Question

For this week’s lecture consider what issues browsers contend with now and where the browser, and by extension the Internet, is going: •What are the trends in browsers? •What are the issues with today’s browsers? •Which application protocols need updating and why? •How are mobile/handheld browsers different from the traditional desktops? •On a personal level, what are your own experiences with browsers? How often do you use mobile browsers and what problems do you see with the current state of browsers? Where do you see them going?

Answer 1

Answer:-

what issues browsers contend with now and where the browser, and by extension the Internet, is going:-

Slow performance and page loads:-

Assuming your internet connection speed is fine (check it here), sluggish browser performance and page loading can have a number of root causes.

You should already be running the latest version of your browser, but just check anyway: Help then About Google Chrome from the Chrome menu, Helpthen About Firefox from the Firefox menu, Update & Security then Windows Update in Windows Settings for Edge, or the Updates tab in the Mac App Store for Safari.

Is an extension dragging down the performance of your browser? Disabling add-ons one by one is something you can try to see if it has any effect—More tools then Extensions from the Chrome menu, Add-ons from the Firefox menu, Extensions from the Edge menu, and Preferences then Extensions from the Safari menu.

If it’s not an extension that’s slowing everything down, it might be a corrupted cache of data. You can easily blitz these temporary files and give your browser a clean fresh start, though you’ll have to log in everywhere again, so keep those passwords handy.

In Chrome, open up Settings from the menu then pick Advanced and Clear browsing data. In Firefox, you want Options from the menu then Privacy & Security and Clear Data. For Edge, it’s Settings and Choose what to clear under Clear browsing data on the menu. And finally in Safari, open the Safari menu and pick Preferences, Privacy, and Manage Website Data.

In all cases it’s the cache and the cookies you want to focus your attention on. In Safari, the cache option is hidden—you need to go to the Advanced tab in the Preferences pane, then tick Show Develop menu in menu bar. Then open up the newly revealed Develop menu and pick Empty Caches.

If you’re still experiencing problems, uninstall and reinstall your browser—if a clean reinstall doesn’t work, something besides the browser might be affecting performance. That something could be malware, which we’ve discussed more in tip 6 below.

It’s worth mentioning that Firefox has a couple of useful extra options for resetting your browser and limiting extensions—if you pick Help then Troubleshooting Information from the menu, you can click Refresh Firefox or Restart with Add-ons Disabled to see if it makes a difference.

URL suggestions you don’t want:-

In your travels across the web, you might pick up URL suggestions that you don’t want to see cropping up as you type out links in the address bar. The most comprehensive way of clearing the decks here is to delete your browsing history, using the data clearing methods we described in the last tip.

If you want to remove a single URL suggestion without blitzing the whole of your browsing history, you can do this in Chrome and Firefox. In Chrome, type out an address until you see the suggestion, then tap down to it using the arrow keys and hit Shift+Delete (or Shift+Fn+Delete on a Mac). For Firefox, the process is the same, except you just hit Delete (or Backspace) at the end.

For Edge, Safari, Chrome, and Firefox, you can dive into your browsing history and remove the single site on its own, if you can find it—but the browser bar option might be easier if there’s one particular suggestion you don’t want to see, and you don’t want to turn off the auto-suggestion feature altogether.

Pages don’t appear as expected:-

Garbled pages can be a problem with your browser, or the server holding the page, or your internet connection, or something else entirely. After trying a quick refresh your first bit of detective work should be to load up the page in another browser on another device if possible, which will tell you whether or not the issue is at your end.

Another tell-tale sign is whether or not the problem is restricted to one site or many sites. If it’s the latter, it’s more likely something is going wrong with your browser, or your internet connection isn’t doing its job properly (quickly switching to a different browser should help you decide whether it’s the former or the latter).

If you manage to narrow down the source of the problem to your browser, try clearing the local file cache, as we described in tip 1 above—this will force the program to reload everything on the page and should fix the issue. If not, systematically disabling extensions one by one (see tip 1), or uninstalling and reinstalling your browser are usually enough to get everything working properly again.

