Web Browsers & Authoring Tools ICE0534 Jonggun Gim
Objectives • To Understand what Browsers Do and will Do • To Know Technologies supported by different Browsers • To understand the importance of standardization of authoring tools
Table of Contents • Requirements of a Web Browser • History of Web Browsers • What is Mozilla? • Features of Web Browsers • Popular Browsers • Future of Web and Standardization • Types of Web authoring tools • Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines
Requirements of a Web Browser • Software that gives a user access to the World Wide Web • Communicates in HTTP • File Formats are generally in HTML (4.0.1) • Supports other file types (native or plugged in)
History - 1 • WorldWideWeb: Tim Berners-Lee, 1990-12-25, on NeXT • Libwww: 1992, C language • ViolaWWW: 1992, Pei Wei, Graphics, Applets • Samba: 1992, first browser for Mac • Mosaic: 1993-02, NCSA, X-Windows • Ported to Mac • Sound, Video, Forms, Bookmarks, History
History - 2 • Arena: 93, HP, Positioning Tables and Graphics • Lynx: 93, Character Mode • Cello: Summer 93, First Browser on PC • Opera: 94, Telenor, Norway • Navipress: Feb-94, Incorporated editor
History - 3 • Mozilla: Oct-94, First Commercial Browser • IE: Aug-23-95, with Windows 95 • 1996: 1/3 market share • http://browsers.evolt.org/ : archives 120+ web browsers
Mozilla • Netscape(1.0)’s code engine • Mozilla Project: 1998, AOL, Netscape engine - Netscape 5, code engine: Gecko • Mozilla Foundation: 2003, separated from AOL • Products • Mozilla: the application suites • Firefox: stand alone browser • Thunderbird: email and newsgroup client • Camino: web browser for Mac • Composer: web editor
Usability Features • Bookmark Management - import/export • Download Management • History - Private Browsing of Safari • Tabbed Windows • Pop-up Blocking • Incremental Finding • Off-Line Browsing • Printing / Saving / Caching / Text Encoding
Web Technologies Supported • Java Applet - I, G, S, O • CSS - IE partially supports • JavaScript - I, G, S, O • XSLT - I, G, S • XHTML - G, S, O • MathML - G • RSS (Rich Site Summary) - G, S, O • *Active X - I
Protocols Supported • Email • FTP • NNTP • SSL (Secure Socket Layer) -- I, G, S, O • IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) - G, S, O • Data:URL - G, S, O
Popular Browsers - 1 • Internet Explorer • 60% market share • Windows, Mac OS • 90+ known security vulnerabilities • Incompliance to Standards • Good Performance on Windows • Gecko - Netscape, Camino, Firefox • Common implementation on Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix and BSD • Slower than IE, Opera, and Safari • Open Source
Popular Browsers - 2 • Safari • Conform to Standards - RSS • Excellent Usability and Support • Fastest on Mac • Opera • Fastest on Windows • Most Loyal to standards
Future of Web (As W3C sees) • Web For Everyone • Web Accessibility, Internationalization, Device Independence • Web On Everything • Knowledge Base • Trust and Confidence • http://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission
Standardization Process • W3C receives a Submission • W3C publishes a Note • W3C creates a Working Group • W3C publishes a Working Draft • W3C publishes a Candidate Recommendation • W3C publishes a Proposed Recommendation • W3C publishes a Recommendation
Troubled Web Interoperability • Incompliance to HTTP • Incompliance to HTML - IE • Un-standardized Plug-Ins • Active X • Internet Banking
Types of Web Authoring Tools • HTML authoring tool -text editor • Web managing Tool - FrontPage • Web development Tool - Visual InterDev • On Line Editing • Converters - MS Word • Multimedia Editor
Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines • Ensures generated documents conforms to Web standards • http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/2002/tools - evaluation results for authoring tools • Dreamweaver, FrontPage. Etc.
References • http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/default.asp • http://www.w3.org/ • http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html (performance comparison)
