Google Chrome 114 has been published as the latest version of the well-known web browser, which has indisputably led the sector in terms of user share for many years. Due to the fact that new version releases are almost monthly, there are not always interesting news, but this time there are some things that deserve to be highlighted.
The first thing that stands out are the cookies that have an independent partitioned state, which Google calls by its initials in English, CHPS (Cookies Having Independent Partitioned State). This feature enables the option for third-party cookies to be partitioned by the top-level site using the new attribute Partitioned (partitioned) of the cookie.
The search engine giant explains that when a user visited website A, website C embedded in the former could establish a cookie on the user’s machine, an operation that was repeated when the user manually accessed website B with the web browser. This allowed C to access it from B. cookie that it had already embedded through A, thus opening the door for C to collect data on the user’s browsing activity across different websites.
With CHIPSwhen the user visits A and C sets its own cookie with the attribute of Partitionedit is stored inside a container linked to A, so it is implemented a mechanism that prevents or at least makes it difficult for the same cookie of C can crawl between different websites.
In short, how CHIPS works is very reminiscent of Total Cookie Protection (Full Cookie Protection) that Firefox has been using by default for a year now. Although it is true that the commitment to privacy is not helping Mozilla to rise in terms of user share, Google should not neglect this front too much in case one day people’s mentality changes and becomes aware of the importance of privacy on the Internet.
Another interesting novelty of Google Chrome 114 is the value balance for CSS property text-wrap (text-wrap: balance), with which it is possible to improve text designs, especially in situations in which the HTML tag that contains them can change size. The objective is that the text is correctly adjusted to make the reading more natural and pleasant.
And as the last powerful novelty is the Popover API, which makes it easier to create transient UI elements that display on top of all other interfaces in the web application. It includes interactive user elements such as action menus, form element hints, content selectors, and capabilities to teach the user interface itself.
The Popover API has one attribute, popoverwhich automatically displays any element on the top layer, so the developer doesn’t have to worry about positioning, element stacking, focus, or keyboard interactions.
As we have already mentioned, these are not all the new features of Google Chrome 114, but rather the most outstanding ones. There are also other things like C and C++ debugging in WebAssembly and a fair number of security bugs that have been fixed. The Mountain View giant is very concerned about security, otherwise no one would trust its products and services, but privacy is another matter.
Google Chrome should update automatically on Windows and macOS, although in the worst case one can do the following to force the process: main menu > Help > Google Chrome info. In Linux, the update comes through the repository that provides the application. All the details about this release can be found from the official announcement and the Google blog.
