The Google Chrome team reveals Aurora. It is a collaboration project with the major open-source web frameworks and tools, to help implement coding best practices. Speaking of Chrome, you should make sure you install the latest security update. It patches 14 issues, including one targeted by a zero-day exploit already being used.
More browser news includes the release of Safari Technology Preview 126. This update includes features that will be available in the upcoming Safari 15. And the software release and updates section include Deno 1.11, Next.js 11, Tailwind CSS v2.2, and more.
Introducing Aurora
The Chrome team has revealed one of their ongoing projects, named Aurora. This is a collaboration project with the major open-source web frameworks and tools. The end goal is to have as many best practices as possible baked in into the frameworks themselves instead of relying on developers to implement them.
So far, they have been working on providing foundational optimizations for resources like images, JavaScript, CSS, or fonts. Further on, the team is focused on helping the frameworks improve their performance on the Core Web Vitals and implementing best practices.
One such direction has been named "Conformance" and it focuses on the JavaScript framework ecosystem. The goal is to help implement coding best practices to achieve predictable loading performance and Core Web Vital scores.
This is just a short preview of the Aurora project. The team promises to keep us updated with further developments.
Browser news
Chrome
Having automatic updates for browsers worked wonders with increasing the security and quality of our web experience. Yet, we shouldn't count only on those mechanisms to keep ourselves safe. We should also actively check if new updates are available and have them installed.
Here is a real example. Google rolled out a security update to Chrome 91 on June 6th, covering 14 security fixes. One of them covers an actual zero-day exploit already identified out in the wild. When I wrote this (two weeks later), it was not applied yet on my PC. I had to manually trigger the update. And I recommend you do this too from time to time.
WebKit
Safari Technology Preview 126 is out and it includes features that will be available in the upcoming Safari 15: improved Safari Web Extensions, Quick Notes, WebGL 2, and more. I covered the Safari 15 updates in the last issue, but I've included a link to the release notes here as well.
- Release Notes for Safari Technology Preview 126 with Safari 15 Features
- Safari 15 Beta Release Notes
Software updates and releases
- Deno 1.11 - a secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript.
- Intro.js v4.1.0 - lightweight, user-friendly onboarding tour library
- Neutralinojs v2.3.0 - portable and lightweight cross-platform desktop application development framework
- Next.js 11 - the React Framework
- SVG.js v3.1.0 - a lightweight library for manipulating and animating SVG
- Tailwind CSS v2.2 - a utility-first CSS framework
- Viewer.js v1.10.0 - JavaScript image viewer
- ws v7.5.0 - a Node.js WebSocket library
Wrapping things up
That's all I prepared for this issue. If you found something useful please recommend us to a friend and help us continue to grow.
Have a great and productive week, keep yourselves safe, and I will see you next time!