Google Chrome has announced some exciting new features in the form of a new way to manage multiple browser windows at once, along with some fantastically useful accessibility tools for anyone trying to watch or listen to content.
Building upon the success of tabs in web browsers (because where would we be without them?), both Chrome and Microsoft Edge are planning on implementing new window management options that should make it easier for you to identify and navigate between multiple browser windows. It's a 'window naming' feature that's as simple as it sounds - simply rename your tabs and windows so you can keep a little more organized than trying to remember which tab was for which project of yours. That name will then be displayed as a popup when you hover your mouse over the Windows taskbar button or the macOS dock icon.
It's a feature that's already available in the beta version of both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, so it should be available more widespread soon.
Alongside that innovation, Chrome is going one step further when it comes to practicality thanks to Google expanding its real-time caption feature, Live Captions. Previously only available on Pixel phones and some Samsung Galaxy devices, Live Captions uses machine learning to spontaneously create captions for videos or audio where none were previously available. It's sure to be a huge help for anyone who's deaf or hard of hearing as well as anyone who's not in a position to listen to an audio clip.
Via Google Chrome, Live Captions automatically appears in a small, movable box on the bottom of your browser window, meaning you can read what's being said. It's not perfect but it's considered to be still very useful. For now though, it only works in English, but it's a significant start.
It's been a busy time for all things web browsers with Google recently announcing it would be switching to a four-weekly release schedule for its popular browser, followed by Microsoft announcing a similar measure for Microsoft Edge, so we're expecting to see more innovations and additions soon. Are the browser wars heating up? It certainly feels that way and we have a sneaky feeling that more regular updates will mean that our best web browsers rankings could shift quite substantially and frequently.
For now, revel in knowing that two different browsers are keen to keep you interested with some very useful features.
