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Simply speaking Google gears make your browser better equipped to handle high end web applications. And Google gears aims to achieve that by adding features to your browser. And the new features added helps your browser to primarily do the following:
- Let web applications interact naturally with your desktop
- Store data locally in a fully-searchable database
- Run Javascript in the background to improve performance
Basics of Google Gears
Google Gears is a plug-in that extends your browser to create a richer platform for web applications. For example, webmasters can use Gears on their websites to let users access information offline or provide you with content based on your geographical location. Gears was designed to be used on both Google and non-Google sites. A number of web applications currently make use of Gears, including two Google products: Google Reader and Google Docs.
Additionally, Zoho and Remember the Milk have been using Gears since its original launch. If you’re running Windows Mobile on your cellphone, Picasa Web Albums also makes use of Gears. Working of Google Gears can be understood from the following diagram:
Data Storage Offline:
As I said offline data storage is one of the features of Gears. Now the question comes where is the data stored. The data storage location depends on the operating system and the browser you are using.
Find below the list of location based on the operating system and the browser:
Windows Vista
* Internet Explorer: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\LocalLow\Google\Google Gears for Internet Explorer
* Firefox: Database files are stored in the user profile directory. C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{PROFILE}.default\Google Gears for Firefox
* Google Chrome: Database files are stored in the user profile directory. C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Plugin Data\Google Gears
Windows XP
* Internet Explorer: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Google Gears for Internet Explorer
* Firefox: Database files are stored in the user profile directory. C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{PROFILE}.default\Google Gears for Firefox
* Google Chrome: Database files are stored in the user profile directory. C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Plugin Data\Google Gears
Mac OS X
* Firefox: Database files are stored in the user profile directory. Users/<user>/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/{PROFILE}.default/Google Gears for Firefox
* Safari: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Google Gears for Safari
Linux Firefox: Database files are stored in the user home directory. <user>/.mozilla/firefox/{PROFILE}.default/Google Gears for Firefox
Microsoft Windows Mobile Internet Explorer: Database files are stored in the Application Data directory. \Application Data\Google\Google Gears for Internet Explorer
Installation information:
You need to be in either of the following to avail Google Gears:
- Microsoft Windows XP or Vista with Firefox 1.5+ or Internet Explorer 6+
- Apple Mac OS X 10.4+ with Firefox 1.5+
- Apple Mac OS X 10.4.11 (or higher) or 10.5.3 (or higher) with Safari 3.1.1
- Linux with Firefox 1.5+
- Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 or higher, with Internet Explorer 4.01+
Google Gears is not available for Mac OS X 10.6
So assuming that you have these requirements fulfilled and you are connected to the internet, you need to follow the following steps to get Google Gears installed:
1. Sign in to the machine with an account with administrative rights.
2. Download Gears from the Gears homepage.
3. Open the downloaded file.
4. Restart your browser. Gears won’t be usable until your browser has been restarted.
How to check whether Gears have been installed properly or not? For that one simple way is to visit http://gears.google.com. The Gears webpage will clearly tell you whether Gears is installed on the computer you’re using. Otherwise you can achieve the same by clicking the Tools menu in your browser and see if Gears setting is listed in it or not. If it is listed then it means Gears is installed. For further information and checking based on specific operating system you can click here.
In case you don’t like Gears you can always uninstall the same. I won’t delve into the detailed steps here. For information regarding the uninstall process please go here.
Usability:
How and where to use Google Gears is the next question? And the answer is: Gears works with a select group of sites that are specifically designed for compatibility. When you visit a site that’s configured to work with Gears, you should see a message stating “The website below wants to use Gears.” If you’d like to allow the use of Gears on this site, simply check the box next to “I trust this site. Allow it to use Gears.” and click the Allow button. Once you do that, you won’t see the message anytime in future.
You can use Gears in more than one computer, in case you do that you need to be aware that each computer syncs offline data separately. If you
plan to use Gears on more than one computer, you’ll need to sync each computer with your online data. Un-synced changes on one computer won’t be reflected on another computer.
Similarly Gears can also be used for multiple browsers. Here again the sync happens separately for each browser.
For checking the Gear settings you need to follow the below mentioned instructions:
Follow the instructions below for your browser to find your Gears settings:
- Firefox or Internet Explorer: Click the Tools menu and select Google Gears Settings.
- Safari: Click the Safari menu and select Google Gears Settings.
- Google Chrome: View instructions in the Google Chrome Help Center.
For more details regarding Google Gears you can visit the Gear Help Page.
For people who are inclined to the technicalities and development related information can visit the Google Gears Developer Page.
Among the many features that Google Gears provide the one that stands out and seems to be the most liked one among the users is the ability to work offline. It is just the beginning and already with Gear for Mobile Google seems to have laid the way forward. Watch out for more in this space.
