Browsersphere

I learned via Twitter last Thursday that Google Chrome 2 had shipped, though you’d never know it from visiting the Chrome website.  As noted on the Google Chrome Blog on the day of release, “we’re referring to this as Chrome 2, but that’s mainly a metric to help us keep track of changes internally. We don’t give too much weight to version numbers and will continue to roll out useful updates as often as possible.”

However, with version changes come lofty expectations, and the release of Chrome 2 left at least one reviewer underwhelmed.  The good news is, hot on the heels of the release of version 2 to the general public, it was announced earlier today (hat-tip to Ryan Parman) that Chrome 3 has been made available to Chrome users on the “Dev channel” (which I’ve covered here previously).  However, with version changes come lofty expectations, and even users who are supposed to understand that “Dev channel” releases could potentially set your CPU on fire have been complaining about the audacity of Google to unleash a build with known issues on the “masses.”

I guess the Google Chrome team can’t win.  Regardless, if you’re like me and you like getting your hands on new web browsers that inherently seem to showcase improvements both under the hood and on the surface, you should be happy to learn that versions 2 and 3, if your stomach can handle it, are now available for public consumption.

Tags: Chrome, Chrome 2, Chrome 3, Google Chrome, Previews, Releases, Reviews, Twitter

While doing some web design brainstorming earlier today, I wondered if any progress had been made on adding support for CSS Gradients beyond WebKit, for which support was first introduced a little over a year ago.  Via MozillaZine, I realized I’m not the only one wondering this, and ended up stumbling upon the Bugzilla bug tracking the progress of CSS Gradients support in Firefox.  Reading through some of the commentary there, it gave me a newfound appreciation for just how fluid the implementation of these kinds of features really is.  For example, it’s somewhat obvious that the original support as announced at Surfin’ Safari was based on some of the canvas documentation related to HTML 5.

Paraphrasing the HTML5 spec and adjusting the language slightly to not be canvas-specific:

“The color of the gradient at each stop is the color specified for that stop. Between each such stop, the colors and the alpha component must be linearly interpolated over the RGBA space without premultiplying the alpha value to find the color to use at that offset. Before the first stop, the color must be the color of the first stop. After the last stop, the color must be the color of the last stop. When there are no stops, the gradient is transparent black…”

Furthermore, it’s obvious that not everyone completely agreed with the initial implementation, and it’s clear that Firefox developers collaborated with WebKit developers to hone in on a more logical implementation.

All of that being said, the reality is that CSS Gradients are not supported widely enough at the moment to be considered tools in the common web developer’s tool belt.  As aforementioned, Firefox support is still in progress (as of yesterday, in fact) and support in Internet Explorer 8 and Opera 10 appears to be non-existent, based on visits to this demo in those browsers.  The demo only seems to work as expected in Safari and Chrome (the latest “Dev” version, at least), which makes sense, since those are the major players that sport WebKit under the hood.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the progress of CSS Gradients support and several other, similar implementations over the coming year.

Tags: Bugzilla, Canvas, Chrome, CSS, CSS Gradients, Development, Features, Firefox, Google Chrome, HTML 5, IE8, Internet Explorer, Opera 10, Opera 10 Alpha, Parity, Safari, Safari 4 Beta, Web Development, Web Standards, WebKit

As I mentioned on my personal blog recently, I’ve made the switch to 64-bit Windows 7 on my main home computer.  As someone who is used to using Google Chrome as his secondary browser, I was greatly disappointed when I found that Chrome doesn’t work on 64-bit Windows 7 out of the box.  Since making the switch to 64-bit back in March, I’ve been making do with Firefox, which I use as my primary browser, and Safari 4 Beta as Chrome’s replacement.  Both of those browsers work fine on 64-bit Windows 7, and in fact, there is even an x64 build of Firefox available, though I don’t use it personally because it feels too unofficial.

I decided to catch up on the issue today, though, hoping that maybe some progress had been made in getting Chrome working on 64-bit Windows 7.  A Google search on the subject led me to How to Run Google Chrome on Windows 7 64 bit Version, a post from the beginning of this year that apparently recommends opening up a security hole in order to get the browser to run correctly.  Luckily, though, since then, a couple of commenters have mentioned a much cleaner approach.  Paul, one of the site’s commenters, for example, recommends following the instructions in the Chromium Developer Documentation for updating to the latest “dev” version of the browser.

