Google implements backward-forward cache in Chrome 79 Canary

[harlan4096]

Google engineers revealed in February 2019 that they were working on a new feature in Chrome that would speed up the backward and forward browsing behavior of the browser.

Google wanted to improve the performance of back and forward operations in the company's Chrome web browser and designed a cache that would keep pages in memory so that they could be displayed more quickly in the browser when users activated the back or forward buttons.

The feature had not been implemented in Chrome at that time, not even in Chromium or Chrome Canary. A recent update of Google Chrome Canary introduced a new flag in the browser that controls the caching feature; it is disabled by default but may be enabled by users. The feature will become available on all supported operating systems that Chrome is available on with the exception of Apple iOS.

Google notes that the flag has been implemented mainly for development purposes and that users who don't work on the feature should not enable it because it could break various functionality.

Back-forward cache

Enables back-forward cache. NOTE: this feature is highly experimental and will lead to various breakages, up to and including user data loss. Do not enable unless you work on this feature – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android

We did not notice any breakage during tests but your mileage may vary especially if you work with forms or other interactive content in Chrome and use the functionality.
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