Autofill isn’t working properly:-

One of the bugs that crops up time and time again in support forums is some kind of malfunction in the autofill feature now included with most browsers. Stuff goes missing, or doesn’t save, or doesn’t work as expected.

First of all, check the feature is switched on: Settings, Advanced, then Auto-fill settings in Chrome, or Options, Privacy & Security, then Forms & Passwords in Firefox, or Settings, View advanced settings, then Autofill settings in Edge, or Safari, Preferences, then AutoFill in Safari.

If the feature is indeed enabled, it’s the usual suspects that might be to blame—corrupted data somewhere in the browser’s logs, or a third-party extension interfering with the functionality (especially a form filler or password manager). Clear the cache and check your add-ons as laid out in tip 1, and if you do identify an extension that’s causing problems, see if there’s an update for it rather than removing it completely.

What are the trends in browsers? :-

Browser War I

The first and most bloody browser war raged between Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator between 1996 and 2001. The web was new and the applications evolved rapidly from one month to the next. CSS and JavaScript arrived and the browsers competed on innovative features.

Microsoft was fined for questionable business practices, but IE eventually won because it was better. By 2001, IE6 had a seemingly unassailable 95% market share.

Browser War II

Microsoft had a few competitors:

Opera. The browser had a passionate following, but few people were willing to pay a $50 license fee when IE and other options were free.
The Mozilla Suite. The Gecko rendering engine was a ground-up rewrite of the old Netscape HTML parser, but it was stuck in a slow and bloated set of browser, email, newsgroups, editor, IRC client and address book applications.
An experimental Mozilla browser which adopted Gecko was launched as “Phoenix” in September 2002. The application became an immediate hit with developers who had become frustrated with Microsoft’s complacency. Trademark disputes led to the name being changed to “Firebird” and ultimately “Firefox” in February 2004.

Another skirmish ensued and Microsoft was forced back into the browser market. Firefox eventually gained around one third of the market in 2010 but IE held the dominant top spot.

Browser War III

Google released Chrome in 2008. The name was adopted because Google wanted to minimize the chrome (outer interface) of the browser so users could concentrate on page content. Google stated they were reluctant to create their own application, but it quickly became evident their online commercial clout could beat Microsoft — especially when IE had become an in-joke for all that was wrong in the industry.

Chrome overtook IE in June 2012 and has been there ever since. The other vendors took note and, rather than competing on features, began to simplify and streamline their applications. (Only the recently released Vivaldi is attempting to buck the trend).

In 2016, few people would notice the differences between Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari and Opera. They’re all excellent applications with capable rendering engines. The market has matured and stabilized. New features are more infrequent, but users are happy regardless of their choice.

Like any product, the diminished browser differentiation was inevitable. An application can only survive if it appeals to the masses, so the most successful traits are duplicated while lesser-used features are dropped. Life may be less colorful, but we finally have what we’ve been demanding for twenty years: good cross-browser compatibility.

What are the issues with today’s browsers?:-

Some issues that you experience with your blog can be caused by your browser.

Symptoms of browser issues vary and can include:

The content area in the Visual editor is blank (white) and text only appears when you change to the text editor.
The Add Media button won’t open.
Failure of icons on visual editor to load.
Words underlined with links to ads.
Which application protocols need updating and why?

We've updated the security levels on our web pages. Some users with older browsers may experience problems accessing secure pages on websites with the latest security patches implemented.

We strongly recommend that users with older browsers upgrade. It will make for a more secure online experience not just on PressReader, but throughout the internet.

If you are having trouble logging in to your account or with making a purchase, and you cannot upgrade your browser, try making the following security updates to resolve the issue.

