Nokia N9. WebKit2 browser with HTML5 support
Hi, habrayuzer!
Not so long ago, we announced the release of a new smartphone Nokia N9 . Today we would like to elaborate on the mobile browser of this device. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the first mobile browser developed on the WebKit2 engine and having extensive support for HTML5.
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The browser in Nokia N9 is the first mobile browser built on the WebKit2 engine. Few people know, but Nokia was the first company that, in 2007, almost immediately after the official announcement of WebKit as an open source project, released a browser for the Symbian operating system (S60 platform) based on WebKit. Now this browser is still used in Nokia, Samsung, LG phones.
The main difference between WebKit2 and WebKit is the use of several processes for processing and rendering data. As the developers themselves write, it really looks like the way Google Chrome works , with the only difference that such a model of process partitioning will now be built into the framework. That is a plus for those who will use WebKit2 for rendering pages in the future. The technology that uses separate processes to display various page elements (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc.) has improved the stability and speed of the Nokia N9 web browser.
283 - the number of points scores the Nokia N9 browser in the test for compatibility with the HTML5 standard (in the latest test version of the software, the number increased to 297 points). For comparison, Firefox 4, Opera 11.50 and the latest version of ChromePlus score 272, 286 and 327, respectively. Agree, for a mobile browser, the result is at least not bad. Especially, if we consider that we have “won” one desktop browser.
In this video you can see the test results on the example of the Nokia Developer's Kit (N950).
A reasonable question arises: why did the popular HTML platform prefer the new HTML5 standard? If you answer in one word, the whole thing in perspective. Reading various articles on Habré, it is impossible to form an unequivocal opinion about how strong the position of HTML5 is now. But, it seems that the majority still give the palm in the future for HTML5. There are several reasons. Including the fact that Flash is a proprietary platform, and HTML5 is a W3C standard, which allows you to run HTML5 documents in any modern browser on any compatible device. In addition, developing HTML5 web services is easier than creating native applications. Well, suffice it to say that already in Adobe and Google have attended to the possibility of converting SWF to HTML5 .
HTML5 tools allow you to create applications of almost any level of complexity. Take, for example, Angry Birds (no, they didn’t converge on the world, but as an example it will work for us). Something similar can be done for the mobile platform using HTML5: multimedia books and comics, RSS readers, clients of social networks, task and shopping planners, various time killers and so on. At the same time, the web application will be able to determine on which device it is running (using the browser user-agent) and adapt its interface to the necessary resolution with a banal replacement for the CSS style.
By the way, OS MeeGo on Nokia N9 allows you to add an icon of an HTML5-developed web application to the device menu directly from the browser. From the menu, the application or game can be opened locally on the device. At the same time, traffic transmission is minimal: if updates appear on the server, the application will download them, if not, then everything will be limited to this request. In this case, it is possible to implement storage of the session cache on the device until the latter is closed. This means that the application has the ability to run on the device, even without an active connection. For example, by running the application and opening a wi-fi session in the airport waiting area, the entire flight can continue to work autonomously.
Well, for those who are familiar with Qt, there is an additional opportunity - hybrid applications. The Qt framework contains a QtWebKit module, whose classes allow you to embed a full-fledged WebKit browser into your application, display web-sites and local HTML documents. With QtWebKit, a developer can use a web document as a GUI application and even implement JavaScript logic. Moreover, it is possible to refer to Qt objects from JS and vice versa, as well as embed Qt widgets in a rendered HTML document. Thus, a web application can access the system and receives the same capabilities as the native one. Such hybrid applications are no different from regular Qt programs and can be promoted and sold through the Ovi Store along with others. Qt5 plans to use WebKit2 and V8 (instead of JavaScriptCore), with full HTML5 support. This will allow hybrid applications to make a serious competition to traditional solutions.
How to make friends with a mobile browser and HTML5-sites? Currently, not many resources work on HTML5, even less - they optimize the interface and content for a mobile browser. We communicate with all the largest resources in order to change this situation. The bottom line is that we will give the user-agent, according to which the sites will determine the device and give the page already optimized for this device. Just like, for example, touch.facebook.com. To do this, in most cases, simply add UA to the list of HTML5-compatible mobile browsers already supported by the site.
What we wanted to say with all this. First, we are optimistic about the future. The future of HTML5 and mobile browsers. Moreover, we are talking not only about the Nokia N9 browser. Partial support for HTML5 is already in the browser OS Symbian Anna (in the future there will be full support). Also, Nokia and Microsoft are working on the Windows Phone Mango OS browser to improve its HTML5 compatibility. Secondly, HTML5 is a story not only and not so much about websites, as about web applications, which can be easily ported and installed locally on mobile devices.
We want all the benefits of HTML5 now available to our users.
