Before seeing the advantage offered by Chrome Frame, let us first see why some frown at the new plug-in.

Google is slowly forcing users to see Chrome and "fish" for users who might consider Google Chrome. While users will experience the open-web features that push the advantages of JavaScript, there's no denying that they might use the data for their company use. The problem is basically on how Google will try to take advantage of the data they can gather with the use of plug-in. To put it bluntly - Google might use this to spy on IE users.

On the other hand, Chrome Frame offers a perfect opportunity for developers and users. Developers can simply add this tag:

meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1"

and users have the IE plug-in will expect full Chrome experience on their IE. Developers will never have to think about the limitation on IE as this will enable functions that might not be recognized in the past.

Chrome Frame still has a lot of concerns to deal with especially on convincing users to adopt the plug-in. For now, the plug-in looks great for JavaScript developers. Through Chrome Frame they will be able to build a highly efficient application without being limited by Internet Explorer.