The Pitfalls of EventSource over HTTP/1.1

While there are many different ways for servers to stream data to clients, the Server-sent Events / EventSource Interface is one of the simplest. Your code simply creates an EventSource and then subscribes to its onmessage callback: Implementing the server side is almost as simple: your handler just prefaces each piece of data it wantsContinue reading “The Pitfalls of EventSource over HTTP/1.1”

AppOrWeb-to-WebApp Communication: Custom Scheme Handlers

I’ve previously written about Web-to-App communication via Application Protocols. App Protocols allow web content to invoke a native application outside of the browser. WebApp advocates (like me!) want to continue to close the native/browser gaps that prevent web applications from becoming full-fledged replacements for native apps. To that end, I’ve recently spent some time lookingContinue reading “AppOrWeb-to-WebApp Communication: Custom Scheme Handlers”

Thoughts on DNS-over-HTTPS

Updated November 30, 2020 with new information about DoH in Edge, ECH, and HTTPSSVC records, and January 25, 2021 with a few remarks about Edge’s implementation. Type https://example.com in your web browser’s address bar and hit enter. What happens? Before connecting to the example.com server, your browser must convert “example.com” to the network address atContinue reading “Thoughts on DNS-over-HTTPS”

bye: FTP Support Is Going Away

Support for the venerable FTP protocol is being removed from Chromium. Standardized in 1971, FTP is not a safe protocol for the modern internet. Its primary defect is lack of support for encryption (FTPS isn’t supported by any popular browsers), although poor support for authentication and other important features (download resumption, proxying) also have hamperedContinue reading “bye: FTP Support Is Going Away”