Google Chrome Releases: Dev update: New WebKit version, new features, and a new Dev channel

Dev update: New WebKit version, new features, and a new Dev channel

Thursday, January 8, 2009 | 14:33

Google Chrome's Dev channel has been updated to version 2.0.156.1.

Previous Dev Channel Users Moved to Beta Channel

This release is far less polished than what Dev channel users have been getting during Google Chrome's Beta, so we've moved existing Dev channel users to the Beta channel. You can decide whether to switch to the new Dev channel or stay on the Beta channel.

Use the new channel changer to re-subscribe to the Dev channel.

Highlights of This Release

There's a long list of new features in the release notes, but here are some of the highlights:

New version of WebKit, with lots of fixes and new features like full-page zoom, autoscroll, and CSS gradients and reflections.
New network code. Google Chrome now has its own implementation of the HTTP network protocol (we were using the WinHTTP library on Windows, but need common code for Mac and Linux).
Form Autocomplete.
Full-page zoom.
Autoscroll (rough implementation). Middle-click on a page to scroll the page in any direction.

--Mark Larson, Google Chrome Program Manager

Edit (12 Jan 2009): As in the release notes, note that zoom and autoscroll were enabled by changes in WebKit.

34 comments:

Ilya said...: thanks for work, guys!; 4:03 PM, January 08, 2009
BlueThen said...: In "About Google Chrome," it says "Update server not available (error: 3)," anyway to fix that? I've tried deleting the default folder in user data, but that did nothing.; 4:31 PM, January 08, 2009
Semyer said...: Great Work (Full-page zoom,Docking dragged tabs,Import bookmarks from Google Bookmarks,Use different browser profiles)Go On; 4:56 PM, January 08, 2009
welshsimon31 said...: Whoa!! Google chrome has undergone some very mature,very very good choices in nifty little extra's
1- I love the new drag and drop and snap docking of tabs - snap a tab to the right of the screen and let the mouse button go - and what you have is a PERFECT dual tabbed/split screen ( is that right lol?) browser!!

2- I am grateful and love the new import bookmarks from google toolbar (just what i been waiting for!!)

3- "auto complete" - one word : Amen!!

4- run the acid 3 test - you will be very surprised, - okay slightly buggy in the link test, but i scored 100/100 first time!!! 99% the second and all other times.

This IS Google chrome starting to mature and grow into a nice sculptured browser that Will kick some particular browsers butts (no names LOL), the speed is still there folks, the features are starting to crawl out and amen again - look at all this, some update and a half Mark Larson :-)>

P.s : remember the hotmail fix about ammending the user agent string? well make sure its copied and pasted into the target field at the end of chrome.exe (leaving the space of course)see update below:

Dev release: Fixes Hotmail, Options dialog on XP 64-bit
Monday, December 8, 2008 | 17:25
Labels: Dev updates
Google Chrome's Dev channel has been updated (version: 0.4.154.33). This release fixes the following issues:

[r6482] Fixes issues with composing mail and switching folders in Hotmail. Hotmail still does not properly recognize Google Chrome, so to use the site, you have to add the following to the shortcut you use to launch Google Chrome:

--user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.19 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1 Safari/525.19"

Right-click the Google Chrome shortcut, click Properties, and paste the line above to the end of the Target field.

As long as you're good and Follow it exactly, it WILL work, and i can confirm here right now that this new dev channel build will still make hotmail work with the added modded uas LOL!
I use GMAIL 98 % of the time, but have to use Hotmail 2% also!!

All in all, a blinding update and a very "Well Done" Mark Larson and the Google Chrome developers and Testers!!

Regards,

Simon; 5:08 PM, January 08, 2009
Pascal said...: Thx for the Update. I tested the features some days ago on Chromium and they are awesome :); 11:40 PM, January 08, 2009
JuL said...: Form Autocomplete, great just what was missing ! Can't wait to try it !; 12:57 AM, January 09, 2009
Davide said...: This version is awesome!!!

The full zoom is working without a glitch!

If i can suggest, i'd like a zoom option with a 3 way switch: 1- actual zoom mode
2- Firefox style zoom, save zoom preset on a per site basis
3- opera style zoom, fix zoom ratio for every tab open.

I think this way everyone will be happy!

keep up the good work !; 4:02 AM, January 09, 2009
Kwok said...: Is there anyway to disable the auto scroll since it's quite annoying when I miss middle click a link?; 5:15 AM, January 09, 2009
Jerry said...: Seems very stable after some initial tests. Everything seems to work.; 6:57 AM, January 09, 2009
The MAZZTer said...: BlueThen: Download and install using the installer (you can grab the 2.0 beta installer from BetaNews), that should fix Google Updater.

Kwok: Middle click scroll <3, I missed it from Firefox. :D

You can always try CTRL+clicking links instead if it's THAT much a problem, if you miss you won't end up scrolling around the place.; 9:07 AM, January 09, 2009
techaddict said...: i'm now trying out the windows 7 beta & it seems that Chrome is not updating itself in Windows 7. any tips on overcoming this? thanks in advance.; 10:31 AM, January 09, 2009
The Psychlotherapist said...: Hotmail still doesn't work in the new Dev release. Also, hyperlinks not showing as clickable-through, see below. (From a piece by George Monbiot in today's UK Guardian)...

