Articles about Browser

Reviews can be an important factor in deciding which app or extension to install. The idea of user reviews is something that has been adopted by Apple in its App Store, and is also used by Microsoft and in Google Play. The Chrome Web Store also features reviews, and a new feature has just been added that could make them more useful than ever -- the ability for developers to respond.

This is an important change as it gives developers the right of reply. When reading a review written by someone you almost certainly don't know, it can be hard to tell if their opinion should be trusted. Did they rate the app or extension poorly because there is a problem with it, or did they not understand how to do something. Giving developers the chance to reply to reviews allows for greater transparency and allows others to see that the developer in question is reading feedback -- but it may not all be good news.

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Bing may now be the default search engine in Microsoft Edge, but that is about to change for Windows 10 users in China. Microsoft has announced that it will replace Bing with a local alternative, making its new browser a more attractive option to Windows 10 users in the country.

The new default search engine -- and homepage -- in Microsoft Edge will be Baidu, which Microsoft says has over 600 million active users. In turn, according to Microsoft, Baidu's "'Windows 10 Express' will make it easy for Chinese Internet users to download an official Windows 10 experience".

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Skype has announced that Microsoft’s new web browser, Edge, will soon support Skype voice and video calls without the need for a plugin.

This will work for new versions of both Skype for Web and Skype for Outlook.com, and should be implemented "later this year". Considering that this year has just over three months to go, it’s safe to assume it will come pretty fast.

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Browser stability is a big issue, and it's something that can very easily sway choices. A bug has been discovered in Chrome which crashes the browser if a user visits a particular URL -- 16 characters is all it takes to kill Google's web browser.

The problem is reported as affecting Chrome 45 and older, although it also seems to all kill version 47 on the Dev channel. The issue stems from the inclusion of a NULL character in the URL and has already been reported to Google.

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Ad-blockers are proving to be extremely popular with the early adopters of iOS 9. Shortly after the operating system's debut, Peace skyrocketed to the top of the paid apps chart on Apple's App Store, taking Minecraft: Pocket Edition's place on the podium, while rival Purify Blocker has risen to fourth place.

Current leader Peace is the work of iOS developer Marco Arment, best known for the popular read-it-later app Instapaper. Since Peace will surely get the attention of many more users, let's take a look at what it has to offer.

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Opera Software has unveiled Opera 32 FINAL, a new release of its desktop browser for Windows, Mac and Linux, with an Android update due to follow.

Version 32 is another build light on major new features, with the company keen to promote its recent acquisition of the SurfEasy VPN service. What has been added is password sync, a new view for bookmarks and support for animated background themes.

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Chrome has long been maligned as a huge drain on system resources. Open more than a few tabs and you'll notice that memory usage skyrockets, and performance can slow to a crawl. Run Chrome on a laptop that's not connected to mains power, and you've probably seen the battery meter plummet whenever you use the browser.

Now -- at long, long last -- Google is doing something about it. The latest version of Chrome boasts a number of improvements designed to reduce the browser's footprint, including a new intelligent tab restoration system that keeps the least viewed tabs suspended in the background until needed. Chrome 45 is also far more aggressive at actively cleaning up memory.

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Android developers looking to include web content in their apps have a new option available to them that will help to greatly improve performance. The new (for the stable branch, at least) 'custom tabs' feature makes it possible to pre-load pages in the background resulting in load times that are a fraction of using WebView or firing up Chrome separately.

The feature can be used by developers to use their own app to change the way Chrome looks and feels, effectively blurring the move from app to the web. In addition to the speed advantages, custom tabs also bring improved security to apps, and provide users with a more familiar browsing experience.

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Google has come a long way over the years, but one thing has remain remarkably simple: its logo. There have been various designs for the six, colorful letters and today the company has taken the wraps off the latest version... complete with an uppercase G!

It's going to take a while for some people to get used to, but the clean, sans serif look of the new logo is simultaneously modern and retro. But today's announcement is about more than the main logo -- this is the launch of a new 'identity family'. In addition to the main logo, there's also a new four-color G icon, as well as similarly-colored imagery for other elements.

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You've found a great new Chrome extension. Installing it only takes a click, but if you're not quite sure what it's doing, whether it's safe, you might want to take a look at its source code, first.

Chrome Extension Source Viewer (CSEV) is a free extension which makes it easy to inspect the innards of other Chrome add-ons.

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The writing has been on the wall for Flash for some time now. A web technology loathed for countless reasons -- not least the security issues -- the death knell is now tolling loudly as HTML5 is more widely embraced.

Back in June, Google announced that Chrome would pause Flash ads in its browser by default, helping to eliminate a major online annoyance. Now the company has outlined when this will happen -- and there are only a few days to wait.

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Internet browsers are like sports teams. Every IT department and individual has an opinion on which one is the best, and personal preferences often comes down to long standing allegiances.

In the browser’s case, this is due to personal preference or ease of IT administration. Search privacy is not always top of the agenda, but should it be?

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If you were hoping to see Chrome notifications integrated into Windows 10, prepare to be disappointed: it's not going to happen. While the Action Center might seem the natural home for Google's web browser to display messages, developers have a different opinion.

In short, Chrome's notifications are staying as they are. Despite a campaign for Action Center support, the request has been labeled Won'tFix and there's no sign that this will change for some years to come. Chrome and Windows 10 have already clashed heads once, but this time Google seems unlikely to back down.

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It's no secret that Chrome for Mac (OS X) is a mess. It eats a ridiculously high amount of memory, energy and shortens the battery life. Google announced earlier this year that it was working on a fix. And now it is delivering on that promise. The latest Chrome build -- available via Canary channel -- is significantly less resource hogging, and surprisingly faster at the same time.

The company has been hard at work improving the memory consumption in its Web browser while also making the tabs snappier. You can read about the development process and feedback at Chromium's developer website. The build dubbed 45.0.2454.46 is also significantly lighter on the battery and is no longer making the laptop crazy hot. In a recent build, the company was testing interesting internal processes like tab discarding in the background. The idea behind it is simple: make the tabs you haven't used in awhile idle automatically. This would, under the typical condition, free up a significant amount of memory.

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Mozilla today announces a series of important changes that affect Firefox add-ons. The good news? Add-ons should be reviewed faster, they will be more secure, and a new API means that Chrome extensions can be more easily ported across. But, of course, there is also bad news.

The bad news for developers is that Mozilla is switching to new technologies -- Electrolysis and Servo -- and this means that work will have to be done on existing extensions to ensure compatibility. In the switchover, it is likely that a large number of older add-ons will simply not be updated, but with a 12 to 18 month timescale for phasing out XPCOM and XUL means there is plenty of time for other developers to come up with alternatives to projects that have been abandoned and will no longer work.

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