Google Browser Size shows how much of a Web page browsers can show on average.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Google published a tool Wednesday called Browser Size that lets Web developers gauge how much of their pages are visible in people's browsers.
With its own analysis, the search giant found that a lot of people couldn't see the download button for Google Earth because they had to scroll before it would show in their browser. Revamping the page increased download rates 10 percent, according to a blog post by Browser Size team member Arthur Blume.
The tool loads a Web page behind a pastel overlay that indicates what fraction of people can see a particular point on the Web page. The upper left is of course 100 percent, but when the point is farther down or toward the right, fewer and fewer can see it. The overlay statistics are based on a fraction of the people who visit the Google.com home page, said programmer Bruno Bowden.
"For example, if an important button is in the 80 percent region it means that 20 percent of users have to scroll in order to see it," Bowden said.
I'm intrigued by this sort of data. It's interesting to see the jump between old-style screens with a 4:3 aspect ratio and newer HD-style models that usually are in a wider 16:10 proportion. I'd be particularly curious to see how the overlay changes from one Web page to another--for example, I'd imagine gaming site visitors have bigger screens than mainstream Web pages.
Here's a hint if you're reading this on a laptop with a modest screen size: to see more of the Brower Size overlay, try pressing Ctrl-minus to zoom out.
I spend a lot of time looking at Web pages and have no particular fondness for scrolling. I therefore appreciate various efforts to maximize browser real estate devoted to actual Web content. Perhaps Google's tool will help on the Web design end, too, helping justify redesigns to put the good stuff in plain sight.
iStockphoto's Kelly Thompson
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)Google's Gears technology may not have caught on widely in the world of Web programming, but operators of the iStockphoto photo sales site have become believers.
Among other things, Gears enables browsers to store data on a local computer, which most notably means that Web applications can be adapted to work even while offline. But for iStockphoto's purposes, it primarily means better performance for people using the site and secondarily lower operating costs for the Getty Images photo sales subsidiary.
"We're not requiring anyone to install Google Gears," the company said on an explanatory Web site. "If you do install Google Gears, though, iStock will work much faster."
Google launched the open-source Gears software in 2007, but so far, the sites that use it--among them Gmail, Google Reader, WordPress, and MySpace--are the exception rather than the rule.
Speed and money
The main motivation for the change was getting a faster site, which benefits iStockphoto's financial results, said Kelly Thompson, iStockphoto's chief operating officer.
"It was 95 percent performance and end-user experience, but let's face it: if I can get more pictures pumped out faster, with more searches, we sell more," Thompson said. "Cutting down a page load time for a user is more valuable to me than the money I'll save on bandwidth."
The company adopted Gears with no prompting from Google, he added. "We did this on our own," with Web programmers jumping on the project because "it's sexy for them to work on it."
iStockphoto activated its Gears support September 30, Thompson said. In the first 16 days of use, Gears saved the company from paying for the transfer of 132GB of data over the network and lightened its Web servers by 8.7 million communication requests--and that's with only 19,000 Gears-installed users, a "tiny portion of our traffic," he said. Those without Gears benefit, too, since iStock's Web servers are unburdened somewhat by those who do use it.
The technology works by locally storing various Web page ingredients--photo thumbnails, JavaScript program code, Cascading Style Sheet formatting files, for example. Older files are flushed periodically so the users' hard drives don't get too cluttered.
"It's a pretty basic implementation right now: the second time a user sees any image or requests a JavaScript file, it loads instantly," Thompson said. One of his developers described it as "the opposite of a drug dealer: the first hit isn't free, (but) every subsequent hit is."
Google is trying to propagate Gears, which is available as a browser plug-in. In a more aggressive move, it built Gears into its Chrome browser. And in the longer term, the HTML5 standard under development reproduces the local storage abilities of Gears, a move that stands to spread the technology more widely.
HTML5 good, IE 6 bad
Thompson is a fan of another HTML5 technology: built-in video. iStock licenses video content, as well as photos and other content, and currently streams it with Adobe Systems' Flash technology.
