The latest beta edition of Google Chrome (Beta 104) offered a glimpse of a number of useful changes coming to the popular web browser.
Updates will be available on Android, Chrome OS, Linux, macOS, and Windows devices, with Chrome for iOS notably running a slightly different version.
The highlight of the list of updates in version 104, available since earlier this week, is Region Capture. Browser-based video conferencing has long been supported in Chrome, but screen sharing sometimes results in the so-called “hall-of-mirrors effect”.
In its latest form, Chrome’s Region Capture can now trim a track of video and remove content – such as the live video feed of other members of the call – before sharing it remotely. This means no more awkward video sharing of participants when using video conferencing suites like Google Meet.
Other changes in Chrome 104
Media queries, an important part of responsiveness in the design of most web pages, have also been updated with new features. Developers can now use common mathematical comparison operators, as well as logical “or” and “not” operators, when assembling a page.
Additionally, cookies set with an explicit “Expires” or “Max-Age” attribute now have a limit of 400 days, which Google says is a chosen number thanks to its roundness and proximity to 13 months, or just over one year. Previously unlimited, this will ensure that sites visited approximately once a year continue to function as expected.
Other changes include allowing sites to place full-screen content and a pop-up window on separate secondary screens; Permission changes for the Bluetooth Web API; and improved color display management for WebGL, which now includes “display-p3”.
In addition, changes to source tests were implemented. Set to be tested until Chrome version 106, the browser’s secure payment confirmation tool now allows users to opt out of storing their credit and debit card details.
Also undergoing testing is the “Focusgroup” CSS property, a useful web development tool that is configured to add focus navigation more consistently without the need for custom solutions.
Rounding out the list of updates are several service deactivations, including the removal of the Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) API, which has now been replaced by the Web Authentication API.
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