Interventions: updates since 4/25/2017

[kenji...@chromium.org]

This email has been automatically sent by a script (got feedback?)
What are interventions?
An Intervention is when a Browser opts for:

• an intentional deviation from a behavior that developers expect and/or rely on,
• which is motivated by the desire to fulfill an important user need.

Because of its nature, it must be done sparingly and with extreme care to not only achieve but also sustain a positive outcome.


Updates for interventions since 4/25/2017

Cancel modal dialogs on tab switch and don't allow them for background pages ("Project OldSpice")
Engineer(s): a...@google.com
Status as of 4/26/2017

Working well.

Next Steps:

Make them default on trunk, turn them on 100% everywhere.

Link(s): implementation


Pause background tabs on desktop
Engineer(s): alt...@google.com
Status as of 4/26/2017

Analyzing potential problems. Flag to pause background tab timers on desktop (like we do on mobile) is there.

Next Steps:

- Come up with an opt-out strategy (FeaturePolicy vs OriginTrials)
- Analyze use cases which can be broken by this intervention
- Work with stakeholders (e.g IndexDB, tracing) to ensure that pausing background tabs does not break their assumptions (e.g. not holding to a transaction lock while paused).

only allow beforeunload dialogs on frames that have had a user gesture
Engineer(s): a...@google.com
Status as of 4/26/2017

Have CLs

Next Steps:

Get Reviews

Full details for all the interventions can be found at bit.ly/proposed-interventions.
See also, WICG interventions: a place for browsers to collaborate on browser interventions.
Tell us how useful these updates are and how we could improve them by sharing your feedback.