Google Wants to Kill the URL: Chrome 13 Lets Users Hide the Address Bar | Hacker News Reader

Google Wants to Kill the URL: Chrome 13 Lets Users Hide the Address Bar

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38 pointszuzzo47 comments

As long as there's a hotkey to reveal the URL field once hidden, I'm all for it.

> The effect is a 30 pixel gain in vertical space and transforms the standard viewing window in Chrome into a full-screen view.

I'm sure it's not for everyone, but those few additional pixels of screen real estate will make a difference, especially on netbooks.

I greatly admire the Chrome team's continued push for greater browser UX.

> I greatly admire the Chrome team's continued push for greater browser UX.

I am not sure if this is a move for better browser UX, or a subtle move to get people to use google search more (and thus show more ads and generate more revenue).

If people lose touch with direct navigation (enter url in addressbar), and yet want to navigate the web, they are likely going to resort to hitting home or 'search' button (google search is the home page right?) even when they know the website name. My aged parents do this occasionally as it is...

Maybe I have just gotten old, but it makes me think of phone numbers and in-phone address books. If my phone hid phone numbers from me, I don't think I would be pleased, even if I most often use my contact list to call people I know.

I like how the Android browser handles the issue[1]: Show url while loading, then hide. Address bar becomes exposed when you scroll up past the top of the page.

[1]: Not that Android browser is unique or first to implement it this way; it's just the one I have most experience with.

Yes. Especially when using a webapp like GMail, the URL doesn't matter once you're in the app. I'm not saying I think URLs should not be accessible if someone wants one, but they're mostly just a user distraction. Perhaps a "who you are trusting" notification would be useful? Basically, just the hostname and the level of trust conferred by SSL certs, lack of inclusion in whatever blacklists Google keeps, etc.

I agree; I think the only real downside of hiding the URL field by default is the loss of the "secure padlock".

A (naïve, immediate) solution I can think of is showing the URL field as you switch tabs―padlock included.

Hey good call on the padlock issue I hadn't even thought of that. However, I don't it should be visible only when switching tabs. I think instead it should be added to the tab itself that way it's always visible. However, that means presenting some kind of divider or something on the tab itself so that some one can't fake it with a favicon. Perhaps by coloring the tab and adding the padlock at the right most of the tab. This way it will be less likely to confuse it with the favicon.

Yeah, good call. They could do something similar to when you hit F11--have a floating transparent box with the information at the top of the screen. It could even (mostly) hide itself after a while and become visible again to warn you when leaving the secure area.

I use the Gmail Chrome web app: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pjkljhegncpnkpknbc...

Removes URL, makes the favicon the windows taskbar icon.

Which version are you using? I'm on chromium dev channel on WinXP 3 and don't see those effects.

Chrome version? 11.0.696.68

I have a netbook, and I can tell you that probably the main reason I struggled through beta since Chrome launched, was because of how much space it was saving on the 1024x600 screen compared to the others. It saved like 25-30% space. I'm all for saving even more space as long as you can quickly use the bar in some other way when you need it.

Probably ^L or Cmd+L will still work (it does work today) to unhide and keyboard focus the Omnibar, with something like Escape to dismiss it, and Enter will validate and dismiss.

Funny you say that, as currently there is no way to access the location field from full screen mode (F11). So this is actually a desperately needed feature.

"Google's Chrome browser will give users the ability to kill that final remnant of the fact that they're actually using the Web - the address bar."

Wrong. File system browsers (e.g. Nautilus) typically show the URI, viz. the name of the folder that you are browsing.

This is a savvy move on Google's part because deprecating the URL means that you have no option for finding resources, except search. Search through your browsing history. Search through your filesystem. Search through the web.

Using search more can be pretty sexy, if your search works well.

I think you make a good point but I disagree on the conclusion. Even if it works well I don't think Search is the be-all-end-all

In my opinion the ideal web is one that is properly categorized via url. For example, if I knew all magazines had an author listing at "magazine_url/Authors" then it would be easier for me to type in Time.com/Authors then it would be to use Search.

Now obviously things aren't that well organized right now but REST has done a lot to move us in that direction and I have no reason to think that wouldn't continue. If things are someday that organized it won't matter if users have grown accustomed to hiding the url.

So while I agree this is savvy for Google because it makes the user more dependent on search I don't think this is good for the web.

I don't think bravura was arguing that it was good for anyone but google.

I agree that's it's bad for the web, but historically walled gardens seem to always fail in the long run but google's attempt to build a UI "wall" around the open internet seems to be working quite well.

I'm guessing UI people will praise it for "making things easier" for the imaginary "grandma on the internet", security focused people will rightly be scared by this and phishers will absolutely love the idea.

That works for you because you know how the web works.

Most people don't. They'll type "facebook" into search instead of going to facebook.com.

If the search is good enough, the url isn't necessary.

I think there is a bigger concern of phishing attacks... Without an address bar its harder to confirm that you are actually visiting X.com

Exactly my sentiment over at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2564086:

I wonder how this might impact the overall security? Right now URL bar provides useful information about the domain where you are at. Hiding the URL box could bring back the most brain-dead attacks like hosting a phishing site on a regular HTTP (no cert = no warnings from the browser) and hidden URL cloacks the fact that the URL in fact is "bankofameri.ca".

