updates Meet the browser: Chrome Next

[trag3dy]

Is it just me or has the font size of the address bar gotten bigger in the recent dev builds?

[Boo Berry]

Anyone wanting to test a 64-bit Windows build of Chromium can find them here: http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromium-browser-continuous/index.html?path=Win_x64/

[.stan]

 

 

This is an update of our Aura plans first explained in [1] and then in [2]. Please read those if you don't know what Aura is.

 

At that point we didn't have a timeline but now we do. We are trying to ship Aura on Windows in m32. The main issue is performance but we are making fast progress towards parity on that front. As in any release we are metrics driven; if we don't meet the speed, stability, security metrics we simply don't ship.

 

Aura is a grand unification of our graphics and UI stack that has significant implications. Here are the ones that you want to be aware of:

 

1- For Win7 and Win8 machines with capable video hardware and relatively new drivers, Aura fully uses the GPU.

This might lead to issues for some users with non standard configurations. We are increasing the test efforts to include varied hardware but we don't expect to catch every bug.

 

2- For WinXP and Vista users we will always use the software-only path. 

A lot of the performance work we are doing is related to make this mode as fast as it is in m31. However, in the short term we expect to use more CPU cycles and more memory than m31. Part of it is just a trade-off between scrolling performance and use of resources. We'll work to refine our stack in upcoming releases so we only pay the price for the things we really care about.

 

3- We have an automatic mechanism to switch Chrome from the GPU path to software path if we detect trouble.

It is nearly instantaneous in the case where the GPU process crashes. However, if the GPU process hangs it takes longer for Chrome to detect this condition, and of course BSODs are not something that we can prevent in most cases.

 

4- Opt-in or out.

In the short term users can opt-in or out from GPU acceleration from the settings menu -> system -> Use hardware acceleration. This setting will go away for XP and Vista users

once we switch to use DX11 because that is not available on those releases. We don't have a timeline for that yet.

 

5- WebGL and Pepper Flash.

If Aura is in software mode (for XP users for example) both WebGL and Pepper flash are also in software mode. This means that Flash's stage 3D [3] is unavailable. In previous versions of Chrome we could tolerate some parts of the page using hardware acceleration and others not using it but that is not practical with Aura. In the case of Flash the user can switch to NPAPI flash (for now, NPAPI is going away by the end of 2014) or Opt-in into hardware acceleration.

 

6- Windows 8 mode and Ash.

Ash is the Aura Shell [4]. Which most people know as the ChromeOS windowing environment. Aura implies Ash, so we decided to use Ash as our shell environment for Windows 8 metro mode. We are currently experimenting on how much of the shell we expose in Windows 8 mode, but even if Chrome m32 looks like m31 in metro mode Ash will still be running under the covers.

 

7- Linux and Mac.

The plan of record is to move Linux Chrome to Aura in m33. There are no plans to move Mac to Aura.

 

8- Legacy UI/ Graphics stack.

It will be removed from the codebase once there are no clients . If the current plans hold, it means it will be removed before we branch for m34.

 

-cpu

 

 

[1] https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msg/chromium-dev/LzIy9ABnl_I/0V9uOm1pawEJ

[2] https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msg/chromium-dev/nhddlumj9MQ/i4XX2sCdHAAJ

[3] http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/stage3d.html

[4] https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-dev/hjCJUQyJrvs

https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-dev/UMwGGgP0P9c

[bawz]

7- Linux and Mac.

The plan of record is to move Linux Chrome to Aura in m33. There are no plans to move Mac to Aura.

 

i shall look forward to m33 

[ToneKnee]

Don't matter, but I'm liking the UI improvements.

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Does that mean "tagging" system is coming in Bookmarks:

 

 

 

Experimental bookmark model based on tags. This CL introduces a BookmarTagModel class. BookmarTagModel provides a way to access and manipulate bookmarks in a non-hierarchical way. BookmarkTagModel view the bookmarks as a flat list, and each one can be marked with a collection of tags (tags are simply strings). BookmarkTagModel converts on demand the data from an existing BookmarkModel to its view of the world by considering all the titles of all the ancestors as tags. This view is frozen on an individual bookmarks when the BookmarkTagModel performs a change on the tags of this bookmarks. The Bookmark's meta info is used for storage. An observer may be attached to a BookmarkTagModel to observe relevant events. BUG=None Review URL: https://codereview.chromium.org/26894002

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Progress on Skia for Windows is going quite well:

 

Another fix landed on snapshot just now:

 

https://codereview.chromium.org/25519004

[Chasethebase Veteran]

For those running the dev channel, today's update fixes problems in the previous update with the Syzy thingamabob which resulted in all extensions breaking. Extensions work once again.

 

Not sure whether those problems were just on my end, but it seems the Syzy thing caused major problems elsewhere.

[TCA]

Oh yes, another bug with the Chrome OS implementation. If you're running dual display, and minimise the browser window inside the Chrome OS frame on a smaller display, it'll attempt to maximise to the primary display's resolution, bugging it out.

So on a 1440x900 display, Chrome attempts to maximise to 1920x1080. :rofl:

And the black screen bug is now fixed on my machine.

Google must believe bigger is better! I wanted to say "Well everything is bigger in Texas" but u don't live there sooo I'll run with previous

[bawz]

i bit the bullet an updated to 32 aas 31 was to buggy on websites for me but 32 fix's those issues i had 

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Chrome devs are testing new Translate UI from Omnibox:

https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=276181

[.stan]

I made a bug report for the annoying flash bugs in chrome regarding multi monitor setups and fullscreen mode: Would be awesome if some people in here could test, star and confirm this issue for me: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=317532 Thanks!

[xendrome]

Is pinch zoom still only in Canary?

[bawz]

what features are there in Chrome 33 ? 

[+Zlip792 MVC]

what features are there in Chrome 33 ? 

 

Its just been few days or week Chromium switched to 33, so it will take time to see what features it has.

[bawz]

Its just been few days or week Chromium switched to 33, so it will take time to see what features it has.

hope it fix's up Video as its crap on some pages 

[+Zlip792 MVC]

hope it fix's up Video as its crap on some pages 

 

NPAPI plugins not receiving cookies issues where on some flash plugin using NPAPI show black screen???

[bawz]

NPAPI plugins not receiving cookies issues where on some flash plugin using NPAPI show black screen???

nah my issue with 32 is that the Video will not Expand to Big from small. it just stays small 

[bawz]

just got 33 in dev channel, much nicer 

[Boo Berry]

NPAPI plugins' days in Chrome are numbered anyways.

[mjedi7]

SWR Iron, Chrome without some of the Privacy issues.

http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron.php

[Boo Berry]

Iron is a known scam/scareware. People get so paranoid about Google spying on you in Chrome without researching.

 

http://www.insanitybit.com/2012/06/23/srware-iron-browser-a-real-private-alternative-to-chrome-21/

 

You're better off disabling all the privacy-offending features in Chrome if they're really an issue or just use Chromium.

[bawz]

NPAPI plugins' days in Chrome are numbered anyways.

i think there also numbered in Firefox also not just Chrome 

[Boo Berry]

Good riddance if that's the case, I say! :D However, if you want to watch YouTube videos in Chromium it's probably best to force the HTML5 player.

[+Zlip792 MVC]

DirectWrite coming.... Yuppee!!!

 

https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=25541#c57

 

 

Expose the DirectWrite RuntimeEnabledFeature to WebRuntimeFeatures to
allow it to be set from chrome. This in turn will allow us to add a
--direct-write command line flag for the experimental DirectWrite font
rendering support.