Why Browsers MatterMore Than Ever

March 2010

Presenters

Abigail Bornstein HardwareMobile technologiesabornste@ccsf.edu

Maura Devlin-ClancyWeb DevelopmentWeb 2.0mclancy@ccsf.edu

Computer Networking & Information Technology Department, City College of San Francisco

Companion Website http://sites.google.com/site/whybrowsersmatter/

A little history

http://archives.cbc.ca/science_technology/computers/clips/4205/

A little history 1992-93: First GUI Web Browsers Very first GUI? Mosaic Web Browser

Student Marc Andreessen, NCSA and Univ. of Illinois Could display text and images on the same page, hyperlinks

1994: Netscape Mosaic Killer = Mozilla

1997: Internet Explorer released with Windows '98 1998: Netscape becomes open source; co. sold to AOL 1998: Mozilla project begins 2002: Apple develops WebKit 2003: Apple introduces Safari 1.0 2004: Firefox 1.0 released

What is a web browser?Software for viewing files on the part of

the Internet known as the WebClient software

runs on a device connected to a network, in this case, the Internet

Communicates with Web servera computer that makes certain files

available to web browsers

Internet Explorer Current version: IE8 – released 2009

Version matterOn the menu bar, go to Help > About

IE8 14.3%, IE7 11.7%, IE6 10.2%As of Jan. 2010

Microsoft pushes updates through Window Updates – user decides

All browsers use a rendering engineExamples: Trident, Gecko, WebKit, PrestoTrident = Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer IE8: Compatibility View

Web standards Accelerators

Security Improvements InPrivate browsing and blocking

Firefox Browser by Mozilla Open source Rendering engine: Gecko (Netscape Firefox) Current version: Firefox 3.6 Market share 46.3%

As of January 2010 Mozilla pushes out updates, user decides Runs on Windows, Mac, Linux

Firefox Instant Web Site ID

More Information button… Anti-Malware

Browser giveswarning messagebased on list of attack-sites

Anti-PhishingSends update of web forgery sites 48 times

in a day, so if you try to visit a fraudulent site that’s pretending to be a site you trust (like your bank), browser stops you.

Chrome Browser by Google Released September 2008 Version 4 released in January 2010 "Built to support web applications and to

search with speed and stability” Windows XP with Service Pack 2+, Vista, Win7 Beta version for Mac released Dec ’09 WebKit = Safari, Chrome, S60

Chrome

Source:Chrome Comichttp://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/

ChromeSecurity

Incognito mode

Sites accessed via https:// are not indexed

Phishing and malware protection

2009 Worldwide Handset MakersBasic, Feature Phones & Smartphones Sold

Source: TomiAhonen Almanac 2010 WW Population: 6.7 B in 2008

TOTAL: 1.13 BillionShrunk 5% from 2008

According to Gartner….Feature phones and smartphones will

overtake PCs as the most common devices used for Web access sometime during the next three years

50% of browsing is done on mobile devices

Desktop

portable and watered down

Netbook w/ Atom CPU

Smartbook & Tabletw/ ARM CPU

Expanded and more powerful

Smartphone

Netbook vs. Smartbook/Tablets

WebKit: One rendering engine

GNU Lesser General Public License Originally designed by Apple starting in 2002

and announced with the introduction of Safari at MacWorld in 2003Further developed by individuals from Nokia,

Google, Bitstream, and others Easier development because fewer lines of

code, uses less memory, and standards compliant

WebKit Gains TractionOutside of Apple

Web Browser for S60Nokia, Samsung, LG, and other Symbian S60

phones Google’s Chrome browser Palm’s WebOS browser for the Pre Android mobile phones RIM’s BlackBerry – acquires Torch Mobile (8/09)

to redo the BlackBerry browser using WebKit

SmartPhones not using WebKit• WebKit:

5 of the 6 big Smartphone platforms– Apple, Android, Nokia,

Palm, RIM

• Who isn’t using WebKit?– Microsoft, which

accounts for 6% of the smartphones shipped in 2009

Mobile BrowsersApple’s Safari

strong reviewslacks Flash support but Apple may be looking

to HTML 5Google’s Android browser

does a nice jobcould try Dolphin

Mobile BrowsersBlackBerry’s browser

characterized as slow and unappealingcould try Opera Mini or BOLT for speed

Image source: Appboy blog

Mobile Browsers Window’s Internet Explorer and Symbian’s

S60 browser – considered clunkycould try Opera Mobile could try Opera Mini or Skyfire

•Dominates the alternative browser space

•Presto engine located on the server•Phones have less of a CPU burden •Great for feature phones

Why this mattersModern websites do more than display

HTML pages with images and hyperlinksMore and more important transactions

happen in the browser

Changes in Computer Habits Web 1.0 Web 2.0

From a private, individual experience to a social, community experience

User-generated content: "We" are the Web:you, me, our students, the world

Desktop Mobile Device From tethered to the desk to portable and always on

Desktop Applications Internet as platform where do applications run on a computer? where do web applications run? From customizing your operating system to customizing

your browser Cloud Computing

Benefits of web-based apps

Portability Mobility Collaboration Updates and bug fixes Search Central administration

Concerns @ web-based apps

Reliable access Security Privacy Ownership and Intellectual Property

Google TOS"By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the members of the public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, modify, publish and distribute such Content on Google services for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services. Google reserves the right to syndicate Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services and use that Content in connection with any service offered by Google..." Security

Privacy Intellectual Property

ExamplesProductivity Apps

Google DocsZoho.comEther Pad: http://etherpad.com/Office 2010 Live

Desktop OS vs. Web OSOS runs in the browser instead of on the clientBrowsers themselves become more OS-like

PC environment existing totally in the browserDesktop, file storage, and applicationshttp://g.ho.st

JavaScript Scripting language that runs in the browser Doesn't have to be compiled Doesn't need plug-ins Doesn't require special software to write JavaScript course assignment example

"JavaScript engine” important difference among browsers

JavaScript vs. Flash

Monsterhttp://deanm.github.com/pre3d/monster.html

Browser Talkhttp://jsexperiments.appspot.com/files/mouth.html

Ballshttp://mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/ball_pool/

Source: Chrome Experiments: http://www.chromeexperiments.com/

JavaScript

Just Remember…A good browser can make up for

a poor network but a poor browsing experience will always be lousy even on a good network

Companion Website http://sites.google.com/site/whybrowsersmatter/

Links to references shown during presentation, alternate browsers, and related resources.