Not so long ago, we announced the release of a new smartphone Nokia N9 . Today we would like to elaborate on the mobile browser of this device. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the first mobile browser developed on the WebKit2 engine and having extensive support for HTML5.
Webkit2
')
The browser in Nokia N9 is the first mobile browser built on the WebKit2 engine. Few people know, but Nokia was the first company that, in 2007, almost immediately after the official announcement of WebKit as an open source project, released a browser for the Symbian operating system (S60 platform) based on WebKit. Now this browser is still used in Nokia, Samsung, LG phones.
The main difference between WebKit2 and WebKit is the use of several processes for processing and rendering data. As the developers themselves write, it really looks like the way Google Chrome works , with the only difference that such a model of process partitioning will now be built into the framework. That is a plus for those who will use WebKit2 for rendering pages in the future. The technology that uses separate processes to display various page elements (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc.) has improved the stability and speed of the Nokia N9 web browser.
HTML5
283 - the number of points scores the Nokia N9 browser in the test for compatibility with the HTML5 standard (in the latest test version of the software, the number increased to 297 points). For comparison, Firefox 4, Opera 11.50 and the latest version of ChromePlus score 272, 286 and 327, respectively. Agree, for a mobile browser, the result is at least not bad. Especially, if we consider that we have “won” one desktop browser.
In this video you can see the test results on the example of the Nokia Developer's Kit (N950).
A reasonable question arises: why did the popular HTML platform prefer the new HTML5 standard? If you answer in one word, the whole thing in perspective. Reading various articles on Habré, it is impossible to form an unequivocal opinion about how strong the position of HTML5 is now. But, it seems that the majority still give the palm in the future for HTML5. There are several reasons. Including the fact that Flash is a proprietary platform, and HTML5 is a W3C standard, which allows you to run HTML5 documents in any modern browser on any compatible device. In addition, developing HTML5 web services is easier than creating native applications. Well, suffice it to say that already in Adobe and Google have attended to the possibility of converting SWF to HTML5 .
HTML5 Applications
HTML5 tools allow you to create applications of almost any level of complexity. Take, for example, Angry Birds (no, they didn’t converge on the world, but as an example it will work for us). Something similar can be done for the mobile platform using HTML5: multimedia books and comics, RSS readers, clients of social networks, task and shopping planners, various time killers and so on. At the same time, the web application will be able to determine on which device it is running (using the browser user-agent) and adapt its interface to the necessary resolution with a banal replacement for the CSS style.
By the way, OS MeeGo on Nokia N9 allows you to add an icon of an HTML5-developed web application to the device menu directly from the browser. From the menu, the application or game can be opened locally on the device. At the same time, traffic transmission is minimal: if updates appear on the server, the application will download them, if not, then everything will be limited to this request. In this case, it is possible to implement storage of the session cache on the device until the latter is closed. This means that the application has the ability to run on the device, even without an active connection. For example, by running the application and opening a wi-fi session in the airport waiting area, the entire flight can continue to work autonomously.
Well, for those who are familiar with Qt, there is an additional opportunity - hybrid applications. The Qt framework contains a QtWebKit module, whose classes allow you to embed a full-fledged WebKit browser into your application, display web-sites and local HTML documents. With QtWebKit, a developer can use a web document as a GUI application and even implement JavaScript logic. Moreover, it is possible to refer to Qt objects from JS and vice versa, as well as embed Qt widgets in a rendered HTML document. Thus, a web application can access the system and receives the same capabilities as the native one. Such hybrid applications are no different from regular Qt programs and can be promoted and sold through the Ovi Store along with others. Qt5 plans to use WebKit2 and V8 (instead of JavaScriptCore), with full HTML5 support. This will allow hybrid applications to make a serious competition to traditional solutions.
Present and future
How to make friends with a mobile browser and HTML5-sites? Currently, not many resources work on HTML5, even less - they optimize the interface and content for a mobile browser. We communicate with all the largest resources in order to change this situation. The bottom line is that we will give the user-agent, according to which the sites will determine the device and give the page already optimized for this device. Just like, for example, touch.facebook.com. To do this, in most cases, simply add UA to the list of HTML5-compatible mobile browsers already supported by the site.
What we wanted to say with all this. First, we are optimistic about the future. The future of HTML5 and mobile browsers. Moreover, we are talking not only about the Nokia N9 browser. Partial support for HTML5 is already in the browser OS Symbian Anna (in the future there will be full support). Also, Nokia and Microsoft are working on the Windows Phone Mango OS browser to improve its HTML5 compatibility. Secondly, HTML5 is a story not only and not so much about websites, as about web applications, which can be easily ported and installed locally on mobile devices.
We want all the benefits of HTML5 now available to our users.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/123876/
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