If you have Internet Explorer:

Open Internet Explorer
Click Alt T and select “Internet Options”.
Select the “Advanced” tab.
Scroll down to the “Security” section.
Locate and check “Use TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2″.
Then, press the “OK” button.
For Google Chrome:

Open Google Chrome
Click Alt F and select “Settings”.
Scroll down and select “Show advanced settings…”
Scroll down to the Network section and click on “Change proxy settings…”
Select the “Advanced” tab.
Scroll down to the “Security” section.
Locate and check “Use TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2″.
Then, press the “OK” button.
FireFox:

Open FireFox
Type in “about:config” in the URL bar and press Enter
Scroll down to “security.tls.version.max” and press enter
Set the value to 3
Then, press the “OK” button.
Opera:

Open Opera
Click Ctrl+F12
Click on “Security”
Click on “Security Protocols…”
Check on “Enable TLS 1.1 & TLS 1.2”
Press the “OK” button.
Then, press the “OK” button.
Safari:

There are no options for enabling SSL protocols. You will need to update your browser. If you are using Safari version 7 or greater, TLS 1.1 & 1.2 are automatically enabled.

How are mobile/handheld browsers different from the traditional desktops?

1. Smaller screens

Let's start with one of the most obvious differences: Mobile browser displays are smaller than their desktop counterparts. "Smaller" here means two things:

Physically smaller: Typically around 3-5 diagonal inches for a phone, although some larger phones can be up to 6, and 9-12 diagonal inches for a tablet. This compares to a typical notebook screen size of 13-17 inches, and a desktop screen size of 20-30 inches.
Fewer pixels: Most mobile displays currently have fewer pixels than desktop displays. An iPhone 6s retina display is 1334 x 750 pixels, whereas the smallest-screen MacBook has a 2304 x 1440 display.
You don't have to guess!

We've compiled a massive list of screen resolutions to help you plan content and images...

A smaller display means that the user can see a lot less information at once. Most modern mobile browsers compensate for this by allowing the user to zoom in and out easily, as well as adapting font sizes to make text more readable. Typically, though, the user will need to zoom in if they want to read the text in your page.

A smaller display also pushes more of your page content "below the fold," requiring users to scroll through your page content more often.

So, for your site to work well on a mobile browser, it needs to: present important information near the top of the page, use an easy-to-read font, and not overwhelm the user with too much content on the page. In addition, the page layout needs to be usable and it needs to look good in a small browser window too. This usually implies a simpler page layout than you might see on a regular website.

2. Slower processors

Although they are catching up, mobile devices generally have much less processing power than desktop computers. This is for various reasons, including cost and battery life. Therefore, mobile browsers take longer to render pages, and JavaScript-intensive pages can run very slowly.

Consider creating a simpler page layout for mobile browsers that uses less markup and CSS. If your site uses a lot of JavaScript for things like slideshows, interactive forms, and the like, you might want to optimize or minimize your JavaScript so it runs smoothly on mobile browsers.

3. Less bandwidth

While cellular network speeds are improving all the time, a typical 4G mobile device gets a 5-12 Mbps download rate, compared to an average of over 50 Mbps for broadband internet users.

What's more, most mobile plans aggressively limit the amount of data that can be downloaded each month. If your users find that your site sucks up a large chunk of their download allowance, they won’t be coming back!

It's always a good idea to make your site as bandwidth-efficient as possible, since every second that your users have to wait for your pages to load will increase their frustration. This is even more important when designing for the mobile web. According to Google, more than half of users will abandon a page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

If your site contains large graphics or embedded videos that take up a lot of bandwidth, then you definitely want to look at creating a responsive, mobile-friendly site with smaller images and lower bit-rate video (or no video at all). Also, if you're providing downloadable PDFs or other content for your visitors, make sure the content isn't too big to download comfortably on a mobile device.

4. Touch input

One important aspect of many mobile devices is touch-based input. Rather than using a mouse, the vast majority of mobile users work with their devices using their fingers (some desktops do as well). This has several implications for mobile site designers, including:

