Web Browser Engineering

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Web browsers are ubiquitous, but how do they work? This book explains, building a basic but complete web browser, from networking to JavaScript, in a couple thousand lines of Python.

The cover for Web Browser Engineering, from Oxford University Press

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Web Browser Engineering is available in English for about $50 from Bookshop.org, B&N, or Amazon, and in Korean from Yes24 or directly from Hanbit. More translations coming soon.

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Introduction

  1. Preface
  2. Browsers and the Web
  3. History of the Web

Part 1: Loading Pages

  1. Downloading Web Pages
    URLs and HTTP requests
  2. Drawing to the Screen
    Creating windows and drawing to a canvas
  3. Formatting Text
    Word wrapping and line spacing

Part 2: Viewing Documents

  1. Constructing an HTML Tree
    Parsing and fixing HTML
  2. Laying Out Pages
    Inline and block layout
  3. Applying Author Styles
    Parsing and applying CSS
  4. Handling Buttons and Links
    Hyperlinks and browser chrome

Part 3: Running Applications

  1. Sending Information to Servers
    Form submission and web servers
  2. Running Interactive Scripts
    Changing the DOM and reacting to events
  3. Keeping Data Private
    Cookies and logins, XSS and CSRF

Part 4: Modern Browsers

  1. Adding Visual Effects
    Blending, clipping, and compositing
  2. Scheduling Tasks and Threads
    The event loop and the rendering pipeline
  3. Animating and Compositing
    Smooth animations using the GPU
  4. Making Content Accessible
    Keyboard input, zooming, and the accessibility tree
  5. Supporting Embedded Content
    Images, iframes, and scripting
  6. Reusing Previous Computation
    Invalidation, editing, and correctness