Last Update: October 1, 2025 For security reasons, Microsoft Edge 76+ and Chrome impose a number of restrictions on file:// URLs, including forbidding navigation to file:// URLs from non-file:// URLs. If a browser user clicks on a file:// link on an https-delivered webpage or PDF, nothing visibly happens. If you open the Developer Tools console on the webpage,Continue reading “Restrictions on File Urls”
Tag Archives: browsers
Browser Architecture: Web-to-App Communication Overview
This is an introduction/summary post which will link to individual articles about browser mechanisms for communicating directly between web content and native apps on the local computer (and vice-versa). This series aims to provide, for each mechanism, information about: Application Protocols Read my Blog post. tl;dr: Apps can register url protocol schemes (e.g. myapp://mydata). Browsers willContinue reading “Browser Architecture: Web-to-App Communication Overview”
Updating Browsers Quickly: Flags, Respins, and Components
By this point, most browser enthusiasts know that Chrome has a rapid release cycle, releasing a new stable version of the browser approximately every six 4 weeks (2022 Update: now every four weeks). The Edge team adopted that rapid release cadence for our new browser, and we’re already releasing new Edge Dev Channel builds everyContinue reading “Updating Browsers Quickly: Flags, Respins, and Components”
Challenges with Federated Identity in modern browsers
Many websites offer a “Log in” capability where they don’t manage the user’s account; instead, they offer visitors the ability to “Login with <identity provider>.” When the user clicks the Login button on the original relying party (RP) website, they are navigated to a login page at the identity provider (IP) (e.g. login.microsoft.com) and then redirectedContinue reading “Challenges with Federated Identity in modern browsers”
Edge79+ vs. Edge18 (Edge Legacy) vs. Chrome vs. Internet Explorer
Note: I expect to update this post over time. Last update: Sept 29, 2025. Compatibility Deltas As our new Edge Insider builds roll out to the public, we’re starting to triage reports of compatibility issues where Edge79+ (the new Chromium-based Edge, aka Anaheim) behaves differently than the old Edge (Edge18, aka Spartan, aka Edge Legacy)Continue reading “Edge79+ vs. Edge18 (Edge Legacy) vs. Chrome vs. Internet Explorer”
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