Apple teams up with Google, Mozilla, Microsoft to improve browser interoperability

Apple has partnered with Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla on a new endeavor to improve the interoperability and user experience of their web browsers.

The group are working on a new benchmark dubbed Interop 2022, which will "improve the experience of developing for the web in 15 key areas." Along with the browser makers, software consultant groups Bocoup and Igalia are also on board.

All four of the browser makers have agreed to focus on the 15 areas, which will include cascade layers, color spaces and CSS color functions, new viewport units, scrolling, and more. The project will focus on the four browsers involved: Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

"For the first time ever, all major browser vendors, and other stakeholders, have come together to solve the top browsers compatibility issues identified by web developers," the group said in a blog post.

The end goal is to make web applications look and function similarly on different web browsers, which isn't the case currently. The goals are also all design-focused, meaning that browsers have an incentive to participate alongside their rivals.

"All of these technologies are important to Apple and to everyone working on WebKit. We care deeply about the health of the web, and interoperable implementations of web standards," Apple said in a statement. "We welcome collaboration with our colleagues in the many web standards organizations, and in Interop 2022 to make the web as interoperable as it can be."

This isn't the first time that browser makers have teamed up on a similar effort. Back in 2021, they also partnered on a project called Combat 2021, which "made great progress." However, the Interop 2022 blog posts noted that were was "still room for improvement."

9 Comments

DAalseth 3033 comments · 6 Years

About 2 years ago

Once they do that then maybe they can listen to the Open Web Advocacy group and allow other browser engines on iOS.

Prometheu 21 comments · 2 Years

OK, fine, I'm glad they're finally doing something. But this could be solved so much more easily by just dropping webkit and becoming a Chromium browser. The whole world is browsing with Chromium. It's fine. And most importantly, it always on the cutting edge of everything new in the web. WebKit on the other hand lags YEARS behind major web innovations. If that's what this effort is going to address, then great, but I sincerely doubt it.

Prometheu said:

OK, fine, I'm glad they're finally doing something. But this could be solved so much more easily by just dropping webkit and becoming a Chromium browser. The whole world is browsing with Chromium. It's fine. And most importantly, it always on the cutting edge of everything new in the web. WebKit on the other hand lags YEARS behind major web innovations. If that's what this effort is going to address, then great, but I sincerely doubt it.

Except fifteen or more years ago you could have said the same thing about Internet Explorer. Some did and about Flash as well. No, it’s better to have multiple browsers competing to be the best while working on interoperability.

auxio 2762 comments · 19 Years

Prometheu said:

WebKit on the other hand lags YEARS behind major web innovations. If that's what this effort is going to address, then great, but I sincerely doubt it.

And the entire user experience on the web lags DECADES behind what native platforms provide. Not surprising since almost every web developer I've encountered has no idea about the history of UX design, using a common design language for consistent experience across apps, measuring the efficiency and intuitiveness of user interfaces, etc. But when the business model for the web app industry is based around keeping people engaged for as long as possible (to harvest as much data as possible), it's not surprising that there's no incentive to create an intuitive and efficient user experience for apps. Long gone are the days where a computer was viewed as a tool to enhance human abilities (i.e. a bicycle for the mind). Nowadays they're more akin to casino machines designed to addict and debilitate the mind for profit.

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

Prometheu said:

OK, fine, I'm glad they're finally doing something. But this could be solved so much more easily by just dropping webkit and becoming a Chromium browser. The whole world is browsing with Chromium. It's fine. And most importantly, it always on the cutting edge of everything new in the web. WebKit on the other hand lags YEARS behind major web innovations. If that's what this effort is going to address, then great, but I sincerely doubt it.

Chrome/Chromium is the last thing I want on my systems. Even the MS version of it sends all sorts of data back to the mothership.
If it can be guaranteed that there is no slurping/tracking going on then I might consider it but all the plain versions of it that I have examined leak like an old oil barrel that has been peppered by 100 rounds from an AR-15. If you want to promote this google product then I advise you to get proficient with tools like wireshark.