Google Reveals Chrome Extensions Plan
Google has published its plan to build into Chrome what is arguably its most requested feature: the ability to accept extensions that can customize how the open-source Web browser operates.
Also, Google's dependence on advertising notwithstanding, one of the extension examples the company points to is the ability to block advertisements.
The Chrome extensions document, doesn't include a timeline, but it does shed light on why the project is a priority for Chromium, the open-source project behind Chrome.
"Chromium can't be everything to all people," according to the document. "User-created extensions have been proposed to solve these problems: the addition of features that have specific or limited appeal; users coming from other browsers who are used to certain extensions that they can't live without; bundling partners who would like to add features to Chromium specific to their bundle."
When Google launched Chrome three months ago, it promised a Chrome extensions framework. Extensions are a popular feature of Chrome's most likely rival, Mozilla's Firefox.
In an unscientific CNET News poll about why people don't use Chrome, about 19 percent pointed to the lack of an extensions feature.In its document, Google described some of its goals for Chrome extensions. The extensions should silently update, just like Chrome does. They should be isolated for security reasons and only get access to resources it's entitled to use. Installation should be easy, taking only two clicks.
Google will play a major role in extensions, providing a central service that can be used to issue updates and to blacklist "malicious or harmful extensions" so the browser won't use them.
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