This is a series of posts all about the features I would want in the web browser of my dreams. You can peep the overview of all of the features in Part I. Part II, Part III, and Part IV drilled down on the first six features that I want out of a web browser. In this installment, I’ll discuss sandboxed plug-ins and separate processes for each spawned tab.
Sandboxed Plug-Ins
In Safari 4 in Snow Leopard, Apple implemented plug-in sandboxing. If you’re running flash, it is its own process instead of being included under Safari’s process. If flash crashes, it won’t take down the browser. This feature is brilliant in its simplicity. I wouldn’t want to use a browser that didn’t implement this in one way or another.
Separate Processes for each Tab
This was first popularly implemented in Google’s Chrome browser, and then copied by the fledgling Stainless browser. This feature, similar to the sandboxed plug-ins, keeps one out of control tab from knocking out the rest of the browser. That is extremely useful, and I would be surprised if every browser didn’t move towards this in the near future.
I’ll wrap everything up in Part VI of this series. Hopefully then some developers will get going on the browser of my dreams!
Photo Credit: luc.viatour
