WebKit Feature Focus for 2018-2019

by Geoff Garen

200 features planned

Build

• XCBuild
• CMake
• ccache
• Precompiled headers

Focused on the build system and especially moving to unified build for 2x speed up

All non-Apple ports have moved to CMake, Apple still working on moving to CMake for build speed up

Interested in ccache by default Precompiled headers

JavaScriptCore

• New byte code format
  • No pointers
  • Load bytecode out of cache
  • The more we use process isolation the less hits in cache
• Node.js prototype
  • Participation helps standardization and performance testing
• JetStream 2

Layout

• Next-Generation layout
  • Complete rewrite of the layout engine
  • Closer to spec language
  • A lot more efficient
  • Parallelize-able
  • Initial speed-up from initial design is already faster on its own
  • Right now it draws boxes
• LFC

Web Standards

• Pointer Events
• New form controls
• Removing WebSQL
• Web Components Polish
• Intersection Observer (non-Apple dev, Google)
• WebShare API (done)
• Payment Request
• Font Color Palettes
• Web Animations (close to done)
• CSS logical properties (in-progress, going ok)
• Better text decorations
• CSS conic-gradient (done)
• Datalist <input type color>
• File upload enhancements
• WebAuthentication
• CSS @page
• CSS logical properties
• Unicode 12
• Implement CSS Text Module Level 4
• IndexedDB Quality

Service Workers

• Long strange trip
• We did a great job at delivering high quality SW
• Not a lot of adoption of offline mode
• More interest in using Service Workers to make your website fast
  • But everyone knows it makes your site slower
  • It launches a separate process, and that takes time
• Then they try to pose new standards to make SW faster
• We need to focus on an effort to optimize SW
  • Merged the storage process into the network process
  • Now only have to launch the network process
  • First time startup is 250 ms faster
  • Doesn’t eliminate the launch of SW itself and XPC messaging
  • SW launch the sw in process
  • Any other tab will have to use the same SW, no cold start penalty, but still XPC overhead
• If the Network is really slow, SW may make it faster
  • Mobile specific
  • In countries with slow cell service, mobile devices, may be a big part of browsing
• Should we rename NetworkProcess?
  • Kinda… maybe?
  • LocalStorage is in the UIProcess
  • Payments?
    • NetworkProcess or their own process?
  • It’s possible it will be the generic helper process
  • HelperProcess, DoerProcess, DoallthethingsProcess

WebRTC & getUserMedia

• Using it for tech or learning support system
• WebRTC h.264 simulcast (done)
• VP8 for WebRTC (the libwebrtc implementation)
• Fuller support for WebRTC 1.0 APIs
  • May break some sites
• Support mDNS ICE Candidates
  • New proposal for a standard for privately sharing your IP address
• VCP for WebRTC
• Screen capture
• MediaCapabilities API

Security & Privacy

• Process per origin (PSON, frames) [it’s really process per site]
  • Process swap on navigation
  • Isolate frame content, hasn’t been designed it yet
• ITP 3.0
  • May create web compatibility concerns
  • New design patterns for sharing info
• Fingerprinting Mitigations 2.0
  • May create web compatibility concerns
  • New design patterns for sharing info
• Safe Browsing in WKWebView
• Fuzz-0 for JSC
  • Apple should take the action to Open-Source fuzzers
  • WebKit should run DOM fuzzers
    • Make available to WebKit Security Team
• Consider blocking third-party iframe redirects
  • Attack, ad in iframe top.locaiton.href sends to App Store or other page
    • Hard for web to protect itself from this
    • CSP protections available, no one understands or uses them
  • Other window or tab used to navigate to somewhere of attackers choosing (phishing page etc)
  • Prohibit like pop-up blocking
• Prevent navigation hijacking
• Sandbox Hardening 2.0
• Find and correct CSP Implementations
• CSP (Content Security Policy) level 3
• New content blocker action: insert stub

Graphics & Media

• WebGPU
  • Improvement over GL designs
• WebGL 2
  • Because people use it
  • “It’s the best” - mmaxfield
• Modern EME
• Support codec and container switching in MSE
• AirPlay improvements
• Fullscreen quality
• Implement PiP JS API
• Autoplay API
  • API to determine if autoplay will succeed
  • If you can’t autoplay, you provide a button
  • Spec is in flux
  • Will discuss at TPAC
• HDR video

Performance Defense

“A big part of being fast is not getting slow” - Geoff Garen

• PLT 5
• Performance regression defense coordination
• Throttled PLT (Page Load Test for iOS) - no regression
• PLT (macOS) - no regression
• Speedometer2 - no regression
• PLUM - no regression
• Membuster - no regression

Performance Offense

• Opitimize “first meaningful paint”
• JS bytecode caching
• Match Lua memory usage on Lua JSFight
  • A lot of system services that take advantage of JS scripting
  • Fixed cost memory is too high
  • Excited to set a goal to be just as good as Lua
• JetStream 2 - 6% faster
• MotionMark - 5% faster
• Improve page loading performance on watchOS by 20%
• JetStream 2 - 20% faster
• RAMification - 30% less memory
• MotionMark - 10% faster

Scrolling

• Use async scrolling in overflow

Web Inspector & WebDriver

• Handle big sites
• Modern architecture
• Medis debugging
• Multiple disjoint selection in grids and trees (cookies)
• Editing improvements in styles sidebar
• WebDriver for wkwebview
• Tab UI refresh
• more…

WebKit API

• UIWebView on top of WKEWebView
• Disable iOS WK1 WebThread
• Downloads
• More apps on Modern WebKit
• Enhanced editing APIs
• “One Network Process”
• Partition-aware website data API

Infrastructure & Testing

• Improved EWS
• webkit.org improvement 2019
• Upgrade build.webkit.org to Buildbot 1.0
• iOS LayoutTest Cleanup
• API testing technical debt reduction