The Broken World by Molly E. Holzschlag

Solving the browser problem once and for all

Browsers are Software

Take a look at browsers, web developers are not necessarily computer scientists. Software is, at its best, always evolving, provided its developers are also evolving. Just as Photoshp is different from Fireworks, so can browsers differ. Browser development is a complex blend of variables

Some things we know about software

No matter the method, the experience is ultimately human. No matter the method, buiding software to standards and best practices requires having standards and best practices to begin with. It is a grave assumption to believe anything about developing a web browser is easy, cheap, or fast. "IT proefessionals have a resposibulity to understand the use of standards - Tim Berners Lee

1. Development Approach

Non linerar, iterative and long-term approaches appear to best fit the emerging model of software development for as well as on the web. Rapid Application Development (RAD) - not as good as Agile / Extreme Programming.

2. Working with Standards

css 2.0 is the current recommendation, 2.1 is not recommended! Community involvement is critical to eliminating bugs, as Molly did with Microsoft. Specifications are ambiguos. Who likes to read W3C documentation.

Operating Systems and Tools

Some browsers can be a platform, like Opera being used on Wii.

Extending Browsers

i.e. scripting extensions, firebug - for firefox. The IE7 web development tool is cool. Dean Edwards, IE7 scripts, he took the bugs from IE6 and fixed them with his own library.

Proprietary Development

i.e. Netscape implemented 'blink', hence IE responded, instead of working on the CSS implementation.

Fractioning Specifications?

WhatWG created their own version of HTML, HTML 5. Now html and xhtml are seperate. W3C - HTML Working Group "The work on HTML5 is one of the largest and most important standards ever. HTML is a rewrite, not an upgrade! Dave Raggett (W3C) created tables. Tables were originally developed for layout!!! Although it wasn't implemented.

Browsers are Evolving

A closed infrastructure is dangerous. Understanding this side of story is important.

Genral Information about Browsers

Mozilla/Firefox

Software Model: Open Source Origin: Netscape Camino and Flock have evolved from Mozilla. Evolved incrementally, "No Big Bangs!"

Opera

Software Model: Proprietary Mobile Development is a stong point for Opera. Opera Innovations - Tabbed browsing etc

Safari / Webkit

Model: WebCore Faster than Gecko Unless the UA reporys itself as Firefox (not default) certain sites and features work improperley such as Gmail, Facebook and even aspects of WordPress. First browser to comply with Acid2 Each fix was blogged - by Dave Hyatt? Safari has still struggled with implementation and bug issues.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

A big sigh - caused more problems than anything else Model: Proprietary Origin: Mosaic > Spyglass Mosaic XHMLRequest is microsoft technology.

Specs verses Use

Draconian Error Handling CSS 2.1 RGB specs sgiykd yse percentages or specific values - not a hybrid of both i.e. Don't break the float in printed docs - CSS 2.0

How do we build better browsers?

We are the committee

Pathways to Success

Create Common Baselines Clarify Ambiguous Specifications Use Transparent Development Cycles Keep an Open Dialog with Community Foster Events and Networking Compete on User Interface and Browser Features, not standards Create and Follow Real Test and Use Cases There is an open door, as an opportunist I want to walk through it.