NOTE: This is issue #042 of my newsletter, which went live on Monday, November 8th. If you find this information useful and interesting and you want to receive future issues as they are published, ahead of everyone else, I invite you to join the subscriber list at frontendnexus.com.
I have lots of browser news for you this week. Chrome Dev Summit 2021 is still running, but we have a summary of all their announcements. The stable version of Edge is finally available for Linux users. Firefox 94 is out, bringing you better security and some performance improvements. Polypane is now at version 7, with lots of new and exciting features. And the main software updates are Angular 13 and TypeScript 4.5 RC.
Chrome Dev Summit 2021
Chrome Dev Summit 2021 is a big event in the browser industry at this time of the year. It is a two-week-long event, with lots of workshops, learning lounges, and live discussions. It is also the time and place where the Chrome team makes their important announcements. Here are the highlights of this edition:
- Compat 2021 initiative is going strong
- New types of apps are coming to the web (note: see the update about the web version of Photoshop in last week's issue)
- A pledge to ensure privacy (note: we'll see what the future brings here, as the track record is not sterling)
- Improve Core Web Vitals
- Enable new platform features
- Provide courses to help you learn web technology (note: I think this is a great initiative, and they have some awesome people working on these courses)
This summary is just scratching the surface therefore I invite you to find more info in the article below.
Browser news
Edge
The Microsoft Edge team published their November update. The highlight, in my opinion, is the announcement that the stable version of Edge is now available for Linux users. There are more achievements claimed in the announcement, but I let you check them yourselves.
Firefox
Firefox 94 is now rolling out to all users. The updates are focused on privacy, with Site Isolation (first announced back in May) and the official Firefox Multi-Account Containers extension with Mozilla VPN integration. This extension separates cookies by container so that you can use the web with multiple identities or accounts at the same time.
The team claims improved performance on multiple platforms:
- use of Apple's low power mode on macOS
- background updates for Windows users (even when the program is closed)
- better power consumption and WebGL performance on Linux
- improved JavaScript speed and memory usage
Let's not forget the Colorways: six themes for your browser to "suit (or lift) your every mood". Their words, not mine... Also, available for a limited time only.
Polypane 7
I was about to publish this issue when I got the notification that Polypane has just released version 7. This update runs on the beta version of Chromium 96. The updates are too many to list them all, but here are some highlights:
- There is a new color picker tool that works everywhere on your screen
- You can edit pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes directly in your Elements panel
- The Web Vitals overlay now shows CrUX data when available
- Integrated support for Marker.io, allowing you to screenshot and annotate parts of your page and export them to an external tool like Jira, Asana, Slack, or even email.
- Horizontal overflow detection
- The new Polypane Share features allow you to create links and share them with your team, either as a URL or a QR code
- New debug tools and simulators, including ones for glaucoma, macular degeneration, and cataracts.
If this is of interest to you, be sure to check the release notes.
Software updates and releases
- Angular v13 - the modern web developer’s platform
- Bootstrap v4.6.1
- Marked v4.0.0 - a markdown parser and compiler.
- Prisma v3.4.0 - next-generation ORM for Node.js & TypeScript
- Puppeteer v11.0.0 - headless Chrome Node.js API
- Rollup v2.59.0 - next-generation ES module bundler
- TypeScript 4.5 RC
- V8 release v9.7 - Google's open source JavaScript engine
- Visual Studio Code October 2021
Wrapping things up
That's about all I have for this update. If you enjoyed this newsletter, there are a couple of ways to support it. You can share the link to this issue on social media, and follow me on Twitter. Each one of these helps me out, and I'd appreciate your consideration.
Have a great and productive time, keep yourselves safe, and I will see you again next time!
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