It took a while, but today I have finally released a new version of html5test.com. This should have happened much sooner, but unfortunately some very serious health issues in my family meant I was not able to spend enough time to make that happen. But fortunately we can now put that behind us, and over the last month I’ve made a large number of improvements.

New specifications

First of all, there are a large number of new specifications, like Web Payments, Web Authentication, Credential Management, WebVR, Fetch, Web Animation, the new Shadow DOM spec, ES6 and ES7 enhancements, and much much more…

By now everybody should already know this. You should not rely on browser detection. User-agent sniffing is evil. Use feature detection instead. Sound and solid advice. At least until you start looking at some of the more unusual browsers.

Earlier this summer I did extensive research on smart TV and console browsers. It showed me that these browsers are a lot like mobile browsers 10 years ago — before Chrome and Safari. Everybody is trying, but nobody really knows what is right. More on that at a later time.

One important lesson I learned was that we as developers make…

Two weeks ago I attended EdgeConf in London. If there is just one thing you are allowed to say about EdgeConf I would say that interesting things always happen during EdgeConf. It was just a year ago, during the previous EdgeConf in London that Yoav Weiss launched his crowdfunding campaign for implementing the picture element. When you put that many smart people in one room the level of the discussions is just astounding.

The most interesting thing of this EdgeConf however didn’t happen during the conference itself, but a few days after. Nolan Lawson published the now famous Safari is…

If your HTML5 app or site relies on Geolocation you’re probably familiar with the following code:

if (navigator.geolocation) {
   // use geolocation
} else {
   // use an alternative
}

The concept of feature detection is very simple. Before you use a certain feature you try to detect if the browser offers that feature. And if not, you can give the user an alternative. In case of Geolocation you could use other means to find the location, for example by using the IP address or simply asking the user.

So far so good, but what if the user does not…

A little over a month ago I decided to start an Open Device Lab. It’s been something I’ve been thinking about ever since it was first mentioned during PhoneGap Day in September of 2012. Over the years I already collected enough devices, so the decision wasn’t a difficult one. But having the devices is just one step.

The next step was finding the space for the lab. I have just a single room as office for my day job, but it’s large enough for two people. It’s not as big as I’d like, but will do nicely. The other problem…

Last week Google released Android 4.4 — codename KitKat.For web developers there is a big change — one we’ve all been waiting for. The build-in WebView has been updated to use Chrome. So, this seems like a good moment to take a closer look at the Android browser and the WebView.

A little bit of history

Traditionally Android provides a rendering engine based on WebKit called the WebView. The Android browser — simply called Internet — uses the WebView. But other browsers and any application that need to render HTML can use it too, including apps that have been build using web technologies with PhoneGap.

…

For a couple of months I have had a Palm Pre lying around in a drawer which was stuck on the activation screen. Of course Palm is no longer in business. First it was sold to HP and then it was shut down only to have it’s assets sold to LG. So I thought this was going to be a difficult one.

Turns out it was actually quite simple. The original webOS developer center site is still online and offers a tool to bypass the activation screen. …

As owner of an Open Device Lab — the HTML5test Device Lab — I try to try to find as many different phones with as many different browsers as possible. I buy them off eBay, I visit pawnshops and I literally beg my friends and family for their old phones.

Today I was very happy I was able to acquire an original iPod Touch. The battery is in pretty bad shape and I’m quite sure the previous owner dropped it more than once. But for just € 15 I just couldn’t resist it. It ran iOS 3.1.3 …