How to Make the Most Out of Chrome 77
Google’s update to Chrome 77 is now out on desktop platforms, introducing several new security patches and UI changes. Although this is not considered a major update for users, Google announced that 52 security fixes have been included in the latest Chrome. One of those tweaks is a critical patch, while nine are said to be above medium risk.
Make Chrome Your Own
Chrome 77 users will have a new welcome experience that’s a bit longer than the usual single-page walkthrough. Once the installation is done, Google invites users to “Make Chrome Your Own” by adding major first-party applications to bookmark. These apps under the address bar include Google News, Maps, Translate, YouTube, and Gmail.
In the succeeding screen, setting up Chrome as your default browser enables you to get Google Smarts and Google Search each time you browse. The final page shows the advantages of using Chrome Sync to get passwords, bookmarks, and other data on all your connected devices.
Send Link to Another Device
There’s already a Chrome Sync option that allows you to see which devices are signed in to your Google Account and what tabs are active. Rather than having to check manually before launch, Chrome 77 allows you to send a direct link to another device. There are several ways to send a page, including right-clicking on a tab, link, or page, and clicking the address bar with the “Send this page” device icon.
Using the “Send to your devices” menu shows you a list of all devices logged into Chrome, such as other desktops, iOS, and Android. Once you click it, a notification will pop up on the target device so you can load the link. Some users have been using this since Chrome 76 but the latest update means there’s now a much wider rollout of the feature.
Site Isolation
Site Isolation is a feature made to increase security and safety and protects cookies. Even while you’re on attacker-controlled sites, this feature keeps your cross-site data and HTTP resources. The latest version also has a built-in security measure that includes the enabled option for android-operated devices. This ensures security in areas where you will be entering sensitive data.
Additionally, there’s a new loading animation where you’ll be shown an icon of the website you’re visiting as it loads. The favicon expands to its full size once it completely loads.
Origin Trials
In Chrome 77, users can also try new features through Origin Trials. This add-on lets you give feedback on the effectiveness, practicality, and usability of those features to the web standards community. For instance, Contact Picker API is an on-demand tool that enables users to select contact list entries and share some of the details about the selected entries with a website.
Given all that, it’s clear that Google continues to show how much they value users with Chrome’s latest update, showcasing how they always innovate to give everyone a unique experience.
Based on the added features, the central theme of Chrome 77 is “performance.” While the Chrome 77 release does not have a lot of groundbreaking updates on the surface, its new features are still worth mentioning. After all, they serve as an effective guide for developers to gauge the performance of their different websites.
Originally published at https://www.digitalwkly.com on October 23, 2019.