Upgrading to the latest “dev” build of the browser isn’t without its cons either, though.  In doing so, you are opening yourself up to any bugs or ill-conceived features that wouldn’t ever make their way into a normal, end user-oriented build.  However, for someone like myself who doesn’t mind playing around with risky builds, this is a small, acceptable price to pay for being able to run Chrome on my main computer.

Google refers to the upgrade process as “changing channels,” and the three available channels to choose from, using their Google Chrome Channel Changer, are:

• Stable: Official Google Chrome releases (~ quarterly updates)
• Beta: More stable releases (~ monthly updates)
• Dev: The latest features and bugfixes (~ weekly updates)

After using the Google Chrome Channel Changer to change my channel to “Dev,” the next step involved opening the web browser, selecting the “wrench” dropdown, and going to About Google Chrome.  Initially, though, I didn’t see anything about upgrading to a new version in that dialog.  I ended up having to leave Chrome open and idle for quite a few minutes, with the About Google Chrome dialog closed (though I’m not positive this was a requirement), before I opened it again and found that the browser had upgraded itself to the latest “Dev” version (2.0.177.1 at the time of writing).

To my delight, despite the fact that I’m still unable to run the default version of Chrome on 64-bit Windows 7, I am now running Chrome on my main computer without any issues.  In fact, I’m posting this from Chrome.

If you’ve found yourself in the same position and your mileage has varied, or even if it’s been similar, drop a note here and let us know.

Tags: 64-bit, Architectures, Chrome, Firefox, Google Chrome, Google Chrome Channel Changer, Safari 4 Beta, Troubleshooting, Windows 7, x64

A post at Tombuntu uncovers the fact, for me anyway, that there is a pre-alpha version of Chromium already available for use on Linux.  The following is an excerpt of the author’s review:

Chromium for Linux is pre-alpha software, but farther along in development than I expected. The GTK-based Linux interface looks and works just like Windows interface. The browser rendered sites I tested it with just fine, and I haven’t been able to crash the it yet. Lots of features, such as bookmarks, the options window, and even the about window, are simply…not implemented yet.

The review goes on to say that the tab bar is also missing, making it difficult to do anything with tabbed web pages, but that, like on the Google Chrome Windows counterpart, each tab runs in its own process.

Apparently getting the pre-alpha build is as simple as issuing the following from the command line:

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

You can read much more about the Chromium build(s) in question over at Chromium on Ubuntu.

Hap-tip to Lim Chee Aun.

Tags: Alpha, Chrome, Chromium, Google Chrome, Lim Chee Aun, Linux, Reviews, Ubuntu, Windows

Despite almost feeling like I was there, thanks to the folks I’m following on Twitter, I was very interested in finding out more about what was discussed at the SXSW panel, Browser Wars III: The Platform Wins, which went down yesterday.  Now that I’ve read SXSW: Big Browsers Butt Heads, I think it’s pretty safe to say that no wars actually broke out (despite some people’s wishes).  There was some interesting discussion, though, ranging from Google’s choice to go with WebKit for Chrome instead of Gecko, to what web standards have in common with sausage, to how JavaScript performance became such a huge part of the browser wars of late.  Definitely give the article a read if you get a chance.

Tags: Articles, Browser Wars, Chrome, Gecko, JavaScript, Performance, SXSW, Twitter, Web Standards, WebKit

Whoa.  Has it really been like eight months since the last time we went around the browsersphere?  Not good.  I guess we should do something about it…

General

• Lifehacker recently put the major players through some browser speed tests after some boasting by the Safari 4 folks.
• In Mobile Browser Wars, Ed Hansberry takes a look at the browser alternatives available for mobile devices (via Web Browsers News and Reviews).
• Ten Web Browsers that You May Have Never Heard of covers iRider, Lunascape, Ultrabrowser and Shiira, among others.

Avant Browser

• Avant Browser 11.7 Build 22, which appears to be a minor release, was released back on the 26th.

