Chrome 2, webkit improved
Continuing the high speed development of its browser, after the final version 1.0 published a few weeks ago, Chrome offers a version 2.0 of its browser for programmers.
Chrome 2.0 final is released since May 22, 2009.
Webkit improved
Webkit, the rendering engine shared by Safari and Chrome will add support for:
- CSS 3 gradients.
- Canvas drawing.
Zoom
The zoom function is developed in order to enlarge the entire contents, text and image.
This feature already exists for the text only, with CTRL + to increase and CTRL - to reduce the size.
Auto-scrolling
Pressing the mouse on the page and moving it, and shift the contents in all directions as with Maps.
This is a feature that is not found in any other browser.
Auto-completion in forms
Similar to Google Suggest, applied to form fields.
Spell-checking in forms
It is enhanced with the option to disable it and to select the language.
Profiles
It is possible to create different profiles with specific configurations of the browser.
User scripts
Add to Chrome what GreaseMonkey does for Firefox: to allow the user to add script to the browser.
They will be compatible with those of GreaseMonkey.
Bookmarks
You can import your favorites from your Google account.
Side views
As shown in the video, it is now possible to attach two tabs to see two pages at once in the browser window.
Standard
The browser passes almost 100% of the compatibility test to the standard Acid 3.
Conclusion
Versions for Linux and Mac are not yet available, but the ease of use is improved in Chrome 2 with new features and others that aim to strengthen the web application ability of the browser.
Google is still working to further improve the speed and it seems that Chrome 2 is nearly 25% faster than the first version.