If Google Chrome is acting bad for you, it's Google's fault
A recent update to Google Chrome has caused text highlighting issues on many websites, affecting both web apps and traditional pages.
Chrome 131 update, which was released to improve the handling of text selection styles, has introduced unexpected compatibility issues, especially with the very popular tool among web designers, Tailwind CSS.
Although the update was designed to make the experience of selecting text between different elements more consistent, the result has been the opposite: many sites now suffer from text highlighting glitches.
- What has changed in Chrome 131?
The change Google made in Chrome 131 affects the way browsers handle text selection properties. Chrome implemented a new model that is not supported by some web design tools, such as Tailwind CSS, which are widely used by web developers.
This change causes text to not be highlighted correctly when selected. Although text can still be copied and pasted without problems, the lack of visual highlighting can be confusing to users.
Additionally, the update did not affect all websites in the same way. Some high-traffic sites were more affected than others because they relied on outdated features for their design and functionality.
For web designers using Tailwind CSS, this issue is particularly annoying. The Chrome update directly affects the way these frameworks apply text selection styles, which can break the design on sites where these tools are used.
Although Google stated in an October post that the update shouldn't affect most websites, some sites like GitHub and The Verge, among others, and developers have reported significant issues with their sites.
Adam Wathan, creator of Tailwind CSS, was quick to point out the issue and share a solution that involves adding a feature flag or updating to the latest version of Tailwind CSS. With these changes, the issue should be resolved for the most affected sites.
It is also worth noting that this error only occurs in Chromium-based browsers, such as Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Browsers that use different rendering engines, such as Safari and Firefox, are not affected by this issue and continue to work correctly with text highlighting.
From a user's perspective, the main drawback of this bug is the lack of proper visual highlighting when selecting text, but web developers will need to monitor Chrome updates and make any necessary adjustments to ensure the user experience is not compromised.