While we often talk about new features, options, and features coming to major web browsers, in the end the war is decided in a single battle: that of speed. Most users do not care where the tabs are placed or how the browser configuration section is, what they want is to be able to visit websites in the fastest way, with the least possible waiting time. Google is aware of this, and that is why Chrome receives every few optimizations and new functions that range from saving RAM to allowing us to visit websites as quickly as possible.
Google is constantly working to improve the browsing experience of its users. The main objective of the company is to help us make your browser consume less PC resources and also allow us to navigate web pages as quickly as possible. To do this, Chrome has a large number of different functions and technologies. And a new feature that we will be able to start enjoying very soon in the browser is Back-Forward Cache .
How Back-Forward Cache works
This feature is already working on Android, although now Google wants Windows 10 users to be able to enjoy it too. What this function does is store in RAM a complete copy of the websites that we are visiting (with a certain limit, of course) so that, if we use the option to return to the previous page, the page load is instantaneous instead of having to charge it again.
This function also works for other functions of the browser, such as, for example, for the button to go to the next page (which appears when we go back one page), and even for the most recent tabs in history.
The pages that are saved in RAM are frozen , that is, they only take up space, but they do not use CPU or use JavaScript code in the background. In case of returning to said page, these codes will be executed again so that the page can work again with all its characteristics.
Availability on Google Chrome on PC
As we have said, this function has been available for a long time in the Android version of Chrome. Now, Google wants to bring this feature to Google Chrome users so that they too can benefit from its benefits. Unfortunately, Google believes that its feature can cause some issues with the desktop version of many web pages, and therefore you should implement this feature with care.
Google’s idea is that, as in Android, the Back-Forward Cache function is enabled by default for all users . However, to avoid problems, Google is gradually activating it to users of its Canary version, and will continue to do so for the next few months.
If we want to test this new feature, we can do it. We simply have to download the latest version of Chrome Canary, and activate it from the following experimental flag:
chrome://flags/#back-forward-cache
If we experience problems with the webs, we simply have to set that flag back to its default value so that the browser works again without problems.