No hover events:
There is no mouse pointer, so there is no concept of "hovering" over a page element. Navigation menus and other controls that rely on the CSS hover pseudo-class or JavaScript mouse-over/mouse-out events won't work well on touch devices. Some mobile browsers use various tricks to compensate for this, such as firing a hover event when the user taps the element once, and a click event if they tap again. However, it's best not to rely on hover events for your mobile site's functionality.
Less precision:
Clicking a 12-pixel-high text link with a mouse is no problem. Tapping the same link with big sausage fingers is a different story! Users can compensate for this by zooming in, but it's still awkward. This is one of the best arguments for creating a separate site just for mobile users, since you can then replace those fiddly text links with nice, large, touch-friendly buttons and other controls.
Gestures:
Most modern touch devices allow the user to perform gestures using one or more fingers, such as swiping, pinching, and so on. You can use gestures to enhance the experience for your mobile users. For example, you can let your users swipe left and right to move between images in a gallery. Many JavaScript frameworks such as jQuery Mobile can generate events for various touch gestures, making it easier to add gesture support to your mobile sites.
5. Tricky keyboards

Unless you happen to be using an add-on, full-size keyboard with your mobile device, the chances are that you're typing on a tricky little plastic keyboard or tapping a minuscule on-screen keyboard. While these keyboards are much better than they used to be, typing on them is still far from being a pleasant experience. This means that mobile users hate typing long reams of text. Your mobile site can make life easier for them by:

Using shorter URLs
Adding an autocomplete function to text fields and search fields
Providing an easy way to browse popular pages or products, rather than having to search
Preemptively filling as much information as possible in web forms
6. No, or limited, multitasking

Multitasking — in the sense of being able to run more than one app at once — is finally starting to take off on mobile devices. That said, many devices still can't multitask, and even those that can, don't offer the power or flexibility of desktop multitasking.

This poor multitasking support can affect the way you design your mobile websites. For example, consider including Twitter/Facebook sharing buttons on every page of your site, so that users don't have to copy and paste your page's URL to a different window or app in order to share the page.

what are your own experiences with browsers?

Keep in mind how often the Chromium engine is updated. Chromium, like any other software, has bugs. The developers behind it strive to eliminate those bugs, introduce performance fixes and minimize security threats. This is why Google Chrome has a six-week update cycle. It’s also why other Chromium-based browsers should follow suit. Most browsers try to keep up with Chromium releases, but some fall behind by six or seven versions, which is damaging to the user’s online security and browser stability.

So, since alternative browsers are basically tweaked copies of bigger browsers, does that mean they are bad tools for productive web browsing? Absolutely not! Alternative browsers aim to deliver improved performance and extra features to enhance the user’s online experience. They are a quick way to get a tool with all of the functionality a user needs right after installation.

Below are 15 desktop browsers that are worth considering if you’re tired of the browser war champions. This list isn’t comprehensive — several hundred browsers are available online — but these are the ones that regularly receive updates and provide a new web surfing experience.

We won’t delve into the development aspects behind each browser. Instead, you’ll find a quick overview of the most interesting features and of functionality that isn’t available in the popular browsers by default or even with add-ons. We’ll also mention the rendering engine used in each browser to give you an idea of how you will experience the web in them: Blink (on which Chrome is based), Trident (Internet Explorer), Gecko (Firefox) and WebKit (Safari). Let’s start with those that have the most features and move towards more single-purpose browsers.

The Browsers

UC BROWSER

Operating system(s): Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Symbian, Java
Rendering engine(s): Blink
Key feature(s): most cross
How often do you use mobile browsers and what problems do you see with the current state of browsers? Where do you see them going?

Android does not need your help to optimize it's use of cache. Leave it alone. The operating system will clear old information when it needs more resources. Manual or automatic clearing actually hurts your phone’s speed. Why?

Cache is stored in case it is needed again. It was developed just so it would not be necessary to reload information when called upon. Most apps use the same information over and over, so leaving the cache actually speeds up your phone and saves battery--not the other way around.

If you are constantly cleaning out the cache, then Android no longer has feedback in how to best utilize it. Android learns with time and you are preventing that optimization. Android is not Windows. It is designed to keep the memory nearly full.

In general, all cleaning apps are harmful to use. After awhile, the operating system just stops doing its own housekeeping. Why vacuum weekly when someone is doing it daily.

The only time you should manually clean cache, apps, or memory is if an obvious glitch is causing a probem. Otherwise, let Android do its job. It's love good at it.