Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Chrome 135: Fully Customizable `<select>` Elements with CSS

2025-03-31

Chrome 135 brings a major update: full CSS customization of the `` element. Years in the making, this delivers a standardized, accessible, and stylable ``. Developers can now use the new `appearance: base-select` property to unlock rich customization features, including adding rich HTML content (like images and SVGs) to `` elements, without breaking older browsers. While parser changes exist, Chrome mitigates the risk of breaking existing websites with a Finch experiment. This update opens doors to create far more engaging and meaningful `` experiences.

(developer.chrome.com)

Development

Chrome Ditches FreeType for Rust-Based Skrifa: A Security and Performance Win

2025-03-19

Chrome has replaced its aging FreeType font rendering engine with Skrifa, a new Rust-based library. FreeType's C-based codebase was plagued by security vulnerabilities, demanding significant maintenance resources. Skrifa leverages Rust's memory safety to dramatically reduce vulnerabilities and improve developer productivity. Rigorous testing and comparisons ensure Skrifa matches FreeType's performance and rendering quality. Chrome plans to extend Skrifa's use to more operating systems in the future.

(developer.chrome.com)

Development

Chrome 135 Simplifies Web Button Interactions with `command` and `commandfor`

2025-03-07

Chrome 135 introduces the new `command` and `commandfor` attributes, revolutionizing web button interactions. Previously, developers needed complex JavaScript to handle interactions between buttons and other elements (menus, modals, etc.). Now, these attributes simplify this process significantly. The article details the shortcomings of traditional approaches, compares `command` and `commandfor` with older attributes (`popovertargetaction` and `popovertarget`), and explains the use of built-in commands (`show-popover`, `hide-popover`, etc.) and custom commands, boosting web development efficiency and accessibility.

(developer.chrome.com)

Development Accessibility

Chrome Canary 130: Customizable <select> Element Arrives!

2025-02-20

Chrome Canary 130 introduces a major update: a customizable `` element! This long-standing developer pain point finally has a solution. Using the `appearance: base-select` property, developers can deeply customize the `` element and its popup picker, including styling, content, and interactivity. The feature is officially in Stage 2 in the WHATWG, with strong cross-browser interest. This post details how to enable the feature, customize its components, and considerations around limitations and accessibility. While some features are still under development, this powerful new feature will significantly improve the web development experience.

(developer.chrome.com)

Development

Microsoft Edge Fixes Washed-Out Text Rendering in Chromium

2025-02-13

After migrating to the Chromium rendering engine, users reported that text in Microsoft Edge appeared "washed out" and inconsistent with other parts of Windows. Investigation revealed that Skia's text contrast and gamma settings differed from the previous DirectWrite engine and didn't read Windows ClearType Tuner settings. The Edge team collaborated with the Google Chrome team, conducting user research to determine a better default text contrast value. A value of 1.0 was found to closely match the pre-Chromium Edge rendering and look consistent with other native Windows applications. This fix is now available in Chrome 132 and later.

(developer.chrome.com)

Development Text Rendering Edge Browser