InfoQ Homepage Web Browser Content on InfoQ
-
W3C Releases HTML 5.2 As Official Recommendation
The W3C released the HTML 5.2 update to the HTML specification as an official recommendation on December 14, 2017. This update adds new features like the dialog element, obsoletes old ones like the HTML plugins system, and integrates work from other W3C committees such as support for the Payments Request API and the Presentation API.
-
Firefox Quantum Commits to Cross-Browser Extension Architecture
With the Firefox 57 “Quantum” release, Firefox now only supports extensions based on the WebExtensions API, joining Chrome and Edge in supporting extension development with pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript based on a cross-browser shared extension architecture.
-
WebAssembly Now Supported across All Browsers
With releases on September 19 for Safari and October 31 for Edge, Apple and Microsoft join Google and Mozilla in providing support for WebAssembly in production browsers. All four companies’ browsers can now run code compiled to the wasm binary format.
-
W3C Publishes DRM as a Recommendation
After a divided vote, the World Wide Web Consortium has adopted Encrypted Media Extensions as a full recommendation, formalizing closed-source Digital Rights Management into the specification. In response, the EFF has resigned from the W3C.
-
Google's Puppeteer Joins Crowd of Headless Chrome Tools
Google's new tool, Puppeteer, is a custom-built Node API used to control headless Chrome. It joins a number of existing community tools that solve the very painful problem of working with the Chrome DevTools Protocol. The addition of Google's tool will hopefully result in more options and capabilities for web developers.
-
Adobe Will No Longer Support Flash after 2020
Adobe has announced the termination of Flash by the end of 2020. Browser vendors have published timelines outlining the steps to phase out the technology in their respective browsers.
-
Babylon.js 3.0 Released, Supports WebGL 2
Babylon.js, Microsoft's native JavaScript-based 3D game engine, has reached version 3. The new version supports WebGL 2 and includes a rewritten component for handling physical based rendering (PBR). In addition, developers can use the playground, an in-browser editor, and Spector, a WebGL debugger.
-
Google Is to Remove Support for PNaCl
After de-staffing the PNaCL/NaCl team last year and adding default support for WebAssembly in Chrome in March of this year, Google has officially announced the retirement of PNaCl in favor of WebAssembly.
-
Updates to Google Chrome DevTools
The upcoming version of Chrome DevTools has a number of new features that can help developers build faster web pages and have an easier time debugging complex asynchronous code. At Google I/O 2017, Paul Irish presented a State of the Union showcasing a number of these new features.
-
Google Retires Octane JavaScript Benchmark
Google has retired their Octane JavaScript benchmark tool, citing over-optimization of micro-benchmarks to the detriment of real-world performance. Other browser vendors agree that the benchmark by itself is of little value. In the future, performance improvements may come from focusing on what the user is actually experiencing.
-
Phantom.js Maintainer Steps down, Leaving Project's Future in Doubt
The maintainer of the headless browser testing framework, Phantom.js, has decided to step down due to the release of a headless version of Chromium. It's unclear if the project's founder will be able to find enough help to continue.
-
Browser Vendors Start Shipping WebAssembly by Default
The browser vendors working on WebAssembly have reached a "consensus" on an initial implementation set, allowing browsers to ship it on by default. While this is an important milestone, the initial implementation won't immediately result in significant uptake by developers as important features such as DOM integration and garbage collection are not yet part of the spec.
-
Oracle Reminds Java Developers That Soon They Won’t Have a Browser to Run Applets
Oracle has recently published a new post in the series “Moving to a Plugin-Free Web,” advising developers to find replacement solutions if they still have Java applets running in production. Firefox is going to stop supporting them soon.
-
Chrome and Firefox Start Warning of Insecure Sites
Starting with Chrome 56 and Firefox 51, browsers will start warning users if they browse a non-HTTPS site that contains a password or credit card input field.
-
Opera Introduces Neon, an Experimental Concept Browser
Opera, the Norwegian browser maker acquired last year by a Chinese investment consortium, has introduced a new experimental browser called Opera Neon.