Google Chrome mobile browser blasts page headers for cleaner browsing

Published January 12, 2015 6:20pm

Good news for those browsing the web while on the go: the latest beta of Google's Chrome browser may allow you to get pesky fixed headers in some websites out of the way.

Enthusiast site Android Police said Chrome now handles such components of the site so the fixed header can be scrolled instead of staying put.

"A Chrome developer explains that they wanted zooming to be more like holding up a magnifying glass to the zoomed-out page than like a half-assed scaling up and down of all non-fixed content," Android Police's Jacob Long said in a blog post.

Long said Chrome splits a webpage into two parts, where fixed content is "confined" to a certain area.

Before this, he said headers often took up the same position in the viewport regardless of zoom level.

"Splitting the viewport in two is basically a trick to make zooming and scrolling on this type of web page function like a magnifying glass without violating the logic of their design," he said.

Long also said this could become the mobile standard as he quoted Chrome developer Rick Byers as saying Microsoft's Internet Explorer team has decided to do the same thing, "despite the groups having not planned together."

"It is just the best way to handle the unique case of mobile browsing," he said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

Tags: google, googlechrome