Buzz
The removal of WWW and M subdomains from URLs by Chrome 69 has raised concerns among users and security experts. This new behavior might confuse Chrome users, and moreover, errors during the implementation of the 'www' string could lead to inaccurate URL display in the address bar.
Chrome 69 removes WWW and M subdomains from browser URLs
According to the bug report on Chromium developer behavior, Google is categorizing the subdomains www (for web platforms) and m (for mobile platforms) as 'trivial'.
Quoting from the report:
'Subdomains reappear when the URL is edited, aiding users in entering the correct website address they intend to visit. Subdomains only disappear in stable state displays, as they are not crucial information for users and rarely occur in error cases, such as accessing youtube.com but being redirected to a different website instead of Youtube, the largest video-sharing platform today.
(Note: Almost no real users access correctly, server configurations may be faulty even when technically no errors occur, resulting in users being redirected to unintended websites, which has happened even when the Chrome browser user interface has been altered).
There are quite a few lingering issues, including:
- For instance, www.www.2ld.tld still remains as www.2ld.tld when removing www, instead of becoming 2ld.tld.
- subdomain.www.domain.com (subdomain.www.main domain.com) should be formatted as subdomain.domain.com (prefix should be removed).
However, for many users, this logic holds no significance because domain.com (domain.com) doesn't always redirect to the same website as www.domain.com, which can confuse users.
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'This recent change is unreasonable. No part of a domain should be considered 'trivial'. As an ISP, we must strive to explain to users that www.domain.com and domain.com are entirely different domains and may not redirect to the same website,' according to the report.
Another example cited in the report is the address error www.pool.ntp.org, originally a website, but when www is removed from the Chrome address bar, it becomes pool.ntp.org, a random NTP server. Lastly, the 'www' string may be incorrectly parsed, leading to inaccurate URL display due to deployment errors.
How does Chrome 69 handle subdomains?
Based on the Chromium open-source code, Chrome 69 introduces a new function called IsTrivialSubdomain(), used to check whether the subdomain is 'www' or 'm'. If the subdomain is 'www', the function returns True, and if the browser is used on Android and iOS devices, it returns True if the subdomain is 'm'.
If the function returns True, the web browser will remove the subdomain from the URL displayed in the address bar.
private:
static bool IsTrivialSubdomain(base::StringPiece subdomain) {
if (subdomain == 'www')
return true;
#if defined(OS_ANDROID) || defined(OS_IOS)
// Eliding the 'm' subdomain on Desktop can be confusing, since users would
// generally want to know if they are unintentionally on the mobile site.
if (subdomain == 'm')
return true;
#endif
return false;
}
Preventing the deployment of trivial subdomains
As the new feature still has many limitations, security risks could occur at any time, so users are advised to disable the deployment of trivial subdomains. To do this, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Enter chrome://flags/#omnibox-ui-hide-steady-state-url-scheme-and-subdomains into the Chrome browser address bar, then press Enter.
Step 2: The browser screen will display the Omnibox UI Hide Steady-State URL Scheme and Trivial Subdomains settings page. Your task is to set the setting value to Disable.
Step 3: You will now receive a warning prompting you to restart the browser to apply the changes. Click the Relaunch Now button to restart the browser.
Step 4: Finally, you will see the full website address displayed in the browser address bar.
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