Author: James Hrenak (Poc Network)
The new Dev build of Google Chrome finally brings extension support to the browser. Although it isn’t available in the public version just yet (dev edition is pre-beta), this allows Dev users and application developers to start working on extensions to increase the capabilities of this great browser of hope.
Recently we had posted a review on our thoughts regarding Chrome, and had mentioned the browser had a lot of hope…but one thing it lacked was the support for extensions. This little enhancement by Google takes this browser to a whole new level.
Currently it has to be launched with a –enable-extensions switch in order to take advantage of the new features, as there is no extension manager built into the browser just yet. However, at least this shows Google is listenting to the feedback of testers.
Another interesting fact, is that the browser does not have to be restarted once you have installed a new extension. You can immediatly take advantage of the new extension right there on the spot (unlike FireFox which needs a restart each time).
Some may say this a little off topic for the design industry, but that wouldn’t be true since we get requests all the time from clients about building custom browser extensions/plug-ins for web applications, communities and other websites.
This opens another door in the ways you can communicate with the browsers viewing your site. For others this finally allows the capability to personally customize their installation of Google Chrome to their exact needs (just like FireFox).
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