Camino

• Camino 2.0 Beta 2 was released back on the 27th.
• If you’re interested in the Camino schedule, get updated.

Chrome

• Read about improvements in the spellchecker used in Chrome.
• It is believed that extension support is coming to Chrome this May (via Web Browsers News and Reviews).
• See the first screenshots of Chrome running on Mac.
• Full-screen browsing has come to Chrome, but apparently doesn’t live up to the way the feature is supported in Firefox and IE7.

Firefox

• Daniel Glazman takes an in-depth look at monetizing Firefox extensions.
• A new mascot, Foxmosa, was recently added to the Mozilla family.
• Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog discusses the Firefox 3.1/3.5 release schedule and how advancements in other web browsers’ JavaScript engines have impacted the schedule.
• Some interesting file uploading ideas came up at a recent Firefox design lunch.
• Jesse Ruderman sheds some insight into the issues surrounding “continuous integration,” which from what I can tell involves how and when code is checked in and how build machines and tinderbox displays are impacted.
• John Slater, Creative Director at Mozilla, is looking for an intern.
• Take a look at the Mozilla Community Calendar.
• Firefox 3.0.7 was recently released.
• At first it was under consideration, and then the decision was made to version the Shiretoko release of Firefox, formally versioned as 3.1, as version 3.5.
• Here’s a granular look at the type of minor performance improvements that eventually make a web browser faster overall.
• Gotta love bugs that are simply titled things like “Make location bar autocomplete faster” and “Make location bar autocomplete even faster.”
• There is a call “for new Web apps that can help people make a difference while browsing the Web.”
• Is Firefox faster on Windows or Linux?
• Firefox is dominating in Antarctica.

Flock

• Apparently the Flock folks thought Flock would make a good Valentine’s Day gift?  Personally, I’m glad I didn’t heed their advice for my wife’s gift this year.   Though, it looks like the Flock folks weren’t the only ones with this bright idea.
• “People using Flock’s Eco-Edition conducted 80% more searches per user as compared to Flock’s overall population of users.”

Internet Explorer

• The Cost of Internet Explorer attempts to track all the “wasted time and effort” on the part of web developers trying to make websites compatible with IE.
• IE8’s Compatibility View explained (and a recap).
• IE8 Beta testers are making a difference.
• It’s not every day anymore that you see browsers like Internet Explorer 4 and 5.5 mentioned.
• An IE8 Reliability Update has been made available for Windows 7 users (like myself) who are using IE8 (unlike myself).
• It looks like the IE team will be pretty busy at MIX09.
• Check out a video that goes into detail about IE8’s new rendering engine (via Robert O’Callahan).
• Here’s a comparison between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of IE7.
• Is the codename for IE9 “Triton?”
• Sarah Dutkiewicz wonders why Microsoft is held to a different standard when it comes to bundling IE with its operating system, Windows.

Maxthon

• Check out a chromed-out Maxthon icon.
• I think MaxthonGuy and I may have reached some kind of virtual truce.  That is, until the next time the madness reappears over at his blog.
• Learn how to use the custom search feature in Maxthon (via Maxthon Resources).
• A new version of Maxthon 2.5 was released recently.
• At least one Maxthon user is frustrated that his favorite browser isn’t included in the browser reviews found in PC magazines, etc.

Opera

• Avencius’ coverage of the Opera 9.64 release uncovers some details about some platform-specific code that should make Windows users’ browsing experiences more secure.
• Opera unveiled Opera Turbo last month at Mobile World Congress 2009 and it was later discussed at Opera Watch.
• Take a look at a speed comparison between the browsers developed for the Nintendo DS and the DSi.
• Similar to my recent post about various web browser vendors claiming ‘First!’, Choose Opera touches on the topic of whether it matters who developed a feature first or not.  Then, the very next day, they answered their own question.
• Opera Fingertouch is “a technology designed to make interacting with the Web easier and simpler on touch-based devices.”
• Apparently there is a demand out there for making Opera look like IE7 (via Daniel Glazman).
• Check out the Carakan FAQ for more information on Opera’s new JavaScript engine (via Opera Watch).
• Combining Opera with a touch UI.

