Are we at the point yet where someone can use something other than a major headless browser (firefox, chrome) for converting html to PDFs without huge css gotchas?
Is there any comparison/ are we x yet reviewing alternative browser engines being developed? It seems like there's quite a few in active development at this point.
I'd say Servo isn't quite there yet, but give it another year on the current trajectory and it might well be a viable option for a lot of use cases.
[1]: https://blogs.igalia.com/mrego/servo-a-new-web-engine-writte...
For example they work for Valve to make the Radeon drivers better and got a grant to get basic MathML support done in the three major web browsers.
(if testing make sure you enable the "experimental features" using the button in the top-right - the project is far too conservative about this and lots of stuff doesn't work without them)
For anyone else confused (as the linked page doesn't describe it at all:
> Servo aims to empower developers with a lightweight, high-performance alternative for embedding web technologies in applications.
It appears to be a browser engine embeddable in other applications, I assume for delivering content designed to run in a browser for some reason.
N-Krause•1h ago
Could Manifest v3 be the reason we have so much fresh air blowing in the browser ecosystem or does it just stem from a general unhappiness of said ecosystem?
azertify•1h ago
Ladybird was already progressing rapidly within SerenityOS well before it was officially launched, and I think that's given people a new inspiration for how plausible it is to create a browser from scratch. I'm really pleased we're seeing Servo having a resurgence too.
p-e-w•38m ago
Ladybird is written in C++, which is memory-unsafe by default (unlike Rust, which is memory-safe by default). Firefox and Chrome also use C++, and each of them has 3-4 critical vulnerabilities related to memory safety per year, despite the massive resources Mozilla and Google have invested in security. I don’t understand how the Ladybird team could possibly hope to secure a C++ browser engine, given that even engineering giants have consistently failed to do so.
jsheard•30m ago
And part of Firefox/Chromes security effort has been to use memory safe languages in critical sections like file format decoders. They're far too deeply invested in C++ to move away entirely in our lifetimes, but they are taking advantage of other languages where it's feasible, so to write a new browser in pure C++ is a regression from what the big players are already doing.
binary132•22m ago
silotis•57m ago
Vinnl•54m ago
N-Krause•49m ago
I doubt you'd invest that kind of money/time into a project without a good reason. I am not saying that ladybird or manifest v3 are the reason, I just notice a lot of new energy in the not-just-chrome category and wonder what the other reasons might be.
Andreas Kling is pretty open about his reasons to have started the ladybird project and I just know Servo from his monthly videos and a few other sidenotes, so I was surprised that it gained so much traction after being basically dead.
senko•43m ago
> I doubt you'd invest that kind of money/time into a project without a good reason.
Igalia is a very peculiar company. I would not rule out "it's a good thing for the commons and we bet we'll get some upside eventually" as the reason.
nicoburns•37m ago
Igalia is generally pro open-source, and Servo certainly aligns with their ethos, but a lot of the money came from Futurewei / Huawei who are interested in Servo because it's not US based, and therefore they are actually able to contribute to it (they are effectively banned from contributing to Chrome/Firefox/Safari due to US sanctions). There is now also funding from the Sovereign Tech Fund who are also interested in a "European browser" (and NLnet, but they fund all sorts of things)
N-Krause•28m ago