Google demotes Chrome Feature

Original Chip Plan Now Hides full Addresses

Recently, Chrome team member, Peter Kasting has demoted one aspect of the address hiding feature to a third level priority from a top priority level and those wanting their browser showing websites’ full addresses, should be glad that Google has put in work on its former chip, on the back burner. Google has now taken a step back from its original chip plan which would now hide the full addresses that people visit with its Chrome browser. In his explanation on Google’s issue tracking site, Kasting states that `the origin chip work is back burned’.

To the left of Chrome’s address bar is the region of the origin chipwhich shows only the domain of a web addresses and instead of a full web address it now shows a shorter form of a web address where longer address could be more useful but it could also be more crowded with obscure coding. It is unknown why Google has done this but a lot of the origin chip work has already been done with some other aspects of the origin chip work remaining active in the Chrome issue tracker. No comments have been received from Google with regards to this issue.

Navigation to Web – Changed 

Google had been conducting test on the feature of a fraction of Chrome beta user to get people’s response, some of which were negative since the full web address portrays useful information. Navigation to the web has now changed and full addresses are no longer essential as they were earlier.

 To navigate to a particular site, the option of the search engine was used to get where one wanted to go and the share buttons in smartphone app can take the place of a copy and paste operation when one wants to tell a friend regarding a particular web site.

However it is hard to change user interfaces where millions of user have now become accustomed to it and Chrome’s growth on the usage of the net has made it harder for Google to introduce significant changes like the omnibox or the origin chip which merged the browser’s search box and the address boxes when Chrome had been debuted in 2008.

Minimalist Presentation – More Inviting to Search

Kasting has also shared some reasons why the origin chip would be a good idea in his earlier comments on Google+. According to him the minimalist presentation would be making it more inviting to search, and could make it easier to refine searches by adding or removing search terms and improve security by showing users what site they are really on and not just what a carefully crafted address would misleadingly suggest.

Web addresses also called URLs – uniform resource locators, are fundamental parts of the World Wide Web that Time Berners Lee had created around twenty five years ahead and the origin chip does not remove the full URL but is something that people are looking for. With the origin chip feature implemented, user could click on the chip and see or copy the full address. Beside this, the Ctrl/Cmd-L keyboard shortcut also shows – select the full address, as it shows today with the origin chip.