Opera Mini

• Armenia, a country with around three million people, saw its Opera Mini usage grow by 2800% last year.  See this and other interesting statistics in the State of the Mobile Web report (via Choose Opera).
• “Yahoo! is expected to begin distributing Opera Mini via Yahoo! Mobile and also as a standalone download from Yahoo!’s mobile Web sites in the near future.”

Orca Browser

• The first build of Orca Browser 1.1, Build 1, was released back on the 25th.

Safari

• Avencius’ review of Safari 4 Beta is a very positive one, and some details regarding branding of the new JavaScript engine are ironed out in the comments.

SeaMonkey

• Read a draft of the new SeaMonkey vision (via Mozilla Developer News).
• SeaMonkey 2.0 Alpha 3 was released this past week.

Skyfire

• Skyfire 0.9 Beta was released back on the 12th.

There was a lot to cover this time around, and there’s much more I haven’t yet covered.  Hopefully that means we’ll see the 13th installment of “Around the Browsersphere” sooner than November.

Tags: Add-ons, Avant, Avencius, Beta, Bugs, Camino, Carakan, Chrome, Compatibility, Compatibility View, Daniel Glazman, Design, Extensions, Features, Firefox, Flock, IE7, IE8, IE9, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 4, Internet Explorer 5.5, iRider, Jesse Ruderman, John Slater, Linux, Lunascape, Mac, Market Share, Mascots, Maxthon, Maxthon 2.5, MaxthonGuy, Minor Players, MIX09, Mobile, Monetizing, Mozilla, Nintendo, Opera, Opera 9.64, Opera Fingertouch, Opera Mini, Opera Turbo, Orca, Performance, Releases, Rendering Engines, Safari 4 Beta, Schedules, Screenshots, SeaMonkey, SeaMonkey 2.0, Security, Shiira, Shiretoko, Skins, Skyfire, State of the Mobile Web, Themes, Touch, Triton, Ultrabrowser, Windows 7

I accidentally stumbled upon the fact that Apple released Safari 4 Beta today. According to some of the early feedback I’m seeing, along with a post from ITworld, it sounds like the beta is reminding a lot of people of Chrome. I’ve yet to download it and try it out, but I wanted to pass along the word that it’s out there, in case you want to give it a try. I’ll be posting more on the new browser release when I’m back from vacation and have some more time to form my own opinions about it.

Tags: Apple, Beta, Chrome, Releases, Reviews, Safari, Twitter

All the nonsense aside, now that it seems like multi-process architectures are beginning to surface in the world of web browser development, I thought it would be a good idea to dig in to the feature a bit and, at the very least, provide links to some useful information for those who are interested in what multi-process architectures mean for web browsers.

One of the more notable features included in the unveiling of Google’s Chrome was what Google refers to as “Crash Control.”  This feature allows for a “Windows Task Manager” type of interface for managing web browser processes.  Aside from providing the interface for explicit management of the running (or dying) processes, it is also meant to shield tabs within the same running instance of the browser chrome (for lack of a better word) from any issues arising in other concurrently running tabs.  In essence, when you accidentally load a web page in one tab that was developed using Microsoft Word, you don’t have to worry about the severe code bloat of the page bringing your other tabs to a screeching halt.  Or if the JavaScript of one page goes off into la-la land, you won’t necessarily lose any of the other non-offending tabs.

Months after this feature was unveiled in Chrome, it was announced as a feature of Maxthon under the name “The Isolator:”

Maxthon 2.5.1…includes a feature called The Isolator that separates the functions of each Web tab from all other tabs and other parts of the browser. The Isolator protects other tabs from also becoming frozen because a single unresponsive tab is monopolizing a computer’s resources.

Though it certainly wasn’t the first implementation (despite what MaxthonGuy might want you to believe), The Isolator is one of the first official implementations of a multi-process architecture among the web browsers that actually show up on the Browsersphere radar.  Unlike Chrome’s “Crash Control,” though, The Isolator is still considered to be “in advanced beta.”

