Apple WebKit reaches perfect Acid3 score

The Apple-originated WebKit, an underpinning of software such as the Safari web browser, has become the first public rendering engine to get a perfect Acid3 score, its developers claim. Acid3 is a test site produced by the Web Standards Project, and is used to gauge the conformity of a web browser to both standards and technologies, such as JavaScript. Most browsers fall well short of a 100/100 ranking, such as Firefox 2 -- which scores approximately 53 -- and Safari 3.1, which reaches 75.

The WebKit team notes that a perfect score does not necessarily guarantee a full pass; animation must be smooth, and in some cases errors can appear despite technical compliance. As of version r31356 of the WebKit, however, the developers believe they have achieved total accuracy. It is unknown when this might be implemented into future versions of Safari.

Filed under: Apple, developer, Graphics/Web Design
Other story tags: Safari, browsers, WebKit

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220726 03/27, 2:02pm, EDT Wow this is cool

I just downloaded the latest webkit and confirmed. It got 100/100 and the reference drawing looks the same!

Wow, congrats webkit! Between webkit and firefox 3, Apple users are in great shape...

W

posted by VValdo

220728 03/27, 3:20pm, EDT my numbers

Strangely my numbers are different. Safari 3.1=72. Webkit nightly build=94. Firefox 3b4=68. Still pretty awesome though.

posted by Guest

220730 03/27, 3:51pm, EDT compliance?

I'm curious, does "full compliance" also mean that hacks AREN'T supported? For example, is it possible for MS to make IE 100% compliant with web standards yet still support all the hacks and workarounds and other garbage that web developers currently use to get their sites to work? Or does full compliance "bragging rights" disallow all that to be implemented in the browser?

If all that stuff is still allowed to exist in a "fully compliant" browser, even if every web browser made become fully compliant, as long as IE is the dominent browser we'll still have to put up with that crap.

posted by ender

220752 03/28, 12:13am, EDT Re: compliance

Compliance mean you do what the standard says. However, if the standard does not specify a certain situation, it is up to the developer to handle that case.

And Acid3 is not a compliance test. It checks a specific set of standards (basically a 'wish list'). Some of it is actually broken code, set up to test how it handles broken code.

But you have to be concerned with any set of benchmarks or test, hoping that the developers don't code to pass those, rather than to worry about the full standard (for we know if IE passed Acid3 tomorrow, that would be the suspicion).

Recall how video card makers were caught tweaking their drivers to work best on benchmarks.

posted by testudo

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