Dev Update 2.0.156.1: New WebKit, Form Auto Complete, Autoscroll, Full Page Zoom

As we all know that the Chrome Team keeps on releasing updates for the Google Chrome Browser on a regular basis and today was no different apart from the fact that this new release in the developer’s channel is being called version 2.  The new version (2.0.156.7) is available only in the developer’s channel.

The new dev release is “far less polished” than other Dev Channel Releases when the browser was in beta according to the Google Team and as a result of which this new release has been moved to the Beta Channel. If you want to give this latest version of Chrome a try then just follow the instructions here to find out how to subscribe to the development channel and get the updates.

This new version though only released in the developer’s channel, shows us the areas of improvements Google is looking at and planning to implement with its next stable release of Google Chrome, besides many features such as the Form Auto-Complete feature, it also comes with a new version of Webkit and its own implementation of HTTP network protocol. Below i have mentioned the new additions and improvements in this new version.

New Features And Updates In Google Chrome 2.0.156.1

• A new version for WebKit (an open source code which Chrome uses to present webpages (HTML & CSS) alongwith some bugfixes and some CSS Features like CSS Gradients, CSS Canvas Drawings, CSS Reflections and CSS Masks.

• Full-page zoom : Page zoom (Ctrl + + or Ctrl + -) not only resizes the text of the page as earlier but also scales everything on the page including images and embedded objects, so pages look correct at various zoom levels.

• Autoscroll : Middle-click on any page to turn autoscroll on and move the mouse to scroll in any direction just like its in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

• Form Autocomplete : This was one of the most demanded features on Google Chrome and today it was taken care off, thanks to the Google Team. It remembers what you have typed into the fields or forms on web pages. If something is typed again on the same form, it will show any of the previous values that matches what you have typed so far. Form autocomplete can be disable on the Minor Tweaks tab of the Options dialog. (Note: this is just like the basic form autocomplete which is available in Firefox or Internet Explorer but not the same as the form fill feature in Google Toolbar.)

• Spell-checking Improvements : Easily  and Quickly Enable / Disable Spell Checking in a Text Field and Changing Spell Checking Language by right clicking. To enable spell-checking in a language, just add it to the list of ‘languages you use to read web sites‘ in ([Wrench] > Options > Minor Tweaks > Fonts and Languages).

• Import Bookmarks from Google Bookmarks : The bookmarks though cannot be sychronised yet but i am sure that the Chrome Team is still working on bettering it.

• Experiemtal Support for User Scripts link GreaseMonkey : Since this is just in its experimental stage so not all user scripts would work. Follow these documentations for more details.

• Support for Windows Cascading & Tiling options, new window frames on XP and Vista alongwith other window management add ins.

• Update to V8 Javascript Engine from 0.3.9.3 to 0.4.6.0

New Security Features in Google Chrome 2.0

• SafeBrowsing Feature is much faster now and more reliable with minimised usage of disk.
• New HTTPS Only Browsing Mode : Adding –force-https to your Google Chrome Shortcut will let you open only HTTPS sites and sites with SSL errors will not load ensuring a higher degree of security that earlier.
  

Google Chrome’s Own HTTP Network Protocol

Google Chrome have also implemented its own HTTP Network Protocol by replacing the WinHTTP Library on Windows in order to provide a common code for its to-be-released Mac and Linux version, a move which was necessary according to the release notes.