InfoQ Homepage Web Browser Content on InfoQ
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The Vivaldi Browser Improves Privacy Protection for Android Users
The Vivaldi web browser recently shipped with enhanced privacy protection for Android users. Vivaldi 3.5 will protect users against the leaking of their real IP address when using the WebRTC communication protocol in chat applications, closing another hole allowing users to be tracked online. Vivaldi 3.5 also allows mobile users to clear their browsing data when exiting the browser.
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Microsoft Edge Made Available on Linux
Microsoft recently announced the availability of the Microsoft Edge Dev Channel for Linux (initial preview release). The Edge browser is now available on all major operating systems, desktop and mobile. Enterprise developers, many of which use Linux, may now build and test web applications in their preferred platform. The move seeks to further position Edge as the browser for business.
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Microsoft Edge WebView2 Now Generally Available
After publishing last year a preview release of WebView2, a Chromium-based control to host web content within native Windows applications, Microsoft recently announced the general availability of WebView2 for production Win32 C/C++, .NET Framework, .NET Core, and .NET 5 applications. WebView2 provides two distribution models (evergreen/fixed) with a different update policy (automatic/manual).
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Test-Automation Playwright Tool Now Records and Replays Interaction Scripts, Captures Test Videos
Newly released Playwright 1.4 brings key improvements to the cross-browser test-automation tool. Using the now public Playwright command line interface, developers and testers will be able to record user interactions and replay them with automatically generated Playwright scripts, generate page screenshots, inspect Playwright selectors, and record videos of test scripts.
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Chrome 85 Adds 64-Bit Support on Android, Better Tab Groups, Avif Compression Format Support
The Chrome team recently released Chrome 85 with sizable new features. The Chrome app for Android will now be a 64-bit version. Tab groups can be collapsed and expanded. Profile Guided Optimization allegedly delivers up to 10% faster page loads. Highly-compressed AVIF videos will natively play in Chrome 85. Developer tools also see significant improvements.
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Cookie Recipes - SameSite and beyond - Rowan Merewood at web.dev Live
Rowan Merewood explained, in light of the new cookie policies being increasingly adopted, how to create and configure cookies according to the scope and security required by the situation. Merewood also showcased the options available to developers to trace and debug cookies sent in requests.
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New COOP and COEP Cross-Origin Policies for Increased Security in Chrome and Firefox
Eiji Kitamura recently addressed in a talk at Google’s web.dev live the new COOP and COEP policies that dictate how browsers handle cross-origin resources. The new opener (COOP) and embedded (COEP) policies set up a cross-origin isolated environment that protects against Spectre attacks while restoring powerful, previously disabled features (SharedArrayMemoryBuffer and more).
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Security Concerns for Peripheral APIs on the Web
Google has been promoting the inclusion of peripheral connectivity using Bluetooth and USB on web browsers for several years. Yet, it's meeting heavy resistance from other browser vendors such as Apple and Mozilla.
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The New Microsoft Edge - Microsoft Build 2020
Melanie Richards recently presented new and upcoming features for users and web developers that are being incorporated into the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge. Since moving to Chromium, Edge has been slowing gaining user share, passing Firefox to become the second browser on desktop/laptop devices (according to netmarketshare).
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Crowdfunding Web APIs - Igalia Lets Developers Fund APIs They Care About
Igalia, an open-source consultancy that contributed a large part of the CSS Grid implementation in WebKit and Chromium, is experimenting with the crowd-funding of new web APIs. Starting with six HTML/CSS features, the experiment gives developers a larger say on what web APIs get implemented and when.
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Apple Rejects NFC, Bluetooth and 14 More Web APIs, Citing Privacy Reasons
In the frame of its tracking prevention policy, Apple recently communicated its current refusal to implement 16 web APIs, citing privacy concerns. Apple emphasized that the decision could be reconsidered if the proposals evolve to reduce the fingerprinting attack surface.
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Chrome 85 DevTools Support CSS-in-JS and Lighthouse 6
The forthcoming Chrome 85 release in August includes style editing for CSS-in-JS frameworks, Lighthouse 6, support for new ES2020 features, and several other helpful additions for web developers.
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JavaScript Reaches the Final Frontier: Space
The recent SpaceX Dragon launch brings JavaScript to space. Leveraging Chromium and JavaScript, significant portions of the user interface rely on web technologies.
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Playwright 1.0 Release Automates Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit-Based Browsers
The Playwright 1.0 release and now supports automation with all evergreen browsers based on the Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit browser engines.
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Chrome 83 DevTools Emulates Vision Deficiencies and Locales
The forthcoming Chrome 83 release includes significant updates to DevTools, including emulation of vision deficiencies and user locales, cross-origin opener policy (COOP) debugging, and cross-origin embedder policy (COEP) debugging, and network request filtering for cookie paths.