Autopsy of a browser

Before there was the Internet of Things, there was the Internet of Webpages. And, unless you’re really committed to Curl, you probably access the Internet of Webpages using a browser. But browsers are a bit like digestive systems - everyone has one, but you don’t really know how it works, and sometimes it makes weird noises or bad smells.

Doctors learn about bodies by performing autopsies, so let’s try the same thing with a browser. We’ll find some browsers that died of natural causes, and have a poke around inside. We’ll start with a primitive browser, that only has the ability to display text and follow hyperlinks. From there, we can follow the evolution of images, layouts, CSS and JavaScript. Along the way, we’ll gain some insights into the historical circumstances that led to modern browsers being the way they are, and hopefully end up with a better understanding of some of their quirks.

*No browsers were harmed in the making of this talk