"There’s a splendid example of such blithering idiocy here: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/2009/01/07/global_warming_al_gores_convenient_untruth_freezes_over. Gerald Warner, writing in the Telegraph, contends that the cold snap lends more support ....." etc; 11:15 AM, January 09, 2009
Lisandro said...: What's with that black frame around the browser's window? Now I have several pages adding horizontal scroll because of the frame. Any way to remove it?; 12:29 PM, January 09, 2009
Kwok said...: @The MAZZTer
I know but it just doesn't feel right. Probably cos I'm lazy.; 1:36 PM, January 09, 2009
Liviu said...: I wonder WHY the internet connection is still crippled in Chrome!? even poorer then tha last version 1.0.154.36 [i'm now on 2.0.156.1]. When I test my internet connection IExplorer shows about 20%-25% more sped in DLoading/UPloading. This is a HUGE difference between IExplorer and Chrome.; 2:59 PM, January 09, 2009
Scott Zero said...: This is a great release, and full-page zoom is something that I have been waiting for. However, it should save zoom settings on a per-site basis. It is a feature that I have grown accustomed to in Firefox, and is actually a deal-breaker for me.

Great work, though!; 4:54 PM, January 09, 2009
Liviu said...: Speed TEst IExplorer 7:

« SpeedGuide.net Speed Test Results »
10589 kbps down (~10.59 Mbps, 1293 KB/s)↓
9046 kbps up (~9.05 Mbps, 1104 KB/s)↑
10240 KB downloaded in 7.922 seconds
3072 KB uploaded in 2.782 seconds
Tested on: 2009.01.09 20:16 EST
Tested from: eegna.de
Test Link: http://www.speedguide.net/speedtest/results.php?test=2205680
Latency: 147ms
===============================
Chrome =\

« SpeedGuide.net Speed Test Results »
4171 kbps down (~4.17 Mbps, 509 KB/s)↓
3978 kbps up (~3.98 Mbps, 486 KB/s)↑
5120 KB downloaded in 10.056 seconds
1024 KB uploaded in 2.109 seconds
Tested on: 2009.01.09 20:15 EST
Tested from: eegna.de
Test Link: http://www.speedguide.net/speedtest/results.php?test=2205675
Latency: 148ms; 5:24 PM, January 09, 2009
Codrut said...: Great job. The only thing that bugs my is the new scrolling...Maybe it's just me but it doesn't feel as smooth as the old one.; 7:15 PM, January 09, 2009
San said...: BUG:
If you have your task bar as Auto Hide. then by bringing your mouse to the bottom. It doesn't show.

I tried doing that when i had Chrome open didn't worked.
Worked with other windows

Is anybody else experiencing the same; 8:19 PM, January 09, 2009
Keir said...: @San yes, it's a deal breaker for me. It's a known bug now. Looks like earlier versions did this but then they fixed it - I hope there's an update soon, it's not my main browser but I use it for some regular Google Docs tasks.; 2:01 AM, January 10, 2009
Σπύρος said...: This post has been removed by the author.; 6:47 AM, January 10, 2009
Σπύρος said...: Please tell me if I can delete a new window profile.; 8:17 AM, January 10, 2009
welshsimon31 said...: Guys I know windows 7 is a beta release and its impossible to expect google to support a pre release operating system, but I was wondering if anyone here has installed and is running windows 7 and google chrome together and google chrome working fine or is there problems running the two? I did upto yesterday gave windows vista 64 bit and chrome behaved perfect!

Now, today I installed windows 7 and upgraded vista so that the drivers etc and all my programs run okay, everything runs perfect, firefox, opera, even safari developers preview 528.1.1 runs (which incidentally has webkit obviously)

Now google chrome for me isn't behaving at all and won't run and I miss it terribly already and am lost without it. Without any smart comments about just rolling back to vista, is there anything any of you can recommend for me? Preferably if one of you are working on google chrome ie mark larson if you're reading this lol! ? I uninstalled and deleted all traces of chrome and then reinstalled from the chrome website, and all I'm getting is a message about it having a known issue with this operating system and gives me an option to search online for a solution or run in compstability mode! So I run it in compstability mode and all that happens is a new page tab and clicking on home or a bookmark dosnt do anthing and its not communicating via the internet at all! There's no firewall or anti virus installed yet so its not that!

I have also tried the latest trunk build and that's not doing anything either! So any suggestions or fixes you can think of would be nicely appreciated!

Hope you can help me as I miss not testing chrome already!

I am running the beta one build of windows 7, 64 bit! Its the new build released this week and its activated and all!

