Microsoft Shares Edge Roadmap, Plans to Block Auto-Playing Media

Microsoft launched the first beta builds of its Chromium-based Edge browser today. And just before that, a stable release of the new Edge browser had leaked from its own servers. It’s needless to say Microsoft is inching closer to the non-preview launch of the new browser, but it still has a ton of new improvements and features planned for the browser.

On Monday, a Microsoft engineer shared some of the company’s roadmap for Edge (via Neowin), listing things it plans to improve in September and October, as well as the feedback its looking into in terms of feature requests. Here are the main highlights:

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  • In September, Edge Canary will introduce the ability to automatically prevent auto-play of video and audio. It will also get a smoother scrolling experience and a favorites button on the toolbar.
  • In October, Canary will introduce the ability to ink on PDFs, much like the classic Edge. It will also let you set your own background image on the New Tab page, and add a search feature to the extensions store.
  • For the future, Microsoft is reviewing some feature requests from users, including:
    • The option to turn off the news feed on the New Tab page, to hide the Bing search bar, to change search provider, rename tiles, and support Dark Theme. It may also add the ability to set a custom home page.
    • Introduce features from the classic Edge, including things like Ask Cortana, reading list, tab preview, tab set aside, etc.
    • Let users sign-in with a Google Account, which would be an interesting chance. It’s also reviewing feedback about letting users use themes from the Chrome Web Store.
    • Introduce performance improvements like using less memory and CPU resources, improved scrolling, a more reliable updating experience, etc.

These changes do sound really promising, and considering the Edge beta/dev builds are already solid, these will only make the browser better. Make sure to check out the full roadmap here, if the highlights above weren’t enough.

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Conversation 11 comments

  • richardbottiglieri

    Premium Member
    20 August, 2019 - 4:54 pm

    <p>Good stuff. Any word from Microsoft on when sync will be fully functional? That's literally the only thing stopping me from making this my full time browser.</p>

    • untitled1

      20 August, 2019 - 6:27 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450587">In reply to richardbottiglieri:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Yes, I need cross-device tab syncing for sure. Give me that, and I'll uninstall Chrome from all my computers.</p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    20 August, 2019 - 7:22 pm

    <p>If there were truly a standard which ALL browser developers/maintainers should adopt, it should be DISABLING autoplay BY DEFAULT. Doesn't affect me since my browsers of choice have extensions which allow me to disable autoplay and selectively automute. And I've come to appreciate Reader mode/view for eliminating ads and all the excessive bandwidth way too damn many sites waste for streaming and cycling ads.</p>

  • gibber

    20 August, 2019 - 8:41 pm

    <p>These changes sound good, but why does Chromium Edge *still* activate focus-assist when it is maximized on a secondary display?</p>

    • dontbeevil

      21 August, 2019 - 2:19 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450603">In reply to gibber:</a></em></blockquote><p>Oh that's the trigger, i couldn’t understand why, thanks I'll send a feedback </p>

      • gibber

        21 August, 2019 - 11:39 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#450673">In reply to dontbeevil:</a></em></blockquote><p>Please do. My feedback (months ago) got aggregated into "Focus mode incorrectly turns on automatically when I have maximized apps, even though it's only supposed to turn on for full screen apps" and ignored.</p>

  • MikeGalos

    20 August, 2019 - 8:44 pm

    <p>Several of those changes are already at in the beta, developer and canary builds.</p>

    • dontbeevil

      22 August, 2019 - 2:26 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450604">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>The reasons of downvotes? Just curious from an apple/google fanboy, ms hater point of view</p>

  • behindmyscreen

    21 August, 2019 - 12:16 am

    <p>So…that would be interesting…Sign into a google account next to a Microsoft account? </p><p><br></p><p>hmmm….Maybe….but I think that could also be dumb.</p>

  • dontbeevil

    21 August, 2019 - 2:18 am

    <p>Nothing to be surprised, I was already using this in current Edge for ages</p>

    • dontbeevil

      22 August, 2019 - 2:26 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450672">In reply to dontbeevil:</a></em></blockquote><p>The reasons of downvotes? Just curious from an apple/google fanboy, ms hater point of view</p>

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