"We'd love to be able to ditch Flash on the video side, but it's probably a ways out," Thompson said, citing widespread use of Internet Explorer.
IE is widely loathed among Web developers for its slow performance and lack of standards compliance, and even Microsoft wishes that people would upgrade from IE 6, but it's still the single most widely used browser out there, even though Microsoft released it in 2001, just before Windows XP arrived. Microsoft released IE 7 in 2006, and it tried to improve standards compliance and security with the release of IE 8 this March.
People are gradually shifting away from IE 6, but not fast enough for Thompson's taste--or plans.
"We announced we'd drop official support for IE 6 in 2010 back at the beginning of the year. I'm not sure we're going to be able to it: the percentage of users is dropping--just not quite fast enough," he said.
From August (top) to September (below), Internet Explorer lost a bit of usage share, compared with rival browsers.
(Credit: Net Applications)According to Net Applications statistics, IE 6 is used by 24.4 percent of people on the Web today, followed by IE 7, IE 8, Firefox 3.5, and Firefox 3, in descending order of popularity. Overall, IE has 65.7 percent share of usage.
iStockphoto has more early adopters in its population and therefore different browser preferences. The top five browsers on the site are Firefox, with 37.8 percent; IE, with 34.4 percent; Apple's Safari, with 22.3 percent; Google's Chrome, with 3.4 percent; and Opera, with 1.7 percent.
Among iStockphoto's IE traffic, the majority of people use version 7, but the tide is turning.
"We've seen an almost 2 percent migration of (IE) 6 to 8 in the last 60 days alone. We're hoping Windows 7 will push it even more quickly," Thompson said. "For us, even though it's a shrinking percentage, it still represents over 1 million visits per month, so I can't cut them off at the knees."
"I think we're dominated by geeks, designers, and small businesses, all who move more quickly than the enterprise--not to mention we're 35 percent Mac, with the iPhone about to overtake Linux for third place" among operating systems, Thompson said.
The smartphone maker made its first BlackBerry Web Development Plug-In for Eclipse available on Tuesday, along with version 1.2 of its plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio. The tools allow developers to build BlackBerry Web applications within the widely used Eclipse and Visual Studio environments.
"The BlackBerry developer tools portfolio aims to bring together the best of Java and Web development for the creation of Web applications that are integrated with core BlackBerry smartphone functions for a seamless, intuitive, and robust user experience," BlackBerry platform group chief Alan Brenner said in a statement.
Both plug-ins include BlackBerry smartphone simulators for application testing, together with application profiling for checking on the data traffic and load time implications of Web content used in the applications.
The Eclipse plug-in, which is compatible with version 3.4 of the environment, allows the debugging and profiling of HTML and CSS-using Web pages, and of rich Internet applications using Ajax, Silverlight, PHP, ASP, Ruby on Rails, JSP, and Python.
The new Visual Studio plug-in--the first version of which came out two years ago--targets the 2008 version of that environment, and aids the creation of simple Web pages or rich applications using Ajax and ASP.Net.
David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.
The search giant rallies attendees at its San Francisco developer conference around the next generation of Web technologies, in which the browser will become the desktop and everyday people can do more with their Web sites.