Has anyone else had same issues or have you been able to run google chrome on windows 7 with no problems?; 4:02 PM, January 10, 2009
welshsimon31 said...: Actually i have solved it now guy's thanks, i now have google chrome WORKING PERFECT in windows 7 64 BIT lol. i did it following the advice from the link below:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=5111f112bcd233e1&hl=en

Question: Well it doesnt work on windows 7 Report abuse

Scottymeuk
Level 1
11/10/08
Ok i knows windows 7 is in beta but just to let you know it does not work on the 64bit version of windows 7. No pages load and the bookmarks, most viewed sites etc is all just blank.

:)
Answers: 1 of 8 All answers

Simon D. Internets
Google Employee
11/11/08
1 person says this answers the question:
Hey Scottymeuk,

As you may have guessed, we don't currently support Windows 7. For now it's just Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later and Windows Vista so we can't really troubleshoot your issue. ;)

Thanks for the heads up though.

- Maggie
References:
[1]
Google Chrome System Requirements(Web)
www.google.com
Do you think this answers the question? YesNo Report abuse

menax
Level 1
11/17/08
Scottymeuk (Asker) + 18 other people say this answers the question:
Yes it works on windows 7

right click on your chrome icon then select properties. Under the shortcut tab you will see Target. The line ends with chrome.exe so just add --in-process-plugins after that. So the line should look something like this:

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --in-process-plugins

So i thought i'd post this info, as people will be tempted like me to use the beta of windows 7 and google chrome!

I can confirm its working now, the only thing that isn't working is the hotmail fix, and due to the extra text in the target area, the user agent string fix wont work. BUT hey, Sod hotmail lol, i will just keep outlook open in the back ground till the hotmail situation is fixed by google and microsoft!!

Regards,

Simon; 6:23 PM, January 10, 2009
San said...: Deleting Profile

C:\Documents and Settings\User_name\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data

and delete that profile name folder; 7:27 PM, January 10, 2009
Oliver said...: People surprised that chrome passes acid3 -- why? it just picked up a new webkit and webkit has been passing acid3 for months.

My question is why are css features (implemented by webkit) listed under webkit, but full page zoom (also provided by updating to the newer webkit) listed separately?; 9:44 AM, January 11, 2009
Melnar Tilromen said...: The "Start" pannel on Windows XP, which hiding automaticaly - do not open, if browzer in Dev version open ob full screen...
Wery sad.; 10:28 AM, January 11, 2009
welshsimon31 said...: @ TECHADDICT - are you using the 32bit or 64bit windows 7 build?

I can confirm that i AM ABLE to auto update and manually update Chrome, and i am using Windows 7 public beta 1 64bit.

Well i had to uninstall chrome and delete the google folder in appdata under C:\Users\your username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome.

I then re downloaded and installed google chrome and before opening chrome, i right clicked the shortcut on the desktop and copied this at the end of chrome.exe --in-process-plugins in the Target field.

EG your whole target should be as follows :-

C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --in-process-plugins

after the \Users\ you replace yourusername with your username you have for windows.

One more thing also is you have to run google chrome in compatability mode as vista and then it will work and auto update and manually update via "about google chrome" by clicking on the wrench to the right of the browser window.

(to run chrome in compatability mode as vista in windows 7 do the following- right click chrome icon on your desk top and click on properties and select Compatibility tab and tick box "run this program in compatibility mode for:" and in the drop down select vista, apply the changes and close any google chrome windows and re open and try updating again.

Hope this helps if you're still having issues. I had big issues but i found out through the google discussion forums on how to run and update google chrome in windows 7.

let us know if you're still stuck or if you have managed to solve it and i will see if i can help you any further.

regards,

Simon.; 6:38 PM, January 11, 2009
Eric said...: wow! awsome updates.. keep it up!; 7:31 AM, January 13, 2009
AmorWorx said...: Great work! But I 'm still missing client-side certificates ...; 12:24 PM, January 13, 2009
Davide said...: I've tried to switch to 16 bit display, because my intel integrated graphics is slow at 1680x1050 at 32 bit....

and then? the title bar of chrome went black O_O ;-); 1:32 PM, January 13, 2009
Sean said...: i've had a few times where the css doesnt load and i had to close that particular tab and open another to make the css work again, its not a big deal at all, but just thought to give a heads up...

ive ran this chrome in windows 7 32bit without a problem, in fact it runs better! keep up the good work guys!; 4:18 PM, January 13, 2009
parity said...: On a dual monitor configuration (Vista x64), when the browser is maximized on the secondary monitor, the tabs are not displayed at all.

Additionally, if enough tabs are opened (in my case 8), the "new tab" button overlaps the minimize button in Vista.

Lastly (and this is just a preference) - is it possible to make the middle mouse scroll only active as long as this button is held down? This behavior feels more natural to me, but others may disagree...; 11:01 PM, January 13, 2009
"E" said...: Any text box memory yet? All other browsers remember your work so you can see what you have been interested in eBay for instance ;-) Having to re-enter all your search terms is a pain.
I couldn't live with this limitation before and hope this has finally been added so I can re-install.

Thanks!; 10:50 AM, January 14, 2009

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Dev update: New WebKit version, new features, and a new Dev channel

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