Google Chrome 102 official version released: desktop PWA looks more like a local application

IT House May 25 news, according to Android Police, after releasing stable Chrome 101 about a month ago, Google has now released the stable version of Chrome 102. The new Chrome version is full of features primarily aimed at developers,This means PWA apps will get even more powerful in the months and years to comethe tools provided by Chrome are more localized.

New Smart Shortcuts on Chrome for Android

The new smart third shortcut to the right of the address bar has already started popping up for many users in Chrome 101 on Android, and Google is just further extending the experiment to more users in Chrome 102. Shortcuts will appear as buttons for voice search, share, or open a new tab, depending on what users are more likely to use in general. Users can also manually adjust the shortcuts with a long press.

Please adjust the chrome://flags/#adaptive-button-in-top-toolbar-customization flag flag.

Chrome on desktop can use keyboard shortcuts to reorder tabs

You can do a lot of things with the keyboard on Chrome, like switching between tabs or navigating back and forth in your browsing history. Another much-needed keyboard shortcut is finally joining the currently existing selection of shortcuts. Users can now reorder tabs using the keyboard. This feature is only available in Chrome 102 for Windows and macOS. To move a tab, you need to press ctrl+shift and page up or down, depending on the direction you want to move the tab. On a Mac keyboard, you need to use ctrl+shift+fn with an up or down arrow.

Online store information and ratings on Android

First, this is one of the few user-facing changes Google is making for this release. Google is trying to provide more information about online stores that users may have never visited before to make it easier to tell if a store is legitimate, giving users quick access to the Google Ratings address bar in the page info screen on the left. Originally spotted in the Chrome 102 Dev build, this feature doesn’t appear to be fully ready for release and may be related to regional restrictions, but it should still be in active testing in this release. This feature may be controlled via the chrome://flags/#page-info-about-this-site flag.

Open a file in a web application on the desktop

Chrome 102 is further closing the gap between native apps and web apps. Installed web apps (PWAs) can declare that they can open certain files from your computer (such as photo editing web apps for jpeg or Photoshop files), which can then be displayed in the system’s Open With dialog . You will no longer need to drag and drop files onto web applications, which most developers are expected to support.

CTRL+F quickly becomes more powerful

Chrome 102 introduces a new HTML attribute called “Hidden=until-found”. This can be used for hidden text that is collapsed in a help or FAQ section. When using this property, you can use site search (in the three-dot menu or with CTRL/CMD+F) to find text in hidden sections of the site. Because this feature is based on HTML attributes, websites must specifically support it, so it may not immediately appear on pages that users frequently visit.

Single-page web apps will soon be easier to navigate

The Navigation API, first tested in Chrome 96, is being enabled for all users of Chrome 102. Google says the API, formerly known as the “app history API,” introduces a powerful way to intercept and initiate navigation, allowing the creation of less finicky single-page web apps. These apps feel more native because they don’t completely reload the web page when navigating to a new location, but instead rewrite the currently visible view, just like regular apps. Such as Slack, Gmail, Google Drive and other similar web applications.

With this new API, it is easier to navigate back and forth in these applications using the browser’s navigation buttons.

Control slides directly from your video conferencing service

Video conferencing has become the norm over the past few years, but web pages are still catching up to make the experience as seamless as possible. Google Chrome 102 is releasing a new feature that will make presentations easier by going to the next or previous slide from the meeting window, rather than the presentation itself. This will allow users to keep your peers in view while sharing another Chrome tab.