Google is launching the Chrome 86 version somewhere around October this year, and it has made an important announcement recently. Google is adding a handy feature in the upcoming Chrome version. This is going to be a ‘Back Forward Cache’ which will make navigation back and forth extremely easy and super-fast for the users. The exact date of the release of this feature or launch of Chrome 86 has not been announced by Google as yet, though.
In the language of computing, a ‘Cache’ is a component of the hardware or the software that stores data. When there is a request by the user for this stored data, it can be delivered quickly as per the command of the user. The data that is stored in a cache can be from an earlier computation, and a copy of this data can be stored in some other place also.
So, a Back Forward Cache will also store data and pages in the memory when the user navigates away while preserving the DOM state and the JavaScript. This way, when a user will navigate away from a particular page, this new feature will cache the entire page and will restore it when the user returns to that page again. In short, it is going to help restore the data when a user is navigating back and forth from one page to another while delivering the cached data to the user more efficiently and with a lot of speed.
As per the source, Google is planning to launch this feature for Chrome users on Android. It has not been announced yet as to when it will be available for the Chrome desktop version, but hopefully, that will happen soon.
Back Forward Cache is available behind a flag (chrome://flags/#back-forward-cache) in Mac, Linux, Windows, and even Android. But now that Google is going to bring it in like a properly launched feature in the Chrome version of Android, it will become easier for the users to use, without having to go through the trouble of enabling the Back Forward Cache flag on experiment page. But of course, if anyone is interested to check it out before its official launch in Chrome 86, they can definitely try out with this flag. However, Google suggests that "this feature is highly experimental and will lead to various breakages, up to and including user data loss."
Apart from this feature, Google has laid out some long term and short term plans for the upcoming version. It is thinking to work on the movement of key metrics by experimenting with Google Search and to inform its roadmap of features and user journeys to the support team.
Once the Back Forward Cache feature is launched for cross-origin navigation in Chrome 86, Google plans to add support for same-origin navigation too later. Support for the addition of more features will be included to increase the hit rate of the Back Forward Cache, and later, support will be added for desktop platforms too.
Read next: Google Chrome 86 for Android Will Allow You to Postpone Downloads To Reduce Data Usage
In the language of computing, a ‘Cache’ is a component of the hardware or the software that stores data. When there is a request by the user for this stored data, it can be delivered quickly as per the command of the user. The data that is stored in a cache can be from an earlier computation, and a copy of this data can be stored in some other place also.
So, a Back Forward Cache will also store data and pages in the memory when the user navigates away while preserving the DOM state and the JavaScript. This way, when a user will navigate away from a particular page, this new feature will cache the entire page and will restore it when the user returns to that page again. In short, it is going to help restore the data when a user is navigating back and forth from one page to another while delivering the cached data to the user more efficiently and with a lot of speed.
As per the source, Google is planning to launch this feature for Chrome users on Android. It has not been announced yet as to when it will be available for the Chrome desktop version, but hopefully, that will happen soon.
Back Forward Cache is available behind a flag (chrome://flags/#back-forward-cache) in Mac, Linux, Windows, and even Android. But now that Google is going to bring it in like a properly launched feature in the Chrome version of Android, it will become easier for the users to use, without having to go through the trouble of enabling the Back Forward Cache flag on experiment page. But of course, if anyone is interested to check it out before its official launch in Chrome 86, they can definitely try out with this flag. However, Google suggests that "this feature is highly experimental and will lead to various breakages, up to and including user data loss."
Apart from this feature, Google has laid out some long term and short term plans for the upcoming version. It is thinking to work on the movement of key metrics by experimenting with Google Search and to inform its roadmap of features and user journeys to the support team.
Once the Back Forward Cache feature is launched for cross-origin navigation in Chrome 86, Google plans to add support for same-origin navigation too later. Support for the addition of more features will be included to increase the hit rate of the Back Forward Cache, and later, support will be added for desktop platforms too.
Read next: Google Chrome 86 for Android Will Allow You to Postpone Downloads To Reduce Data Usage
