Google marks Chrome's second birthday with new build

by Steven Mostyn - Sep 3 2010, 07:48

To mark the second birthday of its Chrome web browser, search giant Google has released a brand new stable build of the Internet platform, which has carved itself a market niche since 2008 thanks to its speedy and streamlined performance.

Since launch, the Chrome browser has evolved to the point where its JavaScript is significantly faster, the platform offers support for HTML5 and Adobe Flash, and it's compatible with Mac and Linux systems.

Repeatedly overhauled across multiple builds, Chrome now includes features such as a customisable New Tab page, browser themes, improved privacy controls, Autofill, automatic translation, and a gallery of more than 6,000 extensions.

“Chrome is now three times faster than it was two years ago on JavaScript performance,” enthused  product manager Brian Rakowski in an official Google Blog post celebrating the browser's second birthday. “We've also been working on simplifying the “chrome” on Chrome.”

For example, other features rolled out to Chrome fans include further minimalism where the user interface is concerned, making it even easier to use. Google has also combined Chrome's two menus into one, revisited the location of the buttons, cleaned up the treatment of the URL and the Omnibox, and also adjusted the browser's colour scheme so that it's easier on the eyes.

And what of future improvements being lined up for Chrome? According Rakowski, the team is hard at work “on making Chrome even faster” along with increasing the appeal of the Chrome Web Store and figuring out ways to improve the browser's graphics performance through hardware acceleration.

Download the latest Chrome build from Google by clicking here.

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