Best of Browsers — July 2024

1. 1
   Article

   CSS-Tricks·2y

   Letter Spacing is Broken and There’s Nothing We Can Do About It… Maybe

   Recent discussions within the CSS Working Group revealed a significant issue with how the 'letter-spacing' property is rendered across different browsers. Despite the CSS specification stating that spacing should be applied only between characters, browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari implement it differently, causing inconsistencies and alignment problems, especially in multilingual text. Two proposed solutions include reworking the space distribution or giving developers control over spacing placement. Leaving the current implementation unchanged is also an option, though less likely.

   30
2. 2
   Article

   Community Picks·2y

   How to try experimental CSS features

   Modern browsers now release new CSS features behind feature flags to gather real-world developer feedback before full adoption. Major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari have unique ways to handle these flags. Chrome uses chrome://flags to enable broader categories of features, Firefox offers a granular approach through about:config, and Safari presents a dedicated tab in the Develop menu for easier toggling of experimental features. This strategy helps to minimize legacy support issues seen with previous methods like vendor prefixes.

   23
3. 3
   Article

   Community Picks·2y

   Get Access to Gemini Nano Locally Using Chrome Canary

   Gemini Nano, a streamlined version of the Gemini AI model, is now accessible locally using Chrome Canary. This AI model processes data on-device, enhancing privacy, speed, and offline capabilities. Chrome Canary, an experimental version of Google Chrome, allows users to test cutting-edge features. To use Gemini Nano, users must enable certain flags in Chrome Canary and ensure proper setup.

   23

   1
4. 4
   Article

   WebKit·2y

   Private Browsing 2.0

   Safari's Private Browsing has been significantly enhanced with added privacy protections, including Link Tracking Protection, blocking network loads of known trackers, advanced fingerprinting protection, and improved handling of network privacy. Notably, Safari now prevents third-party scripts from reading the full URL and employs Web AdAttributionKit in Private Browsing for privacy-preserving ad attribution. With these updates, Safari aims to set a new industry standard for user privacy.

   19
5. 5
   Article

   Community Picks·2y

   Microsoft Edge vs Google Chrome: Is it finally time to switch browsers?

   Choosing an internet browser is essential due to their role as gateways to the internet. Despite Google Chrome's reputation for heavy RAM usage, many users hesitate to switch even as Microsoft Edge introduces new features like ChatGPT-based AI. Both browsers are built on Chromium and are similar in functionality, but Edge offers unique features like a Sidebar, Vertical Tabs, and Edge Drop for file sharing. While Chrome excels in seamless Google ecosystem integration, Edge can significantly reduce RAM usage and offers more robust privacy settings. However, both browsers come with their own strengths, and choosing between them often depends on personal preferences and ecosystem dependence.

   19

   23