by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

Google Chrome 32 is released with erratic Bookmarks Bar


Last night, Google released the latest version of its browser Chrome 32 to the Stable channel - 32.0.1700.76 for Windows.   Google Chrome 32 contains a number of improvements over its earlier avatars, and a quirk in its Bookmarks Bar behaviour.

The most interesting of the improvements are the indicators in the browser tabs to notify which tab is currently playing music, or using the webcam, or webcasting.  The 2nd most interesting improvement is the automatic blocking of malware files.  The 3rd is a Beta feature called ‘supervised users’, which is another fancy name for Parental Controls.

Tab indicators for sound, webcam and casting:  Finally, there is a visible indicator to quickly locate the browser tab - webpage - which is blaring that annoying sound.  One of the most irritating experience is the effort to locate the origin of that obnoxious audio and either mute or close the tab.  Google Chrome 32 now indicates if a browser tab is blaring audio or using a webcam or is webcasting.

Automatic blocking malware files:  There no need to explain this feature, though I suspect this improvement will drive a lot of Indian teens away from Chrome.  Indian teens at least are known to deliberately download ‘files’ to ‘test’ out various software and games.  If the browser is set to block all those ‘files’ the teens will Flock to a browser more sympathetic to their needs, and the Chrome user base might RockMelt (pun intended).

Supervised Users: This feature, which is officially still in beta, a designated user has the ability to check on a kid’s browsing history, and set up site restrictions through “chrome.com/manage” tab.
Other exciting features are:
  • A different look for Win8 Metro mode 
  • A number of new apps/extension APIs 
Chrome 32 claims many stability and performance improvements, like Pepper Flash update to 12.0.0.41, and you can read about them on the Chrome blog.

While playing around with the new Chrome 32 stable today morning, I noticed a quirk with the Bookmarks Bar.  Ctrl+Shift+B is the keyboard combination to make the Bookmarks Bar appear (or disappear).  While the keystroke combo still works fine in normal browser tabs, it does not in the New Tab page.

In the New Tab page, toggling with Ctrl+Alt+B merges the existing Bookmarks Bar with the Address Bar / Browser Toolbar area.  Toggling it back put up the bookmarks in its own separate Bookmarks Bar.  Here is the video:



Here is a snapshot:

google-chrome-32-erratic-bookmarks-bar

Oh!  BTW Chrome 32 has fixed more than 11 security issues, so there is every reason to update.

1 comment:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Support - Donate

Your Blog is

Donate thro ECWID

Contact Form