Certainly they will still have some way of indicating the domain, at least with SSL. It might actually make users more aware of the domain since it won't be sandwhiched between URL gibberish.

I bet Chrome/Google is better at identifying phishing pages than users are.

Perhaps, but it doesn't mean users are incapable at identifying phishing pages. With an address bar both the user AND Chrome can help identify phishing attacks.

To activate teh hidden URL bar, users will also have to right-click a tab and select "Hide the toolbar" [sic]

The sources quoted in this article in no way support the conclusion present in the title. As phlux said, other browsers have enabled you to turn off the address bar. Are they trying to "kill the URL" too? No, and neither are Google.

This article comes off as little more than sensationalist (albeit apparently effective) link bait.

I agree.

The same is true for a lot of other articles we happen to read. The title says one thing, but the actual body of the article has little (or even nothing) to do with it.

Hey, I understand their job is getting people to read what they write, but it looks to me like the signal-to-bullshit ratio is getting worse.

The analogy in my mind has always been that of the command line. Most users these days do not use the command line. But many tech people still do, as it is a very effective tool.

Likewise, the address bar - I still hand-type most of the sites I regularly use, because I can type them faster than navigating my various bookmark folders. Which also negates any inspiration to find better bookmarking tools.

I also have the unfortunate job of maintaining SharePoint sites, for which there are many standard URL strings I can throw onto a site that will get me to various admin pages.

I am sure other platforms have similar structures, where hand-typed addresses can manipulate the site in some way to the benefit of those who support it.

And maybe that is where Google will end up - with the address bar being the command-line-equivalent for their web-based OS.

Agreed. I still hand type most URLs and weird ones I use bookmarks for...but it's more and more rare that I hand type anything more than the basic domain...anything with an actual URL structure I navigate to...

I've found keyword bookmarks save even more typing. "gr" for Google Reader, "y" for Hacker News, etc. They're easy enough to set up, and I was already in the habit of using them from setting up keyword searches similarly.

In Firefox, go to "Properties" on a bookmark, and change the "keyword" field. For searches, just right click a search text box, and choose "Add a keyword for this search".

Does it save a lot of time? No, not really, especially if you already use the AwesomeBar/Chrome's equivalent to get to sites. But a little.

The URL bar serves as the search bar as well, and for most people that's their primary mode of navigation. Even if they don't really care about URLs, I don't see anyone wanting to add another step every time they do a search.

I'm clicking ctrl + L before searching anyway :)

Ctrl + K gets you into search mode only. I find it annoying sometimes when what I'm searching is similar to a URL in my history, so it's useful to specify it's a search with a "?" before a query.

Nice shortcut, I always did F6 since IE6 time. It seems to work with all browser too :)

I hope they keep the address bar for new tabs. In fact, I just realized this is basically the only time I use the address bar

- ctrl+t opens a new tab with the cursor in the address bar

- after typing 2-3 letters, chrome knows where I want to go

- hitting enter takes me there

I've found this is the absolute fastest way to navigate to any regularly visited websites. No pointing, clicking, or browsing through bookmarks - just a few keystrokes and I'm there. As for new websites, Google search is perfectly efficient.

t n↵

Those are my first 3½ keystrokes in the morning.

HN shortcut? Me too :)

I was getting ready to post a rant about how this violates the principles of the web, but I actually can't think of any principle that says you have to show URLs all the time. The earliest browsers probably didn't. I'm sure you will still be able to enter URLs through some popup widget.

Ultimately, if people can't read URLs then there's no great value in shoving it in their face. We might as well use that space for something they do understand. If it showed just the domain or SSL creds, users might pay more attention to them since they wouldn't be buried in noise from the rest of the URL.

I'm not happy that Google search is effectively replacing the DNS as the web's canonical index, but that has been happening for a while and it's driven by a very real user need. I would consider hiding the address bar an effect rather than a cause.

Some article was temporarily the top Google hit when searching "facebook login". This caused some confusion among URL-unaware facebook users.

http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/some-people-cant-...

If it's what I think it is, they used to have this feature for app tabs last year, then removed it. I couldn't find much writeup, here's http://lifehacker.com/5608189/restore-chromes-toolbar-when-w... a mention. I'm happy it's back.

I like being able to see the address bar. It lets me know that I'm viewing the page that I think I am.

I'm happy, as I've argued for this a few times on the CR-48 list. Not sure how this will work with lack of direct access to extensions and so forth, but perhaps this will spur innovation among 3rd party UX developers.

Personally I think killing the URL is one of the first steps to crystallizing Google's goal of replacing desktop apps with web apps. It all fits...

To be honest, I think this is a terrible idea. Let's hope they keep it optional rather than forcing this implementation on every user.

You have been able to turn off the nav bar in FF and I think IE for ages.

In Opera: Menu -> Toolbars -> Uncheck Address Bar.

Where is the Opera article?

Also, Safari. My favorite way of browsing docs is to open them up and hide the tabbar, urlbar and statusbar at the bottom of the screen. this leaves me with a very minimalist window and let's me focus completely on what I'm reading.

F11 (aka fullscreen)?

I'm running Mac; F11 does the opposite and shows my desktop.

Every browser has had this feature since the beginning of time. Just press F11.

It automatically pops up if you press Alt+D to enter url or move the mouse to the top of the screen.

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