Chromium Blog
News and developments from the open source browser project
Chrome 37 Beta: DirectWrite on Windows and the <dialog> element
Donnerstag, 17. Juli 2014
Today’s
Chrome Beta
channel release includes a slew of new developer features to help you make richer, faster and more compelling web content and apps, especially for mobile devices. Unless otherwise noted, changes described below apply to Chrome for Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS.
DirectWrite on Windows
Chrome 37 adds support for
DirectWrite
, an API on Windows for clear, high-quality text rendering even on high DPI displays. Before DirectWrite, Chrome used the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) to render text. GDI dates back to the mid-80's and reflects the engineering tradeoffs of that time, particularly for slower, lower-resolution machines. The switch to DirectWrite has been a
top user request for years
, and required extensive re-architecting and streamlining of Chrome's font rendering engine.
Some users should begin seeing better-looking fonts and increased rendering performance as we roll out DirectWrite, with no changes required by web developers. Assuming everything goes smoothly, all users will experience the improvements by the Chrome 37 stable release.
Compare the below screenshots, taken with and without DirectWrite enabled.
New HTML element: <dialog>
In this release we're also adding support for the
<dialog> HTML5 element
, which enables developers to create styled dialog boxes in their web applications and control them via a JavaScript API. For more details,
check out some code samples and see <dialog> in action
. The <dialog> element is a better-designed alternative to showModalDialog(), which is now disabled as we
recently announced
.
Other updates in this release
The
Web Cryptography JavaScript API
is enabled by default starting in Chrome 37, allowing developers to perform cryptographic operations such as hashing, signature generation/verification, and encryption.
Subpixel font scaling is now supported, which enables smooth animations of text between font sizes.
TouchEvent co-ordinates are now doubles instead of longs, enabling higher-fidelity touch interactions on high-DPI displays.
CSS cursor values
"zoom-in" and "zoom-out"
are now unprefixed.
The number of cores on a physical machine can now be accessed by
navigator.hardwareConcurrency
.
The user's preferred languages are now accessible by navigator.languages, and the languagechange event is fired when this is updated.
The
CSS Shapes Module
allows developers to define non-rectangular text wrapping boundaries around floated elements.
NPAPI deprecation continues according to our
previously-announced plan
with a
harder-to-bypass blocking UI
.
The default monospace font on Windows is now Consolas instead of Courier New.
Cross-origin fonts are now blocked unless the response includes the appropriate CORS headers.
As always, visit
chromestatus.com/features
for a complete overview of Chrome’s developer features, and circle
+Google Chrome Developers
for more frequent updates!
Posted by Emil A Eklund, Software Engineer and Senior Blog DirectWriter
Disabling showModalDialog
Mittwoch, 16. Juli 2014
The web platform has evolved organically over the past two decades, slowly growing new capabilities and APIs. Many features that are added are great ideas that enable web developers to make even better applications. But some APIs turn out, in retrospect, to be mistakes. Over time, the platform accretes more bad APIs, which makes it harder to add new browser features, confuses web developers, and even introduces security bugs. showModalDialog is a bad API that we
deprecated earlier this year
, and in Chrome 37 we will disable support for it by default.
showModalDialog was first introduced in Internet Explorer 4 and although it was never formally standardized, over time most other browsers added support for it. It allows applications to show a dialog of HTML content that freezes all other content while showing. showModalDialog is not a commonly used API: based on our usage counters,
less than 0.006% of pages use it
.
Unfortunately, showModalDialog's unique ability to freeze content is
now
widely
regarded
as a mis-feature in terms of user experience, code complexity, and security. From a usability perspective, showModalDialog rudely demands that you interact with it by freezing all of your other tabs—even ones from other sites. showModalDialog also requires complex and hard-to-maintain code scattered throughout the codebase. This complexity complicates the behavior of new web features like Mutation Observers, Object.observe, and Promises. It also makes showModalDialog a source of a disproportionate number of bugs, including serious security vulnerabilities. It is for these reasons that we decided to turn off showModalDialog by default in the next version of Chrome.
Although very few sites use showModalDialog, the small minority that do—disproportionately enterprise sites—have come to rely heavily on it. In order to give these sites more time to update, we have added a temporary
Enterprise Policy setting to re-enable showModalDialog
. In May 2015 this setting will be removed and showModalDialog will be completely removed from Chromium. Affected sites should begin work to update their sites as soon as possible.
Although it can be difficult, sometimes the only way to
go forward is to leave the past behind
. Removing bad APIs will help us make the web a more consistent and capable platform for both developers and users.