Gmail in real-time: Google does the Wave
Google is set to unveil an ambitious project to create what it calls 'the e-mail of the future,' and the reactions of developers at Google I/O will be telling.(Posted in Webware by Tom Krazit)
May 28, 2009 9:00 AM PDT
• Photos: Google shows off Wave's potential
• Google releases Wave demonstration video
Google Wave has developers buzzing
The search giant's ambitious Google Wave project has developers at Google I/O mulling the possibilities, and even comparing it to the iPhone.(Posted in Webware by Tom Krazit)
May 28, 2009 2:27 PM PDT
Google shows Native Client built into HTML 5
Google showed a version of its technology for putting Web applications on steroids that's built into its Chrome browser. Also: expect Web Worker support in Chrome soon.(Posted in Webware by Stephen Shankland)
May 28, 2009 3:01 PM PDT
Android 1.5 apps from Google I/O
We bring you a close look at six applications for Google's soon-to-be-released 1.5 Android operating system, some of which have have never been released on this platform.(Posted in Download.com by Jessica Dolcourt )
May 28, 2009 3:28 PM PDT
Google--market disruptor or destroyer
The search and advertising giant aims to take the "gate" position in many markets, sitting between users and their content or services.(Posted in Webware by Rafe Needleman)
May 28, 2009 9:00 AM PDT
Chrome gets HTML video support
Google's browser joins Firefox, Safari, and Opera with the ability to display video without a plug-in such as Adobe's Flash. But the HTML standard is rough at best.(Posted in Webware by Stephen Shankland)
May 28, 2009 8:01 AM PDT
Google's 'Idol'-like Android challenge
Nine developers will go home with $100,000 in a contest that seems to borrow elements from "American Idol." A lucky 10th will pocket $250,000.(Posted in Crave by Jessica Dolcourt)
May 27, 2009 7:47 PM PDT
Android developers get their Oprah moment
Google gives away 4,000 Android handsets Wednesday, delighting developers at Google I/O who thought they were merely getting an Android 2.0 preview.(Posted in Webware by Tom Krazit)
May 27, 2009 12:26 PM PDT
Google: The browser is the computer
HTML 5 technologies will allow Web developers to build applications almost as cool as anything found on the desktop, according to Google executives and engineers.• Photos: Inside Google I/O
• Video: Google CEO touts always-on computing
(Posted in Webware by Tom Krazit)
May 27, 2009 11:04 AM PDT
Google creates Web Elements for easy news feeds
Web publishers without development skills will be able to add news feeds, maps, and other types of Google products to their Web pages with a simple cut-and-paste operation.(Posted in Webware by Tom Krazit)
May 27, 2009 9:00 AM PDT
I've been working on a new Web site for the past few weeks. But instead of doing it alone, I decided to get some help from Firefox extensions. They've made my work a lot easier, and they all can be downloaded in just a few seconds.
Aardvark: Aardvark lets you select elements from a Web page and perform various actions on them. I use it to analyze the structure of a page. You can also remove and isolate elements or generate DOM code. I highly recommend it.
Find any code for the color you want.
(Credit: ColorZilla)ColorZilla: If there's a color on a Web page that you like, ColorZilla will find the precise code for it and allow you to paste it into your coding program. You can also create custom colors with its built-in palette browser. It saves the most-used colors for easy access later on. It's powerful, it's simple, it's a must-have.
CSS Validator: CSS Validator adds a right-click option in your browser, sending the CSS to the W3C CSS Validator. It opens the results in a new tab. CSS Validator is a nice tool that will come in handy often.
CSSViewer: No Web designer should be working without CSSViewer. The add-on informs you of all the CSS information you'll need from a site. Simply click on the page you want, open it in the Tools menu, and it will display CSS information. I use it almost every day.
FireBug: Firebug is one of those extensions that you simply can't be without. It lets you edit, debug, and view CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. Once you make a change to the HTML on the site, Firebug automatically displays it in the same pane. It's extremely powerful.
FirePHP fills you in on all the issues with your PHP.
(Credit: FirePHP)FirePHP: FireBug is a fine tool for CSS, HTML, and JavaScript, but FirePHP, which only works when you have the FireBug extension installed, creates a full-featured development experience. With the help of both add-ons, you can view the quality of your PHP and find errors. It's a great aid.
Font Finder: Font Finder allows you to highlight a font you like on any site, right-click on the selection, and after choosing "Font Finder", view the full CSS text styling of the selection. You can then paste that into your own Web page.
HTML Validator: HTML Validator is an extremely powerful tool available to Windows users only. The add-on gives you feedback about errors on the page. It also lets you know where problems need to be addressed. But unless you're an advanced Web designer, stay away from this tool. It's very complicated.
