Blog
Total news: 3
Egretia mashes up HTML5 and blockchain
Beijing-based company Egret Technology is planning to combine two of the most important modern technologies, HTML5 and blockchain, in a project called Egretia. The idea behind Egretia is solving some technical issues in the HTML5 game industry—such as multiplayer matchmaking, digital item marketplaces, data storage, advertising and crowdfunding—using blockchain. Egret is already well-known in the HTML5 community due to its work on HTML5 development tools, including an engine, IDE and packaging tools, which are reportedly used by 200,000 active developers. With the integration of Egretia blockchain technologies into the Egret development suite and the release of an SDK, game developers will be able to easily make use of new blockchain-powered backend features. These include universal digital wallets, online multiplayer, distributed communications and data storage, game distribution, a digital goods marketplace and an advertising platform. Think of something like Valve's popular Steam service for PC gamers, but decentralised for greater transparency. An Egreten wallet is also provided for users to keep their digital items, games and in-game rewards, which will be accessible via the web, PCs and mobiles. This should allow users to move and trade their digital items between games that use the Egretia framework, rather than having their rewards limited to a single game. The Egretia project includes its own token, Egreten, which users can spend to buy games, DLC, digital items and so on, and receive for playing games, crowdfunding games and sharing ads. Developers will also receive tokens for participating in Egretia by developing and operating games or offering in-game advertising. Acquired Egreten tokens can be spent by developers to advertise their games. Of course, Egretia are also offering these tokens for sale in an ICO which takes place on May 26th. The company is hoping to raise $23.7 million (£17.6 million) by selling 39% of its 8 billion tokens. If Egret are able to convince a significant portion of their developers to make use of these new features in their new and existing HTML5 games, Egretia could become a success. It could also become something of a gateway for developers into blockchain development, which could help alleviate the pressure on the limited number of blockchain developers.
Date: 2018-05-21
Category: HTML/CSS
W3C and WHATWG come together for HTML and DOM specifications
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) will collaborate on developing a single version of the HTML and DOM specifications – in a move which may help bring the two factions closer together. The memorandum of understanding means both parties will endeavour to pursue the following path: W3C and WHATWG will work together on HTML and DOM, housed in and maintained by the WHATWG repositories, to produce a living standard; W3C will facilitate community work directly in the WHATWG repositories, to include bridging communities, developing use cases, filing issues, writing tests, and mediating issue resolution; W3C will stop independently publishing a designated list of specifications related to HTML and DOM, instead working to take WHATWG review drafts to W3C recommendations. Writing in a blog post confirming the cessation of hostilities, W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe noted the move was a continuation of partnership mechanisms, first begun in December 2017. “Since then, W3C membership [has] weighed in regularly including at two bi-annual meetings; there were several direct meetings between W3C management and the WHATWG Steering Group,” wrote Jaffe. “In September and December 2018, during the extensions of the Web Platform Working Group, we noted that while negotiations continued in order to provide a single authoritative specification for HTML and DOM, the specifications that were part of the negotiations with the WHATWG would not be advanced on the W3C Recommendation track. “W3C remains committed to ensuring that HTML development continues to take into account the needs of the global community, and continues to improve in areas such as accessibility, internationalisation and privacy while providing greater interoperability, performance and security,” Jaffe added. Regular readers of this publication will be aware of the various spats between W3C and WHATWG over the years; not least with the then-emerging HTML5 specification in 2012. In July of that year, the organisations announced they were going different ways, with WHATWG working on the living standard and W3C focusing on recreating static ‘snapshots’ of the standard. Speaking to this publication at the time Ian Jacobs, then head of communications at W3C, described the move as an ‘ongoing partnership’ having previously called it a ‘programmed transition.’
Date: 2019-05-29
Category: HTML/CSS
Adopted or abandoned: Microsoft details Chromium-based Edge features
Microsoft has provided details of what features are being adopted or abandoned from Chromium for its Edge browser reincarnation. Last year, Microsoft announced it would be scrapping development of its EdgeHTML engine (a decision criticised by some) and switching to Chromium for its Edge browser. In providing reasons why it made the switch, Microsoft cites better web compatibility for users, less fragmentation for developers, and the ability to ‘join forces to evolve the web’. The company has provided a breakdown of what features to expect in the Chromium-based Edge. Microsoft is, of course, now contributing to Chromium. So far, the company has completed around 300 merges in areas such as accessibility (UIA), high contrast, caption styling (Web VTT), native caret browsing, ARM 64, and TSF1. Other areas the company notes it ‘would like to help with’ includes PDF enhancements, battery life, smooth scrolling, editing, layout, dev tools, and web authentication. Battery life was a subject of much debate between Microsoft and Google while developing their own browser engines. Microsoft claimed its Edge browser was more battery-efficient and produced several videos as proof. In the latest video, the Edge device lasted the longest and depleted the battery after 14 hours and 20 minutes while the Chrome device lasted 12 hours and 32 minutes. Microsoft highlighted three areas of investigation where it believes Chromium battery life can be improved: high-resolution timer in message pump, disk cache during video playback, and audio offloading to hardware. Edge was often praised for its scrolling performance. In Microsoft’s tests, the company found much higher latency in Chromium over its EdgeHTML engine and has prioritised it as another contribution area. Microsoft is, of course, looking to port some of its own features and services over to Chromium. The company is currently working on PlayReady DRM, integration with Microsoft services, and single sign-on functionality.
Date: 2019-04-09
Category: HTML/CSS