I didn't notice a reply for this yet so I'll take a crack. Webkit is the HTML engine which provides the core page rendering of Safari. Webkit itself is an open source project meaning that anyone can contribute fixes and improvements. So whenever Apple fixes something in Webkit it contributes it back to the public project. Likewise they get fixes for free whenever the public version gets improved. As a component of OSX, the Webkit rendering engine pops up all over the place, whenever an app needs to display some HTML content. So in the Mail app, if it needs some HTML in an email rendered, Webkit gets called in to do the job. Webkit is pretty fast and so it has been adopted by other browsers such as Google Chrome, iCab and OmniWeb. There are even rumors that Microsoft might abandon development of their own render engine and move to Webkit. When webkit-based browser are run though various tests for standards compliance and performance it usually comes out on top. One well known one is the Acid Test which tries to highlight where many browsers fail to properly render things. There have been a couple iterations of the acid test but in general Webkit either got things right or was one of the first to be fixed to pass all the tests. You can download what they call "Nightly Builds" which is the latest developer version of webkit. It appears too be just like Safari but is a separate app so you can keep both on the same machine. Here's a couple links:
Webkit open source project: http://webkit.org/ Webkit nightly build download page: http://nightly.webkit.org/ Wikipedia entry on Webkit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit Acid3 Test - Current Safari gets 74/100, Safari Beta gets 100/100 http://acid3.acidtests.org/ Javascript performance comparison using Sun Spider: http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/12/04/firefox-nightly-beats-chrome-in-speed-and-webkit-nightly-eats-them-for-breakfast/ Microsoft and Webkit rumors: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/06/microsofts_ballmer_considers_using_webkit_within_ie.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10085408-75.html http://www.osnews.com/story/20503/Ballmer_Microsoft_May_Look_at_WebKit CB Dean Adams wrote: > Hey All, > Can someone please explain what the webkit is and how it is > used for us who VO on a mac as I am only a newby to the mac scene I > have never heard of it so any explanation would be much appreciated. > Regards Dean > > *!!!Thoughts become things so choose the good ones because Life's to > short to be a grumble bum* !!! > > * */Email: [email protected] /* > * */Phone: 02428133758 /* > * */Skype: deanadams9 /* > * */Mobile: 0428133758/*/ / > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
