Google Chrome embraces extensions

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 10 Sep 2009 at 10:20

Chrome has taken a step closer to adopting extensions, after they were turned on by default in the developer build.

Extensions allow users to customise their browser with add-ons, and are a large part of Firefox's success. Previously, extensions only worked in Chrome for those who enabled them through the command line, but in switching them on by default Google is hoping to build momentum around the feature.

"This is the first step in our launch process, and it means we're ready for a few more people to start using extensions - the kind of adventurous people who populate the dev channel," says Aaron Boodman, the Google engineer behind the extensions project.

We focused on getting most of the basic infrastructure and security pieces in place, in particular our new permission system

"For this release, we focused on getting most of the basic infrastructure and security pieces in place, in particular our new permission system. Going forward, we are working hard towards a release on the Beta Channel. The UI is likely to change as we bring it up to Google Chrome's high standard, and we're still finishing up a few APIs," he says.

Early sample extensions include a Gmail inbox checker and bookmark syncing tool. Unlike Firefox extensions, those used in Chrome are written using web technologies including HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Mozilla is working on a similar extension framework, dubbed Jetpack.

The developer builds are released nightly, often with untried new features or bug fixes that Google doesn't believe are ready to be inflicted on those using the stable release.

Initially, this was a steady trickle of features but has more recently become a flood, with an extension framework, theme support, Windows 7 jumplists and now bookmark syncing all taking their place in the browser.

To find out more about the Google Chrome developer build, and why we're infatuated with it, visit the blogs.