Google Chrome Frame
| Developer(s) | Google Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | September 22, 2009 |
| Stable release | 32.0.1700.107 (February 1, 2014) [±] |
| Preview release | 32.0.1700.76 (January 13, 2014) [±] |
| Engine | WebKit (Based on KHTML) |
| Website | code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/ |
Google Chrome Frame is a plug-in designed for Internet Explorer based on the open-source Chromium project.
The plug-in works with Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8. It allows suitably coded web pages to be displayed in Internet Explorer by Google Chrome's versions of the WebKit layout engine and V8 JavaScript engine. In a test by ComputerWorld, JavaScript code ran 10 times faster with the plug-in.[1]
Development of Google Chrome Frame was required in order for Google Wave, which requires HTML5, to function in Internet Explorer.
Deployment
Web developers can allow their websites to use the plug-in by using the following code on their web pages:
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1" />
This will cause the page to render in Chrome Frame for users who have it installed, without changing it for users who do not.
In February 2010, Google Chrome Frame was updated to also support deployment by HTTP headers, with a number of advantages, such as simplified sitewide support and support of the application/xhtml+xml MIME type even on Internet Explorer which normally does not support this MIME type for XHTML documents. [2] For a blanket rollout on an entire web site, an Apache server with mod_headers and mod_setenvif enabled can specify a header directive like this:
<IfModule mod_setenvif.c>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
BrowserMatch chromeframe gcf
Header append X-UA-Compatible "chrome=1" env=gcf
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
With Google Chrome Frame installed, users can add the gcf: prefix to URLs to render them with WebKit and V8 instead of Internet Explorer's built-in Trident engine after enabling this feature via a registry setting. [2] Internet Explorer add-ons do not function on pages rendered using WebKit.[3]
Google Chrome Frame communicates with Google's servers; it reports installation to Google, downloads updates to Chrome Frame and Google's Safe Browsing list, and at the user's option can send Google usage statistics and crash reports.[4]
References
- ^ Amy Willis (2009-09-25). "IE8 browser runs faster with Google Chrome plug-in". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ a b Russell, Alex (2010-02-09). "Google Chrome Frame Developer Updates". Google. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
- ^ Shankland, Stephen (2009-09-29). "Mozilla VP: Chrome Frame is the wrong answer". CNet. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
- ^ "Google Chrome Frame Privacy Notice".