Other than the press release, I wasn’t able to find much on Maxthon’s actual implementation.  On the other hand, there has been plenty of coverage on Chrome’s implementation.  Marc Chung, for example, does an excellent job of explaining Chrome’s process model.  He even goes so far as to show you how you can control the type of process model used by Chrome at launch time.  He also points to another interesting article from Chromium Blog that explains why Chrome uses the multi-process architecture and why the architecture is more relevant today than it was when web browsers were first created, and refers to a publication from which Chrome’s process model was derived.

Though the multi-process architecture has been heralded by many web users, it isn’t without its downsides.  Google Chrome Memory Usage – Good and Bad explains the trade-offs of separating tabs into their own distinct processes, including the following:

While the multi-process model provides clear robustness and performance benefits, it can also be a setback in terms of using the absolute smallest amount of memory. Since each tab is its own “sandboxed” process, tabs cannot share information easily. Any data structures needed for general rendering of web pages must be replicated to each tab.

For more information on Chrome’s implementation of the multi-process architecture from both a developer’s and end user’s perspective, I recommend checking out the following links:

• Chromium Developer Documentation – Process Models
• Developers and Webmasters: Task Manager
• Crash Control (Video)
• How can my web page open a new tab in a separate process?

And finally, here are some other multi-process-related links related to web browsers other than Maxthon and Chrome:

• The Firefox Process Model
• Download Stainless for Mac – Multi-process web browser
• Evidence tabs will get more attention in future Firefox releases
• Google Chrome vs. Internet Explorer 8 (note the mention that IE8 Beta 2 may have beaten Chrome to the punch, albeit with a slightly different approach to the overall architecture)
• IE8 and Loosely-Coupled IE (LCIE)
• Making Firefox More Robust (interestingly enough, this is from the author of the aforelinked publication, Charlie Reis)

Tags: Architecture, Charlie Reis, Chrome, Chromium Blog, Crash Control, Firefox, Google Chrome, IE8, Maxthon, MaxthonGuy, Multi-process, Performance, Stainless, The Isolator

I always get a kick out of reading the Maxthon Blog because some of the claims made about either Maxthon or its competitor web browsers are so outlandish.  This time around, a press release was posted claiming the following:

Maxthon’s engineers redesigned the browser’s framework so that each tab associated with a Web site works independent of each other. With that new architecture, if a tab becomes unresponsive for any reason, the other tabs and the browser are unaffected. The computer user can continue to browse normally and can refresh, reopen, or close the tab that is creating problems.

“Basically, our technology separates the tab and the browser,” said Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon. “That [sic] why the tab’s problem will not affect the browser’s performance, and so the browser can be a better environment to run Web application in tabs.

“As far as I know, no other major browser has such a feature,” Chen said.

I can understand making a claim like that last one in a press release, since you’re trying to set yourself apart from the competition.  Plus, Jeff Chen said “as far as I know,” which at least keeps the claim from being matter-of-fact.  However, I think it’s pretty inexcusable to make such matter-of-fact claims directly on your product’s blog when common knowledge suggests the opposite.

Before posting the aforelinked press release, the following was posted to the Maxthon Blog:

“…other browsers without [Maxthon's new feature] The Isolator – which would be, let’s see…. All of them. – can’t protect their tabs the way Max does.”

When an astute (or at least, non-delusional) commenter mentioned Google Chrome as a browser already supporting this feature, MaxthonGuy, the persona behind the madness that is Maxthon Blog, had this to say:

“Chrome does have a feature, Crash Control, that has a purpose similar to that of The Isolator. But the two technologies work differently, and Crash Control can’t save you from the Flash-inspired crashes that The Isolator blocks.”

So I guess if a feature has been implemented differently, then it doesn’t actually exist in any other browser.  Using that logic, I suppose Internet Explorer was the first web browser to support tabbed browsing.  But don’t worry, Firefox and Safari fans, your browsers were, too – despite what Opera or NetCaptor might have to say about it!

I just had to get this absurdity out of the way before I post a more in-depth look at multi-process architectures in web browsers.

