14 DAY TRIAL // The Google Chrome dev channel has been updated with a new release of Chrome for Mac OS X. According to Jonathan Conradt, engineering program manager, “This release includes bug fixes and some improved compatibility with Snow Leopard.” The release is said to be slightly different from Chrome 4.0.203.2.
In a post on the Google Chrome Releases blog, Conradt reveals that version 4.0.203.4 delivers a number of changes specific to Mac OS X. Those include:
- add modifier key support (e.g. cmd-clicking, shift-clicking) throughout the Mac UI; - sometimes cmd-w wouldn't close the last tab in a window; - Korean IME didn't work in the Omnibox; - improve appearance of various UI components; - favicon lost in various circumstances; - add bubble when user clicks the star button; - implement tab-to-search; - text could appear garbled on 10.6; - crash fixes.
Thanks to recent updates, Chrome for Mac has also improved trackpad scrolling on maps. A “first stab” has also been made at the history menu, while the download shelf now has real download items. Google Chrome 3.0.198.1 equipped Flash with mouse and key events so you could pause/play video, while forward/backward buttons now have history drop-down menus.
Softpedia readers should note that Google Chrome 4.0.203.4 is not appropriate for general consumer use. Several features, including password import and certain privacy functions, are unavailable at this time. Download Google Chrome “only if you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software,” the team of developers responsible with the web browser warns.
Google is also actively developing a Chrome OS, described as an open-source, lightweight operating system that will be targeted at netbooks upon its launch.