Chrome for Mac, Linux
Search giant Google last week released a 2.0 pre-beta version of its Chrome browser, paving the way for a Mac and Linux edition early this year.
The pre-beta release of Chrome 2.0 also opens the way for the most requested feature: extensions.
Google says that it expects a Mac and Linux version of the Chrome browser to be available in the first half of this year.
Cnet reports that the Mac and Linux versions of the browser are now at the "test shell" stage which means that they can show web pages but are still in a very raw format.
Extensions
Chrome 2.0 pre-beta also includes support for some extension scripts, which will pave the way for fully-fledged extensions in the near future. Extensions are among the most requested features from users and is a key part of the success of rival browser Firefox.
Other new features in version 2.0 of Chrome include autocomplete for web forms, full-page zoom, multiple browser profiles each with their own bookmarks and cookies, autoscroll using the mouse centre button and the ability to import bookmarks from the Google Bookmarks site.
Less obvious to users but key to Chrome 2.0 is the inclusion of a new version of the WebKit rendering engine. The new Chrome release uses WebKit 528.8, which is faster and supports features such as CSS canvas drawing for 2D shapes such as lines on maps or custom-generated charts.
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