Push notifications could soon find their way onto Google Chrome as part of a swathe of new features for the web browser.
A download for Chrome 42 beta comes with a Push API which allows site developers to send out messages to users, regardless of whether they have their browser open.
The pop-ups can be disabled at any time with a click of the ‘site settings’ button that lies below each notification.
Alert incoming
With so many developers using on-site messaging, Chrome’s new feature could allow them to send out relevant and timely notifications through a simple tweak of their settings. An example of the feature going to work shows ‘johnsmith42’ being told “you have been outbid” for a Delorean DMC-12.
Analysts have highlighted that Google has already gone one better than Safari, which can display notifications on OS X desktops but not on iOS devices.
Chrome 42 beta also includes an ‘App Install Banner’, which can be used to pin certain websites to the home screen “in one tap”.
Google stipulates that sites must be able to meet “eligibility criteria” which guarantees that pages can be launched successfully from the home screen.
In other news
On a more technical level, Chrome beta 42 brings a raft of JavaScript ES6 features, including one which can help developers navigate the language’s prototype-based inheritance through a standardized way of describing classes.
Finally, frequent users of smartphones and tablets have been handed a lifeline by a new setting which allows them to temporarily pause the running of a plug-in in order to save power.