Google Chrome 88 is now rolling out to everyone (changelog)

After months of testing, Google has released Chrome 88 to the mainstream.

The update brings a number of new features and improvements, including an improved dark mode, tab search and more.

[lwptoc title=”Chrome 88 changelog” width=”25%” float=”right”]

See the changelog below:

Improved Dark Theme Support.

Dark Mode now applies to scroll bars on more internal pages, including Settings, Bookmarks, History, New Tab Page, and more.

FTP support deprecated

You can no longer use Chrome as an FTP client- ftp:// addresses are no longer supported

Google says this is an unencrypted legacy protocol that very few people use.

End of support for Mac OS X Yosemite

Chrome 88 marks the end of support for Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite.  Now MacOS users will need at least OS X 10.11 El Capitan or newer.

End of Support for Legacy Browser Add-on

The feature was first deprecated in Chrome 85 and with Chrome 88, Google will disable all installed instances of add-ons.

Less Intrusive Permission Requests

Google is testing less intrusive permission requests, which do not cover website content, but which rather appears as a “chip” to the left of the URL bar, first expanded and then minimised to only an icon.

The feature can be enabled by enabling chrome://flags/#permission-chip .

Light and Dark themes for ChromeOS

The new build is testing more defined light and dark themes for ChromeOS which can be toggled in the Quick Settings menu.

Tab Search now available

Users will not be able to search their open tabs using the drop-down arrow in the top tab bar.

The feature needs to be enabled by toggling the chrome://flags/#enable-tab-search flag.

Other improvements

• Digital Goods API: Web apps published in the Google Play Store can now use Play Store billing just like native apps.
• WebXR: AR Lighting Estimation: For AR and VR content on Android, lighting estimation can help to make models feel more natural and like they “fit” better with the user’s environment.
• Anchor target=_blank implies rel=noopener by Default: To defend against “tab-napping” attacks, anchors that target _blank will behave as though rel is set to noopener.
• CSS aspect-ratio Property: This allows explicitly specifying an aspect ratio for any element to get similar behavior to a replaced element.
• Origin Isolation: Web apps can choose to increase a page’s security in exchange for giving up access to certain APIs.
• JavaScript Engine: Chrome 88 incorporates version 8.8 of the V8 JavaScript engine.

Availability

Chrome will automatically indicate the availability of the update and automatically install it on restart.  You can manually search for the update under Help> About Google Chrome.

via HowtoGeek, thanks Serhan for the tip.