Chrome 48 Updates And News

As every six weeks (more or less), we got some cool & new features in Chrome. Here are few that I like for version 48:

Presentation API

This version of Chrome Android allows websites to present to external devices via Cast, increasing the form factors available to sites that want to present content. You can also present from your desktop with this Cast extension.

Custom buttons on notifications

Timely, personalized notifications save users the effort of manually checking for updates throughout the day and have enabled a host of new experiences from real-time communication to live updates on breaking news.

In the image below you can see how a custom button on a notification might look.

 

All this magic is working only when you implement your own client-side proxy (Service Worker).

 

VP9 support for AppRTC

VP9 is an open source video codec that supports HD and even 4K (2160p) quality at almost half the bandwidth used by previous generation codecs like H.264.

Other Improvements

• In DevTools – Take a glimpse into the future of authoring inside DevTools. You can also,  learn how you can use Chrome DevTools to apply the principles of RAIL to diagnose and fix your site.
• Several getAll() methods have been added to IndexedDB to simplify bulk interactions. I wrote in the past a full set of examples for indexedDB.
• The RC4 cipher is no longer supported over HTTPS connections due to several vulnerabilities.
• CSS Writing Modes Level 3 are no longer prefixed.
• CSS font-feature-settings are no longer prefixed.

Btw, last week we had Chrome Dev Summit 2015. It was an excellent event that I highly recommend you to try and attend in person. If you missed the live stream, don’t worry, all the talks are ready for you. We covered the evolution of the mobile platform and the shift toward “progressive web apps”, which are fast, robust, app-like experiences built using modern web capabilities.
Progressive web apps have three main aspects that separate them from traditional websites:

• Reliability – We envision service workers as the ideal way for developers to build web apps that are resilient despite changing and unreliable networks.
• Performance – The RAIL performance model helps you figure out what a user expects from each interaction with your site.
• Engagement – Traditionally, users have had a hard time re-engaging with sites on the web. Push notifications enable you to build experiences that users can engage with “outside of the tab”–they don’t need to have the browser open, or even be actively using your web app, in order to engage with your experience.

Rock on.