Tags: Architecture, Chrome, Crash Control, Features, History, Maxthon, Maxthon Blog, MaxthonGuy, Multi-process, NetCaptor, Tabs, The Isolator

Let’s take a look at what web browser news has surfaced over at Digg over the past month:

• Firefox sails past 20% market share, IE drops below 70% – “Mozilla achieved an important milestone in November, sailing past 20% market share over an entire month for the first time since its release in November 2004.”
• Google Chrome Browser To Support Customization – A step in Firefox’s direction.
• Safari Tops 7% Of Browser Market Share, Mac OS X On The Rise – Not quite Firefox’s gain, but movement upward nonetheless.
• Firefox Beats Chrome And Webkit Eats Them For Breakfast – Links to some SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark results for bleeding edge builds of Chrome, Firefox and WebKit.
• Opera 10 alpha – The alpha release of Opera 10 features the Presto 2.2 rendering engine.
• Second Firefox 3.1 Beta Due ‘Very Shortly’ – A reference to the since-released Firefox 3.1 Beta 2.
• New trojan targets Firefox, masquerades as Greasemonkey
• Opera 10 Aces Acid3 Browser Test, Boosts Performance by 30% – More on the Opera 10 alpha release.
• Webkit Still The Best And Rips Opera 10 Alpha A New One – Perhaps the hidden gem in this one is the ground Chrome gained on the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark since the aforementioned link’s resulMozilla to pull the plug on Firefox 2 “soon”ts.
• Mozilla to pull the plug on Firefox 2 “soon” – no complaints here.
• First look: Firefox 3.1 beta 2, now with private browsing – The feature appears to be implemented very similarly to Chrome’s implementation.
• Firefox Adds Multitouch Gestures for Macs
• Google Chrome Comes Out of Beta
• Google anticipates a bright and shiny future for Chrome – Links to an interesting ars technica article covering the challenges Chrome faces in trying to catch up with Firefox and IE.
• Google’s Browser Sheds Its ‘Beta’ Label – One post just wasn’t enough.
• Mozilla reverse-engineers OSX to enhance Firefox 3.1 for Mac
• Google grants outsider Chrome-coding privileges – Given the requirements of becoming a Chrome “insider,” I’m not surprised to read that only one outsider has been granted permissions thus far.
• Internet Explorer security alert
• Exclusive: First look at Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 RC1 – RC1, “which is believed to be the first feature-complete version of the browser, will lack in compatibility with web standards and will not match the JavaScript performance of all other major browsers.”
• Has Internet Explorer ever been safe?
• Firefox Issues Eight Patches for Web Browser
• FireTorrent Brings BitTorrent to Firefox
• Google pushing users away from IE?
• 7 Things Google Chrome Needs – Now That It’s Out of Beta – Links to a pretty good wishlist of Chrome improvements and enhancements.
• Firefox is most vulnerable Windows software in 2008 (PDF)
• Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 on Linux uses less memory
• Which sites will make the IE8 Compatibility Hall of Shame? – Apparently the Compatibility Mode feature of IE8 is one of its most critical.
• Firefox picks up 2 out of 3 users IE loses
• Mozilla releases second alpha of Fennec mobile browser – I haven’t covered Fennec here yet, but apparently it’s a descendant of Minimo.
• Mozilla’s mobile browser gets closer to prime time – By the way, a Fennec Fox is “a small nocturnal fox found in the Sahara Desert of North Africa.”

And now for some bonus coverage from Slashdot:

• Too Good To Ignore — 6 Alternative Browsers – Really, it ends up being five alternative browsers with the Mac and PC versions of Opera counting as two.
• A Cheat Sheet To All the Browser Betas
• Firefox 2.0 Update To Remove Phishing Detection
• Safari and Chrome: Tied For the Worst Password Manager
• Chrome Complicates Mozilla/Google Love-In

Happy New Year, everybody.

Tags: Acid3, Ars Technica, Benchmarks, Beta, BitTorrent, Chrome, Compatibility Mode, Competition, Digg, Extensions, Features, Fennec, Firefox, Firefox 2, Firefox 3.1, FireTorrent, Google, Greasemonkey, IE, IE8, Internet Explorer, JavaScript, Linux, Mac, Market Share, Minimo, Minor Players, Opera 10, OS X, Performance, Phishing, Presto, Private Browsing, Rendering Engines, Safari, Security, Slashdot, SunSpider, WebKit