Chrome Developer Updates

If you are feeling adventurous, you can update your Google Chrome version with the latest developer builds. Many people are unaware on how to do this but it’s very simple to do, and the Dev channel gives users access to upcoming features, features in development, and the latest bug fixes.

However do note, the dev build is mainly designed for developers or people wanting to test the latest updates to Chrome and it may not be as stable as the regular public build. With that said though, i have not noticed an increase in crashes or bugs on the dev build compared to the regular public build.

Also if you have an annoying bug that’s preventing you from using Chrome or doing important tasks, it may be worth a shot to check the latest dev build to see if the problem is fixed and you can try updating. You can opt out of the dev builds at any time if you don’t want to receive any more dev updates, all you have to do is run the Chrome Channel Chooser again and switch back to “Beta” builds.

Still want to continue?

Ok download the Chrome Channel Chooser (Direct from Chromium.org, filesize 100kb)

Run the Channel Chooser, select the Dev box then press Update

Once it’s updated, close the Channel Chooser

Then in Chrome, update as usual by clicking the Wrench Icon then choose About Google Chrome

Done, now just restart Chrome and you will be on the Dev build. Just go back in to Wrench, and About to confirm.

Also i haven’t mentioned before, but i done a page on the forum that shows all sorts of data such as your IP, ISP, PC Details, Java and Flash Versions, Chrome and Webkit Versions and Screen Resolution. It’s useful for veryifying your Chrome and Webkit versions amongst other things, there’s no need to register to use it.

Check Your Browser Details Here

As you can see, the latest Dev build is 0.2.153.1 and i have listed the features and changes below. One good addition to note is the “Add word to Dictionary” so Chrome will no longer highlight it as misspelled.

Highlights:

r2266 Fix scrolling (cannot scroll up) with touchpads on most laptops. Issue 4.

r2334 Fix the problem in 152.1 with the About box spinning forever to check for updates and leaving behind an orphaned chrome.exe process. Issue 2362

r2282 and r2320 Remove the separate installer for the Gears component. It is now installed as a versioned component alongside chrome.dll. When 0.2.153.0 (or later) is installed successfully, the previous version of Gears is uninstalled.

New command line flags are:

–new-http

Enables the new network layer. This is nearly complete, but there are still be some things that don’t work. Areas that need more attention: SSL and SSL-EV sites, proxies (especially requiring authentication), very large downloads (>2GB).

–magic_browzR

Enables the new tab and window manager code. The code has been refactored to help make it more portable, easier to add new features, and make it more Windows-friendly. Things like ‘ Tile windows horizontally’ or extensions that manage multiple desktops/monitors should work, the full Google Chrome window menu is available when you right click a pop-up or application window title bar, and pop-up address bars looks nicer.

User Interface

r2026 Double-clicking a tab’s entry in Google Chrome’s task manager (Shift+Esc) brings that tab to the foreground.

r2222 Your choices for Clear browsing data… are saved so the same boxes are checked the next time you open the dialog.

r2322 Add an “Add to dictionary…” option to the right-click menu for misspelled words. Use this to add a word so that Google Chrome does not highlight it as misspelled.

r2412 Fix an issue that could prevent users from saving bookmarks. Issue 1946.

r2413 Allow mutiple bookmarks to refer to the same URL (which can be useful if you want a bookmark on the bookmarks bar and also saved under Other bookmarks). To get a new bookmark for a URL, either drop a link on the bookmarks bar (not by dragging the star) or right-click the Bookmarks bar and choose Add page…

r2504 Adds a Page info option to the context menu (right click). This brings up the same information as double clicking the lock or warning icon in the address bar of an SSL page.

Plugins

r2400 Add support for Adobe Reader’s fast web view, which fixes a performance problem loading PDF files. Issue 206.

Javascript/Web API

r2061 Add anti-aliasing support for SVG shape-rendering=”crispEdges”.

r2250 Make navigator.language reflect the current UI language for Google Chrome instead of the operating system. Issue 1862.

SSL and SafeBrowsing

r1998 Fix a problem with links or redirects to pages containing malware. The warning page now correctly identifies the new page as the malware host, rather than the previous page.

r2098 Add support for Extended Validation (EV) certificates from GlobalSign.

r2363 Add support for Extended Validation (EV) certificates from CyberTrust.

Tab Model Rewrite (–magic_browzR)

r1996 Fix several issues on Vista, most notably that tabs were not selectable with the mouse.

r2205 Allow windows to be resized on Vista

r2406 Fix an issue with tooltips showing up in the wrong location.

Other

r2223 Turn off making a request to determine the local URL for Google (google.co.uk, google.co.in, etc) when Google is not your default search provider.

r2323 (related to r2223) Don’t set a cookie when making a request to determine the local URL for Google.

r2287 Fix a problem that prevented Google Chrome from being uninstalled immediately. Issue 2321

r2457 Fix the Open dialog (Ctrl+O) so that it does not lock the directory from which you open a file. Issue

r2466 Fix proxy exceptions that include upper-case characters.

Crashes

r2028 Fix a crash when using Find next (F3).

r2090 Fix a crash when using View Source on an https page.

r2131 Fix a crash when copying data to the clipboard.

r2261 Fix a crash when saving a page.

http://www.chromeplugins.org