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Preston Gralla

Seeing Through Windows

Early Chrome OS release: Bad design gone wild

9 comments

TAGS:Chrome, chromium, Google Chrome OS
IT TOPICS:Desktop Applications, Internet, Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software, Windows & Microsoft

I just had a chance to put the early release of the Chrome OS through its paces, and found a stunningly confused design. It's a good thing that Google has a year to go before its release, because at the moment, its design is so poor that very few people would use it.

As I explained in my Computerworld review, I installed Chrome in a VirtualBox on a MacBook Air. Performance was reasonable. But it wasn't performance that was the problem --- it was the design.

Chrome is essentially a stripped-down operating system wrapped around a stripped-down browser, with not many options or features. That should make it easy to figure out how to give people the most logical access to those features and options.

Unfortunately, at this stage, Chrome fails at that. It confuses options you choose for the overall operating system with options you choose for the browser. There's no logical reason to know where to click, and no clear delineation between when you're choosing an operating system function, and when a browser function. Confusion reigns.

Let me be specific. If you look at the screenshot of a portion of Chrome below, you'll see three small icons in the upper-right hand side of Chrome's screen, just above several browser icons. The top icons are clearly system icons, design to control the overall operating system. The first icon displays the state of the laptop's battery, the second controls WiFi and networking, and the third...well, that's where the trouble comes in.

Chrome main screen

Click that icon, and you'll see a large menu of options, as you can see below. These options primarily have to do with browsing, not the overall operating system. So you can open a new tab, clear browsing data, and so on.

Chrome options menu

The only choice there having to do with the operating system rather than the browser is Options, which brings you to a tabbed window. Three of the tabs have to do with controlling the browser, and one with the operating system.

Things get even more confusing when you click the browser's wrench icon, familiar to Chrome browser users. You get the menu of options you see below. Look familiar? It should. Most of the items here are duplicates of the choices when you click the operating system icon. This one has a bookmarks sync, which the system menu doesn't...but why here and not there?

Chrome browser options

And why can you clear your browser data from the system menu, but not the browser menu? Why can you import bookmarks from the system menu, but not the browser menu?

It's almost as if two separate teams were at work here --- one on the underlying browser, and one on the operating system wrapped around it --- and they don't communicate

I would expect, and hope, that this gets cleared up over time. If it doesn't, Chrome simply won't succeed.

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Early Chrome OS Release - Bad design gone wild

Submitted by bty on November 25, 2009 - 12:18 P.M.

these comments are all good and healthy for getting Chrome OS ready for all users. I am hoping that Chrome OS once ready - that the days of buying buggy and defective Microsoft Windows OS is finally over. Agree without the defective windows OS, the computer industry as we know it and love would have been different, but come on, defective os one after another, XP was great and they messed it up with Vista and still windows 7. Some not all of my software don't work on Windows 7, my network not that old HP workhorse printers don't work even on XP mode, so I'm ready for a browser OS. Although Microsoft do not need any motivation, but if Chrome OS gives Microsoft a headache, we will see some serious OS technology advancement from them

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I tried Chrome OS and found

Submitted by Anonymous on November 25, 2009 - 10:57 A.M.

I tried Chrome OS and found its UI to be more intuitive than the one from Windows 7 (the released version).
It is again one of these Preston Gralla blahblah articles that diss everything that isn't Microsoft.

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I don't know if Chrome OS

Submitted by Anonymous on November 25, 2009 - 8:41 A.M.

I don't know if Chrome OS will succeed or not, but it won't be due to the interface. All the issues you describe were faced in the DOS to Windows conversion of PC users. All the familiar options became much harder to find in the GUI. Lest Mac fanatics have their egos swell, the Mac suffers from exactly the same issue. Despite both the Windows and Mac GUIs being absolutely horrid from a useability standpoint, they're the standards!

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Duh!

Submitted by FreeMarket on November 25, 2009 - 8:40 A.M.

It's not even at the beta stage. What do you expect?

Those who can, do. Those who cannot criticize.

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Ummm...

Submitted by nilum on November 25, 2009 - 1:48 A.M.

Have you ever worked on a Windows Beta? I have. Windows betas and release candidates go through tons of changes, and initially there are always menu items that seem out of place.

Not only this, but how long does it usually take Microsoft to release an OS... a few years? They have a more times to get their UI in proper order.

