Google Chrome 91 will bring clipboard support for desktop apps, new form controls UX on Android
Google recently rolled out Chrome 90 on the stable channel, and it introduced a boatload of new features for both desktop and mobile users. Following the update, the browser now loads HTTPS versions of sites by default, it includes AV1 encoder support, and it gives you a new option to link directly to highlighted text on a web page. Along with these features, Google has included a couple of in-development features in the update, like a price tracking feature with real-time price drop alerts, that may roll out with a future release. While these features may or may not roll out with Chrome 91, Google has now detailed a couple of other features that will go live with the next stable Chrome update.
In a recent post on the Chromium Blog, the company has detailed some of the new features and changes that will roll out with Chrome 91. The update is currently available in beta, and it includes the following changes:
Clipboard support for desktop apps
Chrome 91 will give desktop apps read-only access to the clipboard. The feature will let users use clipboard keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to attach files to an email, instead of relying solely on the drag and drop method. The feature is live on the Chrome 91 beta release, but it’s hidden behind a flag. In case you wish to try it out, you can head over to chrome://flags and enable the ‘Clipboard filenames’ flag.
After you enable the flag, click on the ‘Relaunch’ button in the bottom right corner. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to copy files on your system using the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut and attach them to an email with the Ctrl+V shortcut.
Updated form controls on Android
In January last year, we spotted a post on the Chromium forums detailing a visual refresh for form controls in Google Chrome on Android. As per the new blog post, the updated form controls UX will roll out to users with Chrome 91 for Android. The UX, which was developed in collaboration with Microsoft, will offer better accessibility and touch support, better dark mode support, and more. The images below showcase the differences between the old and the new form controls UI.
For additional information about the updated UX, check out this CDS talk or Microsoft’s blog post.
Miscellaneous features/changes
Chrome 91 will also include Origin Trials to help web developers try new features and give feedback on usability, practicality, and effectiveness to the web standards community. You can learn more about Origin Trials by following this link. The update also includes a new GravitySensor interface, SharedArrayBuffers on desktop platforms, suggested file name and location for the File System Access API, cross-origin iframe support for the WebOTP API, and much more. For more information on these changes, head over to the Chromium blog.
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