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Q: Web browsers ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: Web browsers
Category: Miscellaneous
Asked by: seattle-ga
List Price: $5.00
Posted: 18 Jan 2003 19:00 PST
Expires: 17 Feb 2003 19:00 PST
Question ID: 145382
Greetings Google Researchers.   I am not a techy and do not understand
code so please spare me on that.   I do feel that I'm fairly competent
at using the internet and it is from there that my question comes.  
Regarding "browsers."    I'm a MAC user and currently run system
10.2.3 and have a broadband connection.   I've used Netscape, IE,
OmniWeb, and most recently, Safari.   Safari is Apple's new web
browser and Apple claims it is "faster."   Interestingly enough, I
agree.   It is faster, and I wonder WHY?   What, in layman's terms,
can make one web browser faster than another?  It would seem that you
have a link, go to it, connect, and it comes up.  So why would it be
faster on one browser than another?  Another of my "just curious"
questions.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Web browsers
Answered By: tutuzdad-ga on 19 Jan 2003 12:08 PST
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Dear seattle-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

APPLE said, in launching its Safari browser, “…page-loading speed is
"three times faster", JavaScript performs twice as fast and it
launches "40% faster" - comparisons to Netscape 7.0 shows similar
performance gains on the Macintosh platform). The KDE connection:
"[f]or its Web page rendering engine, Safari draws on software from
the Konqueror open source project. Weighing in at less than one tenth
the size of another open source renderer, Konqueror helps Safari stay
lean and responsive."
http://www.kdenews.org/1041971213/

You mentioned that you are not “techy” and don’t understand code, so
let me put it this way: According to Apple, Safari’s fresh new ability
to outperform it’s competitors in terms of speed lies in its “lean”
design and its dependence upon a cleaner, less complex code (the terms
and commands that make up the interface). It has the ability to focus
on loading java and devote much of its strength to handling java
requests that other browsers do. The time saved is translated as
faster load time, faster viewing and therefore, faster performance.

You can watch and listen to APPLE CEO Steve Jobs introduce and explain
some things about the product in this QUICKTIME presentation:

APPLE – MACKWORLD KEYNOTE ADDRESS
http://stream.apple.akadns.net/

Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


INFORMATION SOURCES

“Apple Announces New "Safari" Browser”
http://www.kdenews.org/1041971213/

APPLE – MACKWORLD KEYNOTE ADDRESS
http://stream.apple.akadns.net/



SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

"What makes" Safari browser faster
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22what+makes%22+Safari+browser+faster
seattle-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
Hello tutuzdad and snapanswer ---  Thank you for the answer and the
comment.   Upon initially reading the answer I felt that little bit
--- just a bit, mind you --- was missing.   It was clear that Safari
processes code faster, but I didn't really know why.   With the added
comment it is now clear plus I have a better appreciation of all that
goes on within a web browser.   Thank you both for making Google
Answers and enjoyable and informative service.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Web browsers
From: snapanswer-ga on 19 Jan 2003 23:44 PST
 
I enjoyed Tutuzdad's answer and thought that I would share some
additional thoughts.

This example may help.  Consider the difference between opening a
simple text editor like SimpleText vs. opening Word or another "full
feature" word processor.  Did you notice the difference in speed? 
Both can open text files, yet SimpleText is faster.  The trade-off is,
it doesn't place the same priority on some of the features that Word
or another word processor may have.

Of course this is perhaps an oversimplification, but I hope that it
begins to demonstrate how two programs that seem to do "the same
thing" can perform very differently.

What we are really talking about is the speed of the browsers'
"rendering engines".  Netscape and Mozilla are currently based upon
the "Gecko" rendering engine, while Safari is based upon the
"Konqueror" engine.

I'm not certain that Netscape is even a native OSX application (I
cannot find verification), so it might not be a fair fight.  Some of
the speed improvements may simply come from being a developed
specifically for OSX (and its Unix underpinnings).  Comparing
Konqueror/Safari to the OSX native Gecko web browser called Chimera
might be a better comparison.  (There is some who suggest that the
"overhead" of the Graphical User Interface of Netscape may be
impacting performance.  Again, this may make Chimera a better OSX
representative of the Gecko engine).

In addition to that, Konqueror apparently focuses on the file types
that web surfers use most, while Gecko tries to place balanced
priorities on all file types.  Also, some rendering engines are more
forgiving of errors in the HTML page than others... and accomodating
errors can take a little extra time.

Finally, some of the speed difference may be the perception of how the
page appears on the screen.  Apparently, Gecko tries to download the
entire HTML file (and all the tables embedded in it) before rendering,
while Konqueror is willing to render a piece at a time, returning to
redraw the page if there are significant changes as the page and its
elements are downloaded.

One part of your question that I wanted to review is the following:
"It would seem that you have a link, go to it, connect, and it comes
up."

Actually, the web page you view is typically a collection of a number
of files.  There is the HTML file and the various code snippets
(typically JavaScript) that it contains or links to.  Then there are
the graphic files embedded in the page, such as GIF, JPEG, and PNG.  A
good browser will also contend with XML, XHTML, CSS, and accomodate a
Java plug-in.

So, when you follow a link, there is actually a lot for the browser to
decipher and the computer to process.

Well, I hope that this further aids you in your understanding of this
topic.  I found the following web sites and message threads important
to the composition of this comment:

Safari Review with Test Cases.  Showing some things Safari has trouble
with.
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/01/07.html#safari_review

Neil's World - Blog.  Comment hinting at file support in Safari vs.
Gecko
http://www.neilturner.me.uk/archives/000260.html

KDE:  Konqueror vs Mozilla, Gecko & Konqueror.  Further explanation.
http://dot.kde.org/994747675/994783942/994786260/994788222/994796531/

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