Chrome UI designers talk about the future of Chrome and Chrome OS

As a new browser, Google Chrome has received widespread user attention since its release, and its user base is also growing. At the same time, Google is also building operating system designed for the Internet http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/9439.html">ChromeOS. Recently, the well-known technology blog Lifehacker went to the Chrome team UI (user interface) Designer Glen-Murphy talked about the future direction of Chrome and ChromeOS, explained the importance of Chrome-Web-Store, and answered questions about touchscreens and keyboard shortcuts.

The announcement of Chrome-Web-Store was a highlight at last week's GoogleI / O launch. How long has this project started? From the operating system design point of view, it will bring what kind of challenge? ,
In fact, we've been thinking about this project since we were going to do a Chrome browser, and when it all started, the Web Store and the Chrome app itself have become an integral part of the overall plan. In the past we've focused on Chrome development without mentioning the online store, but now our focus has shifted to online stores, and that's the last part of our plan.

Security is the biggest challenge we face - we want to make sure that users are not compromised by malware, which of course is a problem for Chrome extensions. Writing an "evil" extension is not difficult, but communicating with users completely avoiding these aggressive procedures is a real challenge.

The second challenge is how to differentiate the application from the regular web page in a browser. Although this does have some differences, it is difficult to define the difference between the two. The key is how users view the issue. We use "tags" to showcase everything in the Web Store and throughout the architecture we have built, and hopefully users will be aware of it.

In the Chrome project, the most important interface design principles?

From the very beginning we focused on content instead of Chrome itself: Let the web application be the protagonist. In fact, users do not care about their computer, they should not care. Making Chrome a user does not need to know what it is - it's our greatest challenge and our best teacher, and we just have to move toward simplicity and efficiency - it's as if most people do not Know what IE, only know that the blue e represents "Internet").

How difficult is it to use a browser to create an operating system environment? Could you give an example?

For example, we spend a lot of time in the user's language choice and network detection, we want to allow users to access the wireless network, and choose his own language, especially for most do not know English Chrome This is even more important to users, and this is exactly the simplest stumbling block.

You seem to have weakened the shortcuts in Chrome, the shortcuts still exist, but are usually not prompted in the interface. Is this intended?

We aim to simplify complex operations. We spent a lot of time and effort making shortcuts easier to use, knowing that Chrome was developed and tested at Google, and everyone here is a keyboard party. We do have a plan to do this: Since many users are accustomed to using the mouse and shortcut keys to simplify many of them, we want to guide the user to use, but not the kind of "aggression" tips. We have done a lot of discussions on this issue and we have to go a long way.

What do you think of touch as a means of interaction with Chrome OS?

As a group of geeks and technology enthusiasts, we are very concerned about the touch function, and even to the extent of fanaticism. The problem is that touch does not make much difference on desktops and can only be started on a laptop. We put Chrome on the tablet and did a lot of exploration. The results showed that Chrome OS needs a lot of improvements if it is applied to the touch device. For example, if the user wants to click the label on the touch screen at the top of the screen, it is very difficult. Therefore, we need to change the position of the tab bar Chrome's vertical label is prepared for this?).

Is there any communication between the Chrome team and the Androi d team?

We share a lot of things with each other, such as Chrome's V8 Javascript engine has been ported to the Android platform, another example Android team in the development of browser geo-norms, we need to work together with us.

How do you manage your time at work so that everything is organized?

There is a "cycle of efficiency" in me. I really like using new mechanisms to do things, and I did a small To-do list long ago for my work plan, but usually it's about a month from the list Failure, efficiency and lower, so I have to change a list. I think every minute of my brain "automatically shuts down" until new technology is available to activate it, and then fresh for some time, the efficiency of low and repeated.

At Google, everyone has different ways to manage their time. Many people only have pen and paper. Some people useless, but the efficiency is extremely high!

What's next for Chrome?

One of our next important tasks is to unify the operational experience - allowing Chrome and Chrome OS users to easily get and get the same user experience on any Chrome-equipped terminal. Features). This project is not difficult to achieve, we do not need to consider the operating system level when developing on the original platform, but as a cross-platform software, how to ensure that the unity of the theme style on each platform is a challenge, such as everything on Windows The normal theme, the display on the Mac is unknown. These are all issues that we need to consider.