Now I will give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt that they are working on a much more bloated system, and that does take more time, but Google is working on there very first release of their first OS. Even though they are borrowing a kernel and working off of the successes of other software, this is still a very big job.

Note that this is open source through Chromium OS, so if you want to change something in the UI feel free to do so, but I am positive by the time this is released these small problems will be fixed.

Also, the browser is the OS, it's something new you need to wrap your head around. In a sense, the "system menu" is the "browser menu."

I don't imagine that all these menu elements will remain in the same places. When I program an app, I typically program it based on what I think is best for me, and then when my supervisor sees the UI, and when it is given out to users to test, requests are made and I make changes.

I hope you can build a bigger argument against Chrome OS than its menu items are mixed up in a pre-beta release.

There is so much more to it. I am testing a build myself in VMWare, and it's working quite brilliantly. I can't wait until I have it loaded as the native OS on a future netbook.

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Ummm,

Submitted by Anonymous on November 25, 2009 - 10:56 A.M.

I really don't understand your observation on Windows Beta's. I've used two very early Windows Beta releases -- Win2K and WinXP -- as my primary computer without a hitch. I put them through their paces pretty well, did a lot of work on them with several MSOffice applications, Outlook, browsing, for several months each. Of course, I also found early Linux implementations to be good quality, and some people even complain about those releases. I wonder if it's all about the quality of computer you use -- issues like whether you try to overclock or not -- that dictates the quality of beta experiences?

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If this comment is true

Submitted by Anonymous on November 25, 2009 - 10:43 A.M.

If this comment is true (which I agree with): "Also, the browser is the OS, it's something new you need to wrap your head around. In a sense, the "system menu" is the "browser menu." then this should not even be an issue as there should only be one menu, not two that are confusing and fragmented.

This all needs to get integrated and then you'll have a nice little OS for smartphones or dedicated task kiosks, etc. but if it is anything less than a full OS without the storage and other limitations such as not being able to run standalone apps, when it is released, it will be a dud for PCs.

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Mixed browser and OS controls.

Submitted by James Martin on November 26, 2009 - 9:02 A.M.

I am running Windows XP and prefer the classic control panel, because controls are in one place. I think Microsoft messed up when it moved some controls to an admin sub-folder. I understand they carried that craziness further with Vista and Windows 7. When I look at the control panel, under the System icon, there is no reference to Network Controls, so either network controls are not part of something the system is concerned about, or any thing in the Control Panel is part of system administration. Under the Security Essentials icon, I see Internet Options, and Windows Firewall. In my Windows XP there is no Anti-virus control, so my Anti-Virus product installed no hooks here. Also my third party firewall installed no hooks here. Under Internet Options, I'm given the same set of Internet Properties I get with Internet Explorer. Nothing about the default browser Firefox, so Firefox installed no hooks here. So obviously Microsoft considers the browser part of the operating system and makes no distinction between the two and has argued that for years.

What Preston is complaining about are user interface usability issues. He says:

" And why can you clear your browser data from the system menu, but not the browser menu? Why can you import bookmarks from the system menu, but not the browser menu?
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I would expect, and hope, that this gets cleared up over time."

I surely hope so also. In my mind they are perfectly valid questions. The real question that needs to be answered is will those who are doing the Chrome development listen to users? Microsoft will do what Microsoft wants. Chrome on the other hand is open source, and if there is significant objection to the way something is done, and a lot of people want it different, they will just roll their own. Either Google will fold in the improvements to the official release, or risk multiple forks. I don't think they would want that.

I read a number of comments on Chrome and am suddenly hit by the realization this is what the DOJ took Microsoft to court for, making the browser part of the operating system.

There is all this talk about Google Chrome being a Windows killer, how Microsoft will respond with a Web Appliance of their own, and on and on and on.

I wonder if Microsoft would be permitted to build a web appliance.

I just wonder how the EU will respond to the complaint that Opera, Safari, Firefox and IE can not be installed on Chrome?

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Maybe Chrome OS isn't your father's OS.

Submitted by Travis Reddell on November 24, 2009 - 10:24 P.M.

Chrome OS might be confusing to you because it is different. It might be odd to you that "you [can] clear your browser data from the system menu, but not the browser menu". This might be because the browser *is* the system, for all practical purposes.

I admit that there is some work to do, but menus aren't going to emulate Windows menus in Chrome OS. It's going to be a little different, and a lot better. So get your helmet on, Mr. Gralla, this might be a bumpy ride for you.

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