Google Chrome Never-Slow Mode for Faster Browsing Experience; A new commit that was spotted on Chromium Gerrit points at a new “Never-Slow Mode” for Google Chrome. The description reads “an experimental browsing mode that restricts resource loading and runtime processing to deliver a consistently fast experience,” but at a cost: Google warns that it “may silently break content.”
The commit dates back to last October and is being updated in the recent weeks. It is explicitly labeled “PROTOTYPE — DO NOT COMMIT.” It looks like there’s quite a lot of testing left to be done before it goes live. The commit also describes blocking a wide variety of content including some scripts, assets like fonts and images based on size, as well as pausing page execution at times, among a larger list of content caps.
All of this might easily break the functionality of websites on the Web, but with Google still working on it, you never know. The Google Chrome Never-Slow Mode is probably aimed at reducing memory use, but it looks like it won’t make a drastic change.
At this moment, it only makes us wonder what Google might consider for breaking-the site functionality and the browsing experience since Chrome/Chromium dominate contemporary web ecosystem. We should know more when the feature goes live.