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What is Google Chrome Frame browser plugin for Internet Explorer?

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:September 25, 2009

Google has just unveiled a new plugin that essentially transforms IE into Chrome, bringing the browser’s faster performance and expanded capabilities. The plug-in, called Google Chrome Frame.

Chrome is the fastest browser for Windows, its usage share last month was just 3%, a small fraction of the 67% held by all versions of IE. Firefox, Safari and Opera, meanwhile, accounted for 23%, 4% and 2%, respectively, according to Net Applications’ August data.

With Google Chrome Frame, developers can now take advantage of the latest open web technologies, even in Internet Explorer. From a faster Javascript engine, to support for current web technologies like HTML5’s offline capabilities and <canvas>, to modern CSS/Layout handling, Google Chrome Frame enables these features within IE with no additional coding or testing for different browser versions.

Google Chrome Frame is an early-stage open source plug-in that seamlessly brings Google Chrome’s open web technologies and speedy JavaScript engine to Internet Explorer. With Google Chrome Frame, you can, start using open web technologies – like the HTML5 canvas tag – right away, even technologies that aren’t yet supported in Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8.

How to Make Your Pages Work with Google Chrome Frame?

Just add this tag to the top of the page, <meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”chrome=1″>

When Google Chrome Frame detects this tag it switches automatically to using Google Chrome’s speedy WebKit-based rendering engine.

Detecting Google Chrome Frame and Prompting to Install

Google Chrome Frame reports that it is available by extending the host’s User-Agent header to add the string chromeframe. You can use server-side detection to look for this token and determine whether Google Chrome Frame can be used for a page. If Google Chrome Frame is present, you can insert the required meta tag; if not, you can redirect users to a page that explains how to install Google Chrome Frame. As an alternative to server-side sniffing, you can use the CFInstall.js script to detect Google Chrome Frame and prompt users to install the plug-in at runtime. Using the script is straightforward:

<div id=”placeholder”></div>

<script>
CFInstall.check({
node: “placeholder”,
destination: “http://www.waikiki.com”
});
</script>
</body>

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