IE View: As long as you're running Windows, IE View is a helpful tool. The extension adds an "Open in IE" option in the right-click menu, allowing you to quickly open a site in Internet Explorer. It's a great way to check how a page looks in both browsers.
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Google will hold a developer confab in May, called Google I/O, to discuss the challenges of writing applications for the Web.
This year's two-day event in San Francisco is larger than last year's Google Developer Day, its first organized conference aimed specifically at Web developers.
While the format is different--there will be more in-depth technical sessions and tutorials for newbies who want to write mash-ups--Google's developer strategy remains the same.
Why do they court developers? To encourage creation of more and better Web applications, said Tom Stocky, a senior product manager at Google, on Tuesday.
"We're trying to get more users, in general. We want to increase the number of users and the amount they use the Web. And improving the platform is the best way to do that, we've found," Stocky said.
What will be different this year is an increased focus on developing social applications, reflecting Web development in general. Google will have sessions on social applications, including ways to use OpenSocial, which is designed to let people share information on social networks among different applications.
There is also a track on mobile development, including ways to use Google Gears for Mobile and Android, the mobile phone platform Google and its partners introduced last November.
All the same Web platform?
Google, of course, is hardly the only tech company that is attracting Web developers to their "platform."
Salesforce.com sells subscriptions to a customer relationship management application, but when you talk to the company's CEO, Marc Benioff, you quickly understand that he is betting that its development platform, called Force.com, will fuel growth in the future.
Other Web giants--Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon--all have their own developer programs as well.
But the company set to shake things up the most in Web service development is Microsoft, which just hosted its own Mix Web development conference.
It already has many application programming interfaces (APIs) to its Web services, from Virtual Earth to Windows Live Messenger, and continues to release more.
More significantly, Microsoft understands platforms, how to build a thriving "ecosystem" of third-party applications and partners, and how to make money for everyone involved.
Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie has laid out a vision of a providing unifying development model for a wide range of applications, from classic client-server Windows applications to Web services mashups using Silverlight.
On a technical level, Google's push to attract developers to the Web has a slightly different flavor than others.
Stocky said that Google's focus with tools and APIs is JavaScript and good Ajax development practices.
Of course, Google doesn't have a legacy development tools business--like Microsoft or Adobe both do--that needs refreshed tooling to write applications for the Internet "cloud."
In addition, Google wants to promote technologies that work in all browsers, not things like Flash or Silverlight that require a special plug-in and are proprietary.
"If anyone's going to push the Web forward, we want them to do it in way that benefits everyone," Stocky said. "We don't have an underlying platform we're selling. We're trying to improve the Web as a platform...and increase usage of the Internet as a whole."
Google's own engineers were able to push the boundaries of Ajax. Its first release of Google Maps, where users can drag a map around a browser, inspired many developers to push the limits of Webware.
Stocky said that one of the goals of Google I/O is to garner some feedback from developers on where they are hitting the limits of Web development. But it's clear that Google wants to ride--and push--the momentum toward more capable Web applications.
"In general, every developer I know is trying to learn more and more JavaScript and Ajax best practices," he said. "It's where programming is going."
A company called Ribbit came out of stealth mode this week, showing off a "phone component" that will let developers embed Internet calling into Web applications.
"The Ribbit Phone Component will give rich Internet application developers the ability to make and receive calls, record/send and receive voice mail, as well as add and manage contacts," according to a description on the company blog.
A schedule posted on Ribbit's site indicates that a beta version of the product will be released in October.
The Ribbit Phone Component appears to be competing with the developer tools available for the popular voice over IP service Skype. On the consumer end of things is YackPack, which allows end users to drop embed code into Web sites for voice calls.
In the company blog, Ribbit said that its component will allow users to click on a phone number in a Web page to make a call.
There are other communications features as well, including the ability to integrate voice mail and contacts.
Last year, there were reports that Adobe was building voice-over-IP capability into its Flash Player.
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