Chrome 23 Adds Per-Site Permissions Panel, Making It Easy to Customize Permissions

Chrome 23 is getting a very handy new feature for setting site permissions. Chrome already comes with a number of options that can limit what a website can do, for example the ability to save cookies, load images, popups and so on.

In the latest dev release though, permissions are now grouped together per-site and can be accessed without digging into the Settings page.

Clicking on the icon next to the URL of a page, in the Omnibox, will bring up the new site permissions panel.

Previously, it just showed connection information, the type of encryption for HTTPS pages and so on. That info is still available, but on a second panel.

For any page you visit, you can modify the permissions for various types of content and behavior.

You can block images, plugins and JavaScript from loading at all or, alternatively, if you block this type of content by default, add that site to the whitelist.

Here, you can also set the policy on popups, notifications or media, with the same options being available, always allow, always block, and ask.

Another option you can set is whether that site is allowed to retrieve your location or not. Finally, things like going fullscreen and locking the mouse can be controlled from the new panel.

The idea is to make it easier for users to set per-site permissions. This, in turn, should make it easier to adjust their privacy options depending on the site they're visiting and to have it done automatically every time they visit.

There's still more that can be done to streamline the permissions process. Most people will not even bother setting up custom permissions, let alone per-site permissions.

For the people who are going to take the time to do it, the new feature is an improvement, but Google and everyone else still needs to do more to make it possible and more importantly, easy, for users to control their data and their experience.