Chrome will start blocking small flash objects in September

As of September, Google Chrome will start blocking small flash objects by default in version 53 of the browser. These are previously undetectable flash objects that are smaller than 5×5 pixels.

According to Google’s Chromeblog, more than 90 percent of Flash content loads “behind the scenes” to load things like analytics tools. This type of flash consists of a very small image area of ​​5×5 pixels or smaller and was not covered by the ‘detect and run important plugin content’ that became the browser default in September 2015. It was not possible to determine whether it was visible from an image area of ​​5×5 pixels.

Since Chrome 51, there is an api in the browser called ‘intersection observer’ that can better detect the visibility of elements. The intersection observer gives a callback if an element is visible or not, which makes pages load faster. The function can detect whether a small flash element is visible or not. If it is not visible, Chrome will show an icon in the url bar that content is being blocked, allowing the user to reload the page with the object loaded.

Google’s Chrome division says it will deliver better battery life and better page response times. From December, in Chrome 55, flash will only be passed if a page does not support HTML5 at all. For such pages, permission must first be given.

Behavior intersection observer