Chrome 48 Updates!

Published in

Google Developers

3 min read Jan 14, 2016

One of the best parts about the web is that it’s always evolving and getting better. But with the constant churn of new features and updates, it’s easy to get lost. Fret not though, I’m here with a handy condensed list of the things you should really care about, in the latest updates to the chrome (and web) platform. Here’s what’s new in Chrome 48 (currently in the Beta channel)

Presentation API

Everyone loves finding that perfect video, but showing it to your friends on your small screen is such a bummer. This version of Chrome Android allows websites to present to external devices via Cast , increasing the ways available to sites that want to present “cat vs cucumbers videos”. You can also present from your desktop with this Cast extension .

Custom buttons on notifications

Be honest, we all feel a little twinge of wonder when we haven’t received a notification for a while. Which is why personalized notifications are now available in Chrome… You can use this handy api to keep your user’s blood pressure low with all sorts of constant notifications about their favorite chat apps, or how many cats, now have cheese burgers.

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).

So go start implementing it today! It’s a real game changer.

VP9 support for AppRTC

It’s 2016, and while we might not have real hoverboards, we can at least be happy that we can have amazing HD and 4K video in our browsers. The new VP9 is here!
This cool open source video codec supports HD and even 4K (2160p) quality at almost half the bandwidth used by previous generation codecs like H.264. That’s what I’m considering progress.

DevTools

They say an engineer is only as good as their tools. Actually, I just made that up, but it sounds good, doesn’t it? With that in mind, come 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 to improve your site.

Chrome Dev Summit 2015

If you made this event in person, that’s wonderful. If not, 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.

Misc

Important! The RC4 cipher is no longer supported over HTTPS connections due to several vulnerabilities. Please check your servers and upgrade them if needed.
Our powerful client side database (=IndexedDB) got several getAll() methods to simplify bulk interactions.
In the CSS land we got two improvements: CSS Writing Modes Level 3 are no longer prefixed and font-feature-settings are no longer prefixed.
The Search Quality team is taking a stronger stance on websites that sneakily redirect users to different content than the user is expecting. We have released information on how to detect these instances and what to do if the redirections were not intentionally implemented by the website owner.

Posted by Ido Green, Google Developer Advocate