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Browser Comparison 2010
UPDATE: Since there were many browser release such as Safari 5 and Chrome 8, this post is somewhat outdated. I will update it as soon as I return from my overseas trip. *sorry for the delay*
Hi guys. Since the last update that I gave you, I have been quite busy as hell. Got a submission this week, as well as mid-term exam on the same day. Best bit? It’s all about C++ programming which I have left several years ago. I gotta admit that I’m probably being too spoiled using object-oriented modern languages such as Java that has its own garbage collector, but what do you know, after all these years I finally understands the beauty of C++.
Anyways, enough of the (mid?) weekly update. I was planning to give these results on March but weren’t able to do so. Nowadays there are so many browsers out there, and by browsers I meant web browsers. Some of them you might not know of, such as Konqueror (Kubuntu users probably will smack me), or Midori. Some, you might have it installed in your computer. But here is the thing: of those widely known browsers, which one is the best?
Well, to tell you the truth, it really comes down to your own personal experience (NOT personal preference, though, which I will explain a bit later on). Some browsers might have their own strengths, such as Firefox with its plugins, Chrome with its simplicity, Opera with its damn good user experience, and so on. But the thing is, they all have to be able to do the most important thing: delivering the web content to the user.
JavaScript Execution Time
Let’s face it, the world’s most visited website is facebook (pun SEVERELY intended). Whether you realize it or not, most social interaction sites such as facebook, twitter, linkedIn uses AJAX for processing request-response interaction. To put it in a simple way, everytime you clicked on that ‘Share’ button on facebook, or tweeting, you use JavaScript to send the text you’re about to share, and the other people will get the text using JavaScript as well. It all happens in the background.
The test, measuring the JavaScript execution time using the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarking test, is intended to measure the time it takes to fully executes the most used JavaScript components. The test itself has an error latency of less than 10%, which in my opinion its more-than-average accurate. Faster JavaScript execution means faster user response time, meaning your status will be updated straightaway the moment you click the ‘Share’ button.
DOM Selection Speed
No, I’m not talking about the DOM in the Gundam universe, but rather, the Document Object Model, a representation of objects used in the browser language (HTML, XHTML and its derivatives). Most of the web 2.0 applications such as the online Photoshop, or even this WordPress dashboard uses DOM as the object model. As such, DOM is in a way a standard in web development. The test measures the DOM selection speed by using jQuery using the SlickSpeed Selector test. It is worth noting that using Dojo instead of jQuery to simplify the interaction between AJAX and HTML pages is faster, however it only runs perfectly in Google Chrome. The faster the selection speed is, the more responsive the web application would be.
Firefox Download Day 2008: Firefox 3
Yesterday, 17th of June 2008, was the Firefox Download Day 2008. It marked the release of the world’s famous browser, Firefox 3. The Spread Firefox Community website had a unique way to literally “spread” out the words, by having many users pledge to download it at the Download Day, starting from 10AM Eastern Time (that is to say, GMT-8.00) for 24 hours time to achieve a world record for the most downloaded software in 24 hours. At the time this post is written, it has been over 5 million downloads for the new browser. I myself have tried the Firefox 3 Release Candidates for quite some time, and I noticed several new features introduced in the new Firefox 3.
Probably the most notable change in the new version is that the new version has a new default theme, and each differs for every operating system. It is Strata for Windows (XP and Vista got a similar but slightly different theme), and Firelight for Mac OS X.
Firefox 3 also have a built-in download manager, with the ability to search through your previous downloaded files. Firefox 3 also integrates with your antivirus to check your downloaded file. Also the addons manager is being done too. You now can search through the addons that is installed on your Firefox, and they even give the plugins a single section, so you can view all the plugins you got for Firefox.
And the tabs in Firefox 3 also get new features. Now Firefox gives option to save the tabs or just quit the tabs. And if you accidentally close a tab, you can look in the recently open tabs section to reopen them. The bookmarks manager is also different and you can also search on your bookmarks now.
However, the most important change is that Firefox 3 generally loads webpages faster than the previous versions. And not to mention that it also much more “lighter” in the memory and performance.
But if you really wanted to test out the new Firefox features, why don’t use it now? You can download it here. So until nex time, see you next post..!
jovee~
Impressions