Web Browser war and Javascript Performance !!

Any discussion on web browsers inevitably centers around how fast web pages load. We keep saying that a particular website loads faster in a particular browser. Let's try to get why this happens.

While there are a number of factors that determine the page loading time of a web page, one major factor is Javascript performance.

Blogspot bloggers would have a good idea where this comes from. How often have we discarded a javascript coded widget just because it made it almost impossible for the page to load.
Many a times we place all the Javascript code at the bottom of the page source code in order to enable the rest of the page to load faster.

The importance of Javascript performance for a web browser can be understood simply by the fact that the web browsers have interesting names for their Javascript engines.

Have a look :

Google chrome : V8 , I have been using it a lot. The fact that the addressbar itself serves as Google Search is it's USP for me.
Mozilla Firefox : Tracemonkey My favourite browser, simply because of the amazing add-ons owing to open source.
Opera : Futhark (Carakan is coming ) While it's my lifeline on my symbian mobile, the latest desktop version seems to have a little too much.

Safari : Nitro ( Based on Apple's open source Webkit's Squirrelfish extreme ) hve to try this one. I keep hearing that it's hot !!

As far as Javascript performance goes Internet Explorer 8 is a non starter when compared to Firefox or Chrome.

Web apps are the future with Google looking to make everything we have on our desktops available in the browser itself and the browser war has extended to the Javascript arena as the alternatives like Adobe's Flash and Flex are not that practical or easy to implement.

I can see only benefits as faster the Javascript loads better the website performs and more web apps can be added.

Before I end this post just have a look at few of the Javascript coded widgets on this page :

1. Footer : Yahoo Badge, Sitemeter, Label Cloud

2. Blogcatalog and Mybloglog widgets

3. Technorati

4. Disqus's recent comments

There are many others and they need to load faster !!

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Portable Web Apps on USB : Protect your data !!

With the spread of Wifi and people being constantly on the move we frequently access cyber-cafe, computer centre or other public venues. Moreover, with every business turning online and hundreds of web services coming up everyday there is always a fear of breach of security and privacy intrusion.

Today in this " Wednesday Web How To " post we will put this fear to rest in the simple to learn way.

We will look at how to fully equip your USB device ( it can be a 1 GB pen drive or 250 GB external hard disk ) with the necessary Portable Apps so that all we need to do is plug our device, do our stuff and eject the drive when done.

Here are the Simple2Learn steps :

1. Knoppix 6.0 : The best of all the live distros. Just save the bootable image on the portable hard drive and boot if you can . It has everything you need from web browser to office to multimedia players.

Check pendrivelinux.com to get Knoppix and learn to use it effectively and simply.

2. Portable Google Chrome / Mozilla Firefox : Best option. No need to install. Just keep it on yuor USB device and use it . Feel like being more secure just clear the private data after your session is over.

We will deal with safe browsing in general in the posts to come. In this post let's restrict to portable options.

Direct Download both from here....

3. Now, for bloggers and people who do a little more than just social networking on the web, goto PortableApps.com for all the portable softwares you need. Amazing array of softwares, all free and simple to download.

In Detail :
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