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There’s no denying the growth of Chromebooks in the past 6 months across multiple channels. More consumers, more professionals, and more students are using a Chromebook these days than ever before. In fact, Chromebook sales year-over-year are up 127% versus other notebook sales that are currently at 40% for the same time period. Chromebooks are booming, a tad hard to find, and in more hands than they’ve ever been before.
With that sort of growth comes the lens that begins showing rough edges, missing features, and issues in any operating system. When there aren’t that many users, small issues and janky apps can be shrugged off by developers. As the user base grows, however, more eyes are on the product and far more criticism comes with the territory. It seems it is time for Chrome OS to really step into the limelight and get the attention that the web and Android have had from Google for years at this point.
Introducing chromeOS.dev
Today, Google is launching a coordinated project 11 months in the making to address many shortcomings that currently plague the app experience on Chromebooks. Over at chromeOS.dev, there is now a litany of tools, news, guidance, community and help available for anyone wanting to build something that will work well on a Chromebook. It doesn’t matter whether you are a web, Android, or Linux developer: you’ll find tools, help and best practices over at chromeOS.dev that will assist in helping you build a great app that scales well and takes advantage of all that Chromebooks bring to the table.
To deliver app experiences that truly improve people’s lives, developers must be equipped with the right tools, resources, and best practices. That’s why we’re excited to introduce ChromeOS.dev — a dedicated resource for technical developers, designers, product managers, and business leaders.
ChromeOS.dev, available in English and Spanish (with other languages coming soon), features the latest news, product announcements, technical documentation, and code samples from popular apps. Whether you’re a web, Android, or Linux developer who’s just getting started or a certified expert, you’ll find all the information you need on ChromeOS.dev.
Hear from our experts at Google and Chrome OS, as well as a variety of developers, as they share practical tips, benefits, and the challenges of creating app experiences for today’s users. Plus, you can review the updated Chrome OS Layout and UX App Quality guidelines with helpful information on UI components, navigation, fonts, layouts, and everything that goes into creating world-class apps and games for Chrome OS.
Iein Valdez, Head of Chrome OS Developer Relations
We got an early look at the site and I can tell you that it is absolutely chock-full of useful tools for developers across the board. In talking with Iein Valdez, it is clear that the Chrome OS team is very excited by the prospect of what will come from this new site/PWA. Getting the tools and basic awareness out in front of developers is key to really curating the app experience on Chrome OS moving forward. With chromeOS.dev, the team will now have a clear, concise portal to not only deliver necessary tools and guidance to app developers, but also a platform to share updates and news as well. Look for regular blog posts and case studies from the news section that will go a long way towards raising general awareness of what apps on Chromebooks are truly capable of.
While I’m not a developer myself, the proactive movement on this project gets me very excited as a Chromebook user. I’ll get into why this is a big deal in a follow-up post later this week, but it is enough right now to say that Google is now putting action to its words and proving to Chrome OS users new and old that the Chromebook movement is here to stay and only going to get better as time goes on. For years, Chrome OS has felt a bit like a bit of a side-show to Android’s headline act. It is starting to feel like there is a change in the air, though, and we’re here for it.
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