Your customers always want the latest and greatest of everything, so when a browser update or upgrade comes along, they install it, and most people have their systems perform the upgrade automatically. To make sure you always test your website with the current browser version, we update our 162 checkpoints with each new browser release. Recently we updated our checkpoints to Chrome 56. Chrome 56 has many new features including:
- Web Bluetooth API
- Support for CSS position sticky
- HTML5 by default
- Warnings for HTTP sites that request password or credit card information
- Other fixes and improvements
What does this change mean for your websites and monitoring? Well, chances are the upgrade won’t have much if any impact at all, but let’s take a look.
Chrome 56 and default HTML5
The web continues its move away from Adobe Flash due to the preferred and more secure standards found in HTML5. Even Adobe supports the move away from Flash to HTML5. The move to HTML5 as the default means that Chrome 56 will no longer play Flash content without specific permission from the user. On the user’s first visit to the site, Chrome will prompt the user before playing the Flash content. If you’re monitoring a site that uses Flash, besides considering discontinuing the Flash content, there’s nothing for you to worry about, for nothing really changes for you. The checkpoint still retrieves the Flash content; it just isn’t played. You will still see the download performance of your Flash content in your Full Page Check Waterfall reports as you always have (see below).
HTTP security (or lack thereof) warnings
Chrome 56 is now issuing a warning to users when a site requests password or credit card information on pages that aren’t using HTTPS with valid SSL certificates by adding a warning in the Chrome address bar. Warnings such as these can scare away your customers and negatively affect your brand’s reputation. Read about the seven reasons HTTPS should be the standard.
How do I know what browser version the checkpoint used for my test?
Out of our 162 checkpoints, 97% of them are running Chrome 56. If you would like to see what browser and version the checkpoint used to test your site, just look at the Check Details section of the Full Page Check Waterfall report (see below).
What? You don’t want to test with Chrome 56?
Of course, you can always switch to Internet Explorer or Phantom JS; you can also change the user agent on Chrome 56 to simulate* an earlier version or a different browser altogether. With Multi-Browser monitoring, you can do just about anything you choose.
* Please note: Changing the user agent only changes the request, and therefore only mimics the browser version. Your site is still monitored using the native browser version that’s installed on the checkpoint.
If you have any concerns, feel free to contact us. Our support pros are glad to answer any of your questions.
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