Time For Better Browsing UX: Google’s Chrome 66 Puts A Vigil On Autoplays

By MTS Staff Writer On Apr 23, 2018

Time For Better Browsing UX: Google's Chrome 66 Puts A Vigil On Autoplays

The New Feature in Chrome 66 Blocks Autoplays on Sites Automatically

For long, browsing experiences turned bitter with unwanted auto-plays on site or page visits. Internet enthusiasts can now breathe a sigh of ‘autoplay relief’. The latest Chrome browser by Google – Chrome 66, is the reason for the relief. Chrome 66 brings a much-appreciated feature in which it shuts autoplay videos on sites as it automatically blocks them. The idea surfaced in January and is now a reality.

Chrome 66 has additional features apart from this as well. It resolves many challenges of security issues and bugs. It offers users the option to export passwords as saved files or to a password manager. Chrome, with a 66% market share as of March, is the top-ranked browser in the world.

Also Read: Gale’s New Chrome Extension Brings Authoritative Content to Google Searches for Opposing Viewpoints

Autoplay Policies to Get Sterner

There’s no shadow of a doubt that autoplay videos create unnecessary online noise. Worse, it consumes user resources like power and data. Google has been dedicated to overcoming this and introduced changed autoplay policies last month.

François Beaufort, Evangelist, Google Chrome, wrote in an official blog post on 29 March, “As you may have noticed, web browsers are moving towards stricter autoplay policies in order to improve the user experience, minimize incentives to install ad blockers and reduce data consumption on expensive and/or constrained networks. These changes are intended to give greater control of playback to users and to benefit publishers with legitimate use cases.”

Apart from the rest of the changes, the updated Chrome policies enable users to mute auto-plays with an option to tap ‘play’ if they intend to play a video. If a user has a history of playing videos or audio on a particular site, auto-plays may be enabled for such sites. This is based on the Media Engagement Index of Google.

The Aim is to Enhance UX

The January-released Chrome 64 saw Google providing users the option to mute auto-plays on certain sites. Those capabilities now stand extended with Chrome 66.

Recently, Google has actively blocked some of the other exasperating site behavior which has increasingly forced users to implement ad blocking. Adblockers, however, is a threat to the ROI models of many adtech companies.

Also Read: What Does Google Chrome’s New “Auto-Annoying-Ad-Blocker” Mean For You?

Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, VP, Chrome, wrote in a blog post in February, “It’s important that we work to maintain a balance — and if left unchecked, disruptive ads have the potential to derail the entire system. We’ve already seen more and more people express their discontent with annoying ads by installing ad blockers, but blocking all ads can hurt sites or advertisers who aren’t doing anything disruptive.”

Roy-Chowdhury ascertained that with a focus on deracinating ‘disruptive ad experiences’, Google can assist to maintain a healthy web ecosystem and enhance the existing browsing UX.