Just over a year after its initial release, the third version of Google's open-source Chrome web browser has been deemed ready for public consumption.
As reported over on CNet, the latest release of the browser has left beta with some pretty nice new features intact and ready for prime time.
Perhaps the most important improvement over previous versions is a boost in JavaScript performance. Figures provided by Google show the stable release of Chrome 3 performing significantly faster than Chrome 2, which in turn was a major boost over Chrome 1 - and they all outshone the original public beta release. While improvements are to be expected, the fact that Google is able to keep improving performance in an engine which is already considered to be one of the fastest around is pretty impressive.
The latest stable build also supports the near-abandoned HTML 5 video tag, allowing for certain formats of video file to be embedded directly within a page and played back without the need for a plugin or helper application.
Improvements to the user interface - including a newly redesigned New Tab page which allows user to click and drag their favourites around, and icons in the Omnibox which make it easy to see whether you're hitting a search, site, or bookmark when typing in the address bar.
The new stable build, which will get automatically rolled out to users over the next few weeks, is available for immediate download from Google. If you've been playing with the beta and think version 3 is old hat, the developer build of Chrome 4 is available too.
Is Chrome developing into the browser of choice, or does version 3 still lack features you consider to be vital for a modern web browser? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
As reported over on CNet, the latest release of the browser has left beta with some pretty nice new features intact and ready for prime time.
Perhaps the most important improvement over previous versions is a boost in JavaScript performance. Figures provided by Google show the stable release of Chrome 3 performing significantly faster than Chrome 2, which in turn was a major boost over Chrome 1 - and they all outshone the original public beta release. While improvements are to be expected, the fact that Google is able to keep improving performance in an engine which is already considered to be one of the fastest around is pretty impressive.
The latest stable build also supports the near-abandoned HTML 5 video tag, allowing for certain formats of video file to be embedded directly within a page and played back without the need for a plugin or helper application.
Improvements to the user interface - including a newly redesigned New Tab page which allows user to click and drag their favourites around, and icons in the Omnibox which make it easy to see whether you're hitting a search, site, or bookmark when typing in the address bar.
The new stable build, which will get automatically rolled out to users over the next few weeks, is available for immediate download from Google. If you've been playing with the beta and think version 3 is old hat, the developer build of Chrome 4 is available too.
Is Chrome developing into the browser of choice, or does version 3 still lack features you consider to be vital for a modern web browser? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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