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> All four of the other browsers use effectively the same APIs — Safari is potentially going to change that in some ugly ways. I understand a developer’s desir
by vfaronov 10y ago
> All four of the other browsers use effectively the same APIs — Safari is potentially going to change that in some ugly ways.
I understand a developer’s desire to have more reach with less work. But if all browsers have the same APIs, for the same feature set, with the same UI... then what is the point of having different browsers?
If Safari’s API changes lead to extensions that are better integrated with the underlying platform (and I don’t know if that is the case), I say all the power to them.
- callahad 10y agoCore APIs for common functions (intercept these network requests, inject these stylesheets, etc.) are being standardized so you don't have to reinvent the wheel on every damn browser. Browsers can also freely implement additional, non-standard add-on APIs that make sense for their product, while the APIs that aren't distinguishing features can get out of the way and Just Work, everywhere. For example, Opera has a sidebar API, while Chrome does not. This is good, and allows browsers to compete on privacy, performance, security, support for web standards, ui/ux, etc.