WebKit, the open source browser framework behind Safari, Android, webOS, the iPhone and Valve’s Steam platform, is about to get a major overhaul. In a message sent to the WebKit development mailing list today, Anders Carlsson announced that Apple was releasing a new framework it has been working on for some time.
“WebKit2 is designed from the ground up to support a split process model, where the web content (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc) lives in a separate process,” he said. “This model is similar to what Google Chrome offers, with the major difference being that we have built the process split model directly into the framework, allowing other clients to use it.”
Chrome uses multiple processes to “sandbox” plugins and each open tab, while the Mozilla Foundation is currently developing multi-process support for a future version of Firefox. The purpose is to not only speed up the browser, but to improve security and stability.
WebKit has become increasingly popular in recent years, with even Microsoft publicly admitting to looking at it as a possible substitute for Internet Explorer’s old Trident engine. Native multi-process support will surely add to its appeal.
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