Google is working on a new badging system for Chrome that will show an alert when you visit a site that’s notorious for loading slowly, serving as a big deterrent and encouraging users to visit pages that are better optimised for the browser.
The Mountain View firm said it’s taking steps to help users understand when a page is loading slowly while rewarding sites that deliver on Chrome’s fundamental principle: speed.
In a blog post discussing the changes to its popular browser, Google showed examples of its badging system for slow and fast sites. The former was displayed with a red warning logo and text informing users the site in question “usually loads slow”.
The indicator for fast sites was exhibited to be much more subtle. Instead of showing a blue loading progress indicator below the browser’s URL bar, a green one was displayed.
Discussing the new Chrome initiative, Google said: “Speed has been one of Chrome’s core principles since the beginning – we’re constantly working to give users an experience that is instant as they browse the web.
“That said, we have all visited web pages we thought would load fast, only to be met by an experience that could have been better. We think the web can do better and want to help users understand when a site may load slowly, while rewarding sites delivering fast experiences.
“In the future, Chrome may identify sites that typically load fast or slow for users with clear badging. This may take a number of forms and we plan to experiment with different options, to determine which provides the most value to our users.”
Although not confirmed, Google has suggested it could expand its badging system to tell a user when a site is likely to be slow based on their device and network.
Additionally, the American firm said it may also introduce badging for criteria other than speed in the future.
Google went on: “Badging is intended to identify when sites are authored in a way that makes them slow generally, looking at historical load latencies. Further along, we may expand this to include identifying when a page is likely to be slow for a user based on their device and network conditions.
“Our plan to identify sites that are fast or slow will take place in gradual steps, based on increasingly stringent criteria. Our long-term goal is to define badging for high-quality experiences, which may include signals beyond just speed.”
Although Google was eager to detail its new initiative for Chrome, the company stayed tight-lipped on a release date.
Of course, Express.co.uk will let you know the moment it arrives.