Google today detailed a new improvement in Chrome that results in a faster browsing experience. Available now in the browser’s beta channel, Chrome reschedules JavaScript timers to create a smoother experience when you’re interacting with a webpage.

JavaScript timers let web developers write code that checks in on a page periodically (with APIs like setTimeout). Scheduling code at opportune times would be ideal, but developers often don’t have enough information to do so. Because a timer’s function is placed into the main execution queue, if the function is run at the wrong time, it can block time-critical work that shares the queue. Input and rendering should take precedence, and as of Chrome 45 beta, timers take this logic into account as well.

Chrome gained a scheduler a few months ago so that it could place tasks in the idle time between rendering frames. The goal was to help the browser hit 60 frames per second, but Google quickly realized Chrome’s frame rate can be reduced by JavaScript timers executing at the wrong time.

All of this is better explained with a quick video that shows Chrome before and after the change:

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Because users often interact with pages more than once in a row, or at least expect some kind of rerendering, it’s easy to see how much a difference this performance tweak can have. Chrome beta’s scheduler now delays impending expensive timers after a tap.

This allows many webpages to be scheduled more efficiently. In fact, Google says this change results in up to a 50 percent input latency improvement on websites that use timers heavily.

chrome_input_latency_improvement

This improvement is enabled by default in Chrome beta, but Google didn’t say when it will hit the Chrome stable channel. Chrome 45 will launch next month, though this improvement could be delayed until Chrome 46, which will likely arrive by November.

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