Google Chrome Frame – Good For IE, Bad for Browser Alternatives

Quick Intro: Google Chrome Frame is a plug-in for Internet Explorer (IE). The plug-in loads pages inside IE but uses Chrome’s renderer, so pages look like they would in Chrome but they show up inside IE.

At first glance you’d think that this is good for Google and good for browser alternatives because more people will end up using a browser alternative renderer. This isn’t the case though.

The plug-in was created because Internet Explorer doesn’t adhere to web browser standards and this makes it difficult to make your website work in IE and others. You have to do a lot of work to make a site work in IE. Well Google tried to eliminate that work by creating this plug-in because now the site will be rendered using Chrome.

What you should know:

- Since the majority of web users use IE, it is important for your site to render correctly in IE.

- Majority of IE users don’t know that there are better alternatives out there or their company won’t allow alternatives because it’s easier to manage one browser.

Why is this a problem:

- IE is a terrible browser. It is improving but the fact that this plug-in had to be created demonstrates how it is behind its rivals.

- The plug-in causes ignorant users to have all their sites load in IE, making them to have no desire to switch browsers.

Closing

Microsoft doesn’t even realize this advantage. They’ll eventually realize that this could work in their favor. The thing Google should of done that would of really bothered Microsoft is to force the user to use a different browser to get the proper experience.

It’s frustrating enough that people to use other browsers but now they’ll continue to not know about alternatives and get the best web experience. So all you tech people, continue pushing for people to switch and hope the EU keeps forcing Microsoft to offer Windows without IE.