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There's webkit too by Apple. And browsers based on it is available for Linux too. And no, webkit and Blink are not the same engine. Blink is a fork of webkit by

There's webkit too by Apple. And browsers based on it is available for Linux too. And no, webkit and Blink are not the same engine. Blink is a fork of webkit by Google and while they share a heritage they have different feature set now.

basch 7y ago
and as soon as Blink forked, Apple purged a ton of Google/Samsung specific code from Webkit.
- webmobdev 7y ago
  Really? Where can I read more about this?
  - mikewhy 7y ago
    This Slashdot article has some links to the WebKit mailing list discussing the changes: https://slashdot.org/story/184313 https://slashdot.org/story/184313
dmitryminkovsky 7y ago
I was thinking of webkit too, but I'm not aware of any browsers expect Safari and the Linux browsers you mention. Neither seem to be cross platform or practical, "viable" alternatives to Blink domination.
- duhi88 7y ago
  It's the one reason I'm glad that all web browsers on iOS run Webkit. Now if Apple could just fix their damn flexbox bugs and implement web app features...
- webmobdev 7y ago
  Check out: - Maxthon - https://www.maxthon.com/mx5/features/dual-core/ https://www.maxthon.com/mx5/features/dual-core/ - Midori - https://www.midori-browser.org/ https://www.midori-browser.org/ I'd say the scenario is similar to Firefox/Gecko and Chrome/Blink. Sure there are clones that use the Gecko and Blink engines, but none of these really are as popular as their original. I am waiting for another Opera / Presto browser platform to emerge. Till it did, the browser market dominated by Internet Explorer was literally stagnant. Opera with a Presto engine was a game changer with their light-weight and super fast browser engine with feature sets that all other browsers copied (and still lack even today).
  - Marsymars 7y ago
    I miss the plain UI speed of Presto-based Opera. I could cycle between tabs at my keyboard repeat speed - now my PCs are an order of magnitude faster and can't manage more than a couple tabs per second if I hold ctrl+tab.
    - MauranKilom 7y ago
      Just tried this in FF and for what it's worth it cycles through the loaded tabs at keyboard repeat speed when holding down ctrl+tab.
      - Marsymars 7y ago
        When I do it I can see the URL cycling at my keyboard repeat speed (~30 fps), but the selected tab and page displayed in the foreground refresh about an order of magnitude more slowly. (1-5 fps) (So with a dozen tabs open, the effect is to select/show tabs in essentially a random order.) edit: FF cycles smoothly (although with a weird white strobing effect with the main blank content area) if I open a bunch of blank tabs, but not if they're actual web pages.
kitsunesoba 7y ago
Also worth noting how different the different goals/approaches differ between the WebKit and Blink teams. The WebKit team is very deliberate in their development, only committing to new features once they have some level of assurance that it can be done with minimal negative impact to efficiency, privacy, and user control where the Blink team moves almost entirely in interest of getting as many new features out as quickly as possible with comparatively little regard to negative side effects. Both approaches are needed to maintain a balance and to preserve real choice for users — there is no practical difference between Chrome, MS Edge, and Brave because their differences are skin-deep at best.

basch 7y ago

and as soon as Blink forked, Apple purged a ton of Google/Samsung specific code from Webkit.

webmobdev 7y ago
Really? Where can I read more about this?
- mikewhy 7y ago
  This Slashdot article has some links to the WebKit mailing list discussing the changes: https://slashdot.org/story/184313 https://slashdot.org/story/184313

dmitryminkovsky 7y ago

I was thinking of webkit too, but I'm not aware of any browsers expect Safari and the Linux browsers you mention. Neither seem to be cross platform or practical, "viable" alternatives to Blink domination.

duhi88 7y ago
It's the one reason I'm glad that all web browsers on iOS run Webkit. Now if Apple could just fix their damn flexbox bugs and implement web app features...
webmobdev 7y ago
Check out: - Maxthon - https://www.maxthon.com/mx5/features/dual-core/ https://www.maxthon.com/mx5/features/dual-core/ - Midori - https://www.midori-browser.org/ https://www.midori-browser.org/ I'd say the scenario is similar to Firefox/Gecko and Chrome/Blink. Sure there are clones that use the Gecko and Blink engines, but none of these really are as popular as their original. I am waiting for another Opera / Presto browser platform to emerge. Till it did, the browser market dominated by Internet Explorer was literally stagnant. Opera with a Presto engine was a game changer with their light-weight and super fast browser engine with feature sets that all other browsers copied (and still lack even today).
- Marsymars 7y ago
  I miss the plain UI speed of Presto-based Opera. I could cycle between tabs at my keyboard repeat speed - now my PCs are an order of magnitude faster and can't manage more than a couple tabs per second if I hold ctrl+tab.
  - MauranKilom 7y ago
    Just tried this in FF and for what it's worth it cycles through the loaded tabs at keyboard repeat speed when holding down ctrl+tab.
    - Marsymars 7y ago
      When I do it I can see the URL cycling at my keyboard repeat speed (~30 fps), but the selected tab and page displayed in the foreground refresh about an order of magnitude more slowly. (1-5 fps) (So with a dozen tabs open, the effect is to select/show tabs in essentially a random order.) edit: FF cycles smoothly (although with a weird white strobing effect with the main blank content area) if I open a bunch of blank tabs, but not if they're actual web pages.

kitsunesoba 7y ago

Also worth noting how different the different goals/approaches differ between the WebKit and Blink teams. The WebKit team is very deliberate in their development, only committing to new features once they have some level of assurance that it can be done with minimal negative impact to efficiency, privacy, and user control where the Blink team moves almost entirely in interest of getting as many new features out as quickly as possible with comparatively little regard to negative side effects. Both approaches are needed to maintain a balance and to preserve real choice for users — there is no practical difference between Chrome, MS Edge, and Brave because their differences are skin-deep at best.