Posted by Adam Barth, Software Engineer
Labels
$200K
1
10th birthday
4
abusive ads
1
abusive notifications
2
accessibility
3
ad blockers
1
ad blocking
2
advanced capabilities
1
android
2
anti abuse
1
anti-deception
1
background periodic sync
1
badging
1
benchmarks
1
beta
83
better ads standards
1
billing
1
birthday
4
blink
2
browser
2
browser interoperability
1
bundles
1
capabilities
6
capable web
1
cds
1
cds18
2
cds2018
1
chrome
35
chrome 81
1
chrome 83
2
chrome 84
2
chrome ads
1
chrome apps
5
Chrome dev
1
chrome dev summit
1
chrome dev summit 2018
1
chrome dev summit 2019
1
chrome developer
1
Chrome Developer Center
1
chrome developer summit
1
chrome devtools
1
Chrome extension
1
chrome extensions
3
Chrome Frame
1
Chrome lite
1
Chrome on Android
2
chrome on ios
1
Chrome on Mac
1
Chrome OS
1
chrome privacy
4
chrome releases
1
chrome security
10
chrome web store
32
chromedevtools
1
chromeframe
3
chromeos
4
chromeos.dev
1
chromium
9
cloud print
1
coalition
1
coalition for better ads
1
contact picker
1
content indexing
1
cookies
1
core web vitals
2
csrf
1
css
1
cumulative layout shift
1
custom tabs
1
dart
8
dashboard
1
Data Saver
3
Data saver desktop extension
1
day 2
1
deceptive installation
1
declarative net request api
1
design
2
developer dashboard
1
Developer Program Policy
2
developer website
1
devtools
13
digital event
1
discoverability
1
DNS-over-HTTPS
4
DoH
4
emoji
1
emscriptem
1
enterprise
1
extensions
27
Fast badging
1
faster web
1
features
1
feedback
2
field data
1
first input delay
1
Follow
1
fonts
1
form controls
1
frameworks
1
fugu
2
fund
1
funding
1
gdd
1
google earth
1
google event
1
google io 2019
1
google web developer
1
googlechrome
12
harmful ads
1
html5
11
HTTP/3
1
HTTPS
4
iframes
1
images
1
incognito
1
insecure forms
1
intent to explain
1
ios
1
ios Chrome
1
issue tracker
3
jank
1
javascript
5
lab data
1
labelling
1
largest contentful paint
1
launch
1
lazy-loading
1
lighthouse
2
linux
2
Lite Mode
2
Lite pages
1
loading interventions
1
loading optimizations
1
lock icon
1
long-tail
1
mac
1
manifest v3
2
metrics
2
microsoft edge
1
mixed forms
1
mobile
2
na
1
native client
8
native file system
1
New Features
5
notifications
1
octane
1
open web
4
origin trials
2
pagespeed insights
1
pagespeedinsights
1
passwords
1
payment handler
1
payment request
1
payments
2
performance
20
performance tools
1
permission UI
1
permissions
1
play store
1
portals
3
prefetching
1
privacy
2
privacy sandbox
4
private prefetch proxy
1
profile guided optimization
1
progressive web apps
2
Project Strobe
1
protection
1
pwa
1
QUIC
1
quieter permissions
1
releases
3
removals
1
rlz
1
root program
1
safe browsing
2
Secure DNS
2
security
36
site isolation
1
slow loading
1
sms receiver
1
spam policy
1
spdy
2
spectre
1
speed
4
ssl
2
store listing
1
strobe
2
subscription pages
1
suspicious site reporter extension
1
TCP
1
the fast and the curious
23
TLS
1
tools
1
tracing
1
transparency
1
trusted web activities
1
twa
2
user agent string
1
user data policy
1
v8
6
video
2
wasm
1
web
1
web apps
1
web assembly
2
web developers
1
web intents
1
web packaging
1
web payments
1
web platform
1
web request api
1
web vitals
1
web.dev
1
web.dev live
1
webapi
1
webassembly
1
webaudio
3
webgl
7
webkit
5
WebM
1
webmaster
1
webp
5
webrtc
6
websockets
5
webtiming
1
writable-files
1
yerba beuna center for the arts
1
Archive
2024
Dez.
Aug.
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
2023
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juni
Mai
Apr.
Feb.
2022
Dez.
Sept.
Aug.
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2021
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2020
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2019
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2018
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2017
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2016
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2015
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2014
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2013
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2012
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2011
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2010
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2009
Dez.
Nov.
Sept.
Aug.
Juli
Juni
Mai
Apr.
März
Feb.
Jan.
2008
Dez.
Nov.
Okt.
Sept.
Feed
Follow @ChromiumDev
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
