microsoft edge It is the second most used web browser on desktop computers. Its trajectory has been somewhat turbulent, with some beginnings where it was widely rejected by users, despite being one of Windows 10’s star apps and preinstalled with the system.

Commercial failure of the original Edge forced Microsoft to do a 180-degree turn to adopt Chromium as its foundationan open source browser sponsored by Google, from which Chrome, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera and others are derived, which will contribute more or less compared to the original project.

The transition from Microsoft Edge to Chromium was seen by many as a capitulation, for some even as a humiliating page in the company’s history. However, the passage of time proved the Redmond giant right, as the Chrome-based Edge was for a long time the second most used web browser in the world on desktop computers, ahead of Mozilla Firefox, which is not coming back. improvements. Depending on where you look, Safari is currently more used than Firefox on the desktop as well.

Microsoft Edge based on Chromium, more than just a simple way

Far from being a Chrome clone (or rather Chromium with a changed logo and name), Microsoft has worked in such a way that Edge has its own identity and features compared to the competition, and not only in terms of aesthetics.

Chromium is a web browser that is distributed as open source primarily under the three-clause BSD license. This license is permissive or soft, allowing the creation of proprietary derivatives. As a result, and unlike what usually happens with the most popular variants of the GPL, the developer is not required to redistribute the source code of the derivative product.

In addition to Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Opera and Chrome are also distributed as proprietary software, while Brave represents the largest derivative of Chromium distributed as open source and free software using the same MPLv2 as Firefox. In addition, we must add that Microsoft is a giant that has enough resources to transform Chromium in depth and provide it with features that it does not have in its original state.

Microsoft Edge, based on Chromium, is not just another clone of the technology promoted by Google, but rather a product with quite a personality of its own, which managed to convince many users features such as tracking prevention which at least superficially resembles the one used by Firefox. Its options are also when it comes to modifying the aesthetics of the application child protection and blocking unwanted softwareBesides.

Since Microsoft Edge is more than a Chromium clone, I’ll take this opportunity to mention five features that may not be present in other derivatives.

Before you start exhibiting

All the features that I will cover in this article are present in this section edge://flagswhich is equivalent to chrome://flags from Chrome and which essentially allows the same thing by deriving both from Chromium: it allows enabling experimental or development features or modifying the behavior of some option, feature or aspect. If someone is betrayed by the subconscious, imagine chrome://flags it works in Microsoft Edge too.

All options flags Chromium should be present in all derivatives, but derivatives may have flags which are not available in the original project or other derivatives, and there are some of them flags in Microsoft Edge are the ones I’ll mention.

usage section flags it’s pretty simple. The user only has to search flag that you want to edit or enter your URL, and then select Enabled from the appropriate drop-down list. Then the browser itself will ask for a restart to apply the modification or activation flag with the ‘Restart’ button.

Chromium section “chrome://flags”.

Improved text contrast

This flag is exclusive to Windows and allows fonts to be rendered with the same contrast and gamma settings used by the operating system, which should result in a more homogeneous experience and possible improvement in reading. The user can take this feature further by using the “ClearType Text Optimizer” tool that is included with Windows and can be found using the Start menu search engine.

edge://flags/#edge-enhance-text-contrast

Block media autoplay

Blocking the automatic reproduction of multimedia resources that may be present on web pages is useful to avoid shocks, especially when one is in an environment that requires silence. It is possible to achieve flag by typing the following into your web browser:

edge://flags/#edge-autoplay-user-setting-block-option

After activation flagwhich is available for Windows, Linux and macOS, the user can go to Settings > “Cookies and site permissions” > “Autoplay media content” or enter the following in the address bar.

edge://settings/content/mediaAutoplay

Assign the Back button to go to the previously displayed web page

This flag it may sound a little odd, but the reality is that it can be very useful for those who tend to use their computer mainly with a keyboard. Although GUIs were designed to make it easier to use the operating system and applications primarily with a mouse, using the keyboard ultimately offers much more speed if one controls the shortcuts. Here we get into a situation similar to when comparing graphical interfaces with command lines.

if flag is enabled, the user will be able to go back in the navigation using the Back button and go forward by holding Shift before pressing the Back button. This feature should be smart enough to disable it if the user is typing in the form, but if it’s not enabled by default, it’s probably because it’s not fully polished yet.

edge://flags/#edge-backspace-key-navigate-page-back

Bookmarks with rounded corners

Are Microsoft Edge tabs too ugly for you? This flag allows cards have all four rounded corners and appear separate from the address bar. The skin treatment is similar to the Proton interface that Firefox released in version 89, which left the user community quite divided at the time.

edge://flags/#edge-visual-rejuv-rounded-tabs

Smooth navigation in PDF documents

Web browsers have been gaining features over the years, and one of the most prominent is the ability to open and view PDF documents. If you deal with a lot of documents in the above format that are common in digital bureaucratic processes, you may want to improve the experience with them through more fluidity, which is why this flag Smooth scrolling exclusive to Microsoft Edge.

edge://flags/#edge-smooth-scrolling-enabled-pdf

How to see Microsoft Edge exclusive flags

What we have uncovered here are five flags which are exclusive to Microsoft Edge at least in terms of the origin of their implementation, but there are several others that the user can freely enable in order to customize them and possibly get a better web browser experience. To do this, just search using the word ‘edge’ in the search engine that appears at the top of the section.

Conclusion

As we can see, Microsoft Edge has a few things of its own, and the company didn’t limit itself to providing another Chromium clone. It’s no surprise here that Microsoft is a giant corporation with an army of engineers on the payroll and billions of dollars in the bank.

Discovering everything that Microsoft Edge can give is already a question of how far the user himself is willing to explore and deepen.