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Google this week began rolling out the latest update to its desktop Chrome web browser ahead of schedule, with Chrome 55 fixing multiple security vulnerabilities and defaulting to HTML5 on the majority of websites.

Google Chrome has been phasing out Flash support since September, when version 53 of the browser started blocking Flash-based page analytics and background elements. Version 54 brought a YouTube code rewrite that forced YouTube Flash players to switch to HTML5.

Chrome 55 brings the most visible move away from Flash by defaulting to HTML5 across the board. Users are now prompted to enable Flash when they visit sites that still use it, exempting 10 of the most popular sites on the web, including Facebook and Amazon.

Chrome 55.0.2883.75 for Mac contains a number of other fixes and improvements, including 26 patches identified by external researchers as part of Google's bug bounty program, and another 10 security fixes implemented by Google itself. The addition of CSS automatic hyphenation means Chrome can now hyphenate words when line-wrapping, which improves the visual appearance of text blocks.

Chrome 55 should be available to download for most Mac users now. Existing users can update by selecting Chrome -> Preferences via the menu bar and clicking the About section. Users downloading Chrome for the first time will automatically receive the updated version from the Chrome download page. An update for the iOS browser app is expected soon.

Tag: Chrome

Top Rated Comments

philosopherdog Avatar
philosopherdog
106 months ago
Remember how loud they all screamed when Jobs announced no flash support on iOS? At the time flash was absolutely everywhere. Thanx Steve!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thisisnotmyname Avatar
thisisnotmyname
106 months ago
My only complaint about phasing out Flash is that it is disabling my easy method of killing all auto-play videos. The more people and software move away from Flash the more sites move to HTML video that browser manufacturers seem incapable of actually blocking. Otherwise everything about killing Flash is good and necessary.

Yes, I know Chrome has had Flash baked in but I removed Flash from my systems otherwise.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mic j Avatar
mic j
106 months ago
Why do people use Chrome? Safari does a great job and syncs well across all devices. What does Chrome do so well that Safari doesn't?
I have deleted Flash from my system and that is fine most of the time. I usually use Safari, but occasionally I run across something that I want to see that requires Flash. For that I use Chrome with it's built-in Flash.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nvmls Avatar
nvmls
106 months ago
Why do people use Chrome? Safari does a great job and syncs well across all devices. What does Chrome do so well that Safari doesn't?
-Favicon on tabs
-Professional dev tools (safari's inspector performs poorly & lags)
-Responsive mode is buggy on Safari, not always works.
-WebRTC
-Proper horizontal tab management (bugged in Safari since v9)
-502 score on HTML5test.com vs 380 Safari (tech preview is catching up though but at the expense of breaking something each release)
-No need for pinned tab icons, which are a pain to add and test, need to clear icon folder cache and restart browser to display changes every time.
-No delays when searching through the URL bar.
-Appearance customization (themes).
-Doesn't crash as much.
-Abysmal difference on media playback, not just youtube.

I would very much love to stick with Safari, but Apple's focus is towards emoji support and none of the above.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chupa Chupa Avatar
Chupa Chupa
106 months ago
I just wish more web sites would depreciate Flash. Still too prevalent in sites. Especially eCommerce sites which I just find a different vendor.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pcmacgamer Avatar
pcmacgamer
106 months ago
Don't use chrome very often but I fully support Google trying to stop unnecessary flash use.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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