A new commit that was spotted on Chromium Gerrit points at a new "Never-Slow Mode" for Chrome. The description reads "an experimental browsing mode that restricts resource loading and runtime processing to deliver a consistently fast experience," but at a cost: Google warns that it "may silently break content." The commit dates back to last October and is being updated in the recent weeks. It is explicitly labeled "PROTOTYPE — DO NOT COMMIT." It looks like there's quite a lot of testing left to be done before it goes live. The commit also describes blocking a wide variety of content including some scripts, assets like fonts and images based on size, as well as pausing page execution at times, among a larger list of content caps. All of this might easily break the functionality of websites on the Web, but with Google still working on it, you never know. The Never-Slow Mode is probably aimed at reducing memory use, but it looks like it won't make a drastic change. At this moment, it only makes us wonder what Google might consider for breaking-the site functionality and the browsing experience since Chrome/Chromium dominate the contemporary web ecosystem. We should know more when the feature goes ...
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Google Chrome could get Never-Slow mode for a faster browsing experience
A new commit that was spotted on Chromium Gerrit points at a new "Never-Slow Mode" for Chrome. The description reads "an experimental browsing mode that restricts resource loading and runtime processing to deliver a consistently fast experience," but at a cost: Google warns that it "may silently break content." The commit dates back to last October and is being updated in the recent weeks. It is explicitly labeled "PROTOTYPE — DO NOT COMMIT." It looks like there's quite a lot of testing left to be done before it goes live. The commit also describes blocking a wide variety of content including some scripts, assets like fonts and images based on size, as well as pausing page execution at times, among a larger list of content caps. All of this might easily break the functionality of websites on the Web, but with Google still working on it, you never know. The Never-Slow Mode is probably aimed at reducing memory use, but it looks like it won't make a drastic change. At this moment, it only makes us wonder what Google might consider for breaking-the site functionality and the browsing experience since Chrome/Chromium dominate the contemporary web ecosystem. We should know more when the feature goes ...
