Google launches its Chrome 74 today for Windows, Linux, Mac, Chrome OS, and Android users. While the new version boasts several new enhancements and improvements – the Windows users lucked out with support for Dark Mode.
Yes, after Mac users received their share of Dark Mode in Chrome 73, it is now time for Microsoft Windows users to enjoy the same.
However, there is a long route for that.
Similarly, to Mac OS, the Windows users who enable the ‘Dark’ setting will have to make do with the change in both Chrome and the overall OS theme customization settings.
In simple words, there is still no way to use the Chrome Dark Mode as an independent feature. This is a nuisance for many users who like to modify the look of every app they have installed rather than rely on the same setting for the overall system.
With this release, Google has denounced file downloads from sandboxed iframes. It should be noted that this is a common method used to distribute malware through ad slots.
The developer’s team at Google has also removed the website’s ability to open new tabs when a webpage is being unloaded. This track has been abused for a long time that allows cunning individuals to duplicate tabs in order to keep the innocent victims on their illicit sites. However, Google has finally found a fix for the issue and released it along with the Chrome 74 update.
"Lite mode will continue to reduce data use by using Google servers to compress the pages you visit before downloading them. Using the NetworkInformation API, Lite mode tells web servers that you are interested in receiving a version of the site that uses less data if one is available.", explained Ben Greenstein, Technical Lead for Lite Mode and Nancy Gao, Product Manager on Chrome. Adding further, "Lite mode also helps improve page loads. If Chrome predicts that a page will take longer than 5 seconds for the first text or image to show on screen, it will load a Lite version of the page instead. Lite pages are highly optimized to load considerably faster. A whitepaper will be published in the coming months that will explain this in more detail."
As of now, Chrome's Lite Mode will only be available on Android smartphones.
Read next: Google is introducing a new extension menu for Chrome Canary
Yes, after Mac users received their share of Dark Mode in Chrome 73, it is now time for Microsoft Windows users to enjoy the same.
However, there is a long route for that.
Similarly, to Mac OS, the Windows users who enable the ‘Dark’ setting will have to make do with the change in both Chrome and the overall OS theme customization settings.
In simple words, there is still no way to use the Chrome Dark Mode as an independent feature. This is a nuisance for many users who like to modify the look of every app they have installed rather than rely on the same setting for the overall system.
Security Improvements
Besides the dark mode option for Windows users, the new Chrome 74 is bringing improvement on the web-dev and security side.With this release, Google has denounced file downloads from sandboxed iframes. It should be noted that this is a common method used to distribute malware through ad slots.
The developer’s team at Google has also removed the website’s ability to open new tabs when a webpage is being unloaded. This track has been abused for a long time that allows cunning individuals to duplicate tabs in order to keep the innocent victims on their illicit sites. However, Google has finally found a fix for the issue and released it along with the Chrome 74 update.
Data Saver
Another change with the new Chrome 74 is the transition of Android’s Data Save feature. The former is now being replaced with the ‘Lite Mode’ – an enhanced data saving mechanism."Lite mode will continue to reduce data use by using Google servers to compress the pages you visit before downloading them. Using the NetworkInformation API, Lite mode tells web servers that you are interested in receiving a version of the site that uses less data if one is available.", explained Ben Greenstein, Technical Lead for Lite Mode and Nancy Gao, Product Manager on Chrome. Adding further, "Lite mode also helps improve page loads. If Chrome predicts that a page will take longer than 5 seconds for the first text or image to show on screen, it will load a Lite version of the page instead. Lite pages are highly optimized to load considerably faster. A whitepaper will be published in the coming months that will explain this in more detail."
As of now, Chrome's Lite Mode will only be available on Android smartphones.
Read next: Google is introducing a new extension menu for Chrome Canary
