14 DAY TRIAL // The Google Chrome team has been doubling down on bringing new, user-facing features into the browser. While the latest Chrome 7.0 beta is a bit lacking in visible new features, the most recent Chrome 7.0 dev channel builds show a lot more promise.
And the very latest Chromium builds have even more new features, landing one after another. One very interesting feature that is now available in the Chromium (7.0.547.0 and above) Labs section is Background WebApps.
As the name implies, this feature enables users to run web applications in the background. "Allows installed web apps to run in the background at system startup and continue running after all windows are closed," Google explains.
The really interesting thing is that apps don't even need Google Chrome to be running with this feature enable. The Chrome core will still be powering the app, of course, but as far as the user is concerned the browser can be closed down without affecting these apps.
This feature opens the door to a lot of possibilities, though it does come with its risks as well. As web apps become more powerful, which Google certainly wants, there will be a need for applications to be able to run in the background, just like there is a need for such apps in desktop environments.
It also gives developers a lot more flexibility in creating applications for the web. The new feature obviously comes ahead of the Chrome Web Store launch.
Part of the Chrome team has been very focused on bringing full support for the Web Store and this is part of the reason why the latest Chrome 7.0 beta seems so lacking in improvements.
The feature also makes a lot of sense when thinking about Chrome OS as background apps may come in very handy for the web-only operating system.
Along with background app support, the latest Chromium and Chrome Canary builds also got a couple of security-focused features, also in Labs.
There is now the possibility to automatically disable outdated plugins which may be vulnerable. The WebKit XSS Auditor is also available. The tool is designed to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) protection, but Google warns that it may cause issues with some legitimate sites.