In the late 1990s, the Windows Shell and Internet Explorer teams introduced a lot of brilliant and intricate designs that allowed intricate extension of the shell and the browser to handle scenarios beyond what those built by Microsoft itself. For instance, Internet Explorer supported the notion of pluggable protocols (“What if some protocol, say, FTPSContinue reading “Leaky Abstractions”
Category Archives: tech
Offline NetLog Viewing
A while back, I explained how you can use Telerik Fiddler or the Catapult NetLog Viewer to analyze a network log captured from Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or another Chromium or Electron-based application. While Fiddler is a native app that runs locally, the Catapult NetLog Viewer is a JavaScript application that runs in your browser.Continue reading “Offline NetLog Viewing”
Download Blocking by File Type
I’ve previously spoken about the magic of the File Type Policies component — a mechanism that allows files to be classified by their level of “dangerousness”, such that harmless files (e.g. .txt files) can be downloaded freely, whilst potentially-dangerous files (e.g. .dll files) are subjected to a higher degree of vetting and a more security-consciousContinue reading “Download Blocking by File Type”
Specifying Per-Site Policy with Chromium’s URL Filter Format
Chromium-based browsers like Microsoft Edge make very limited use of Windows Security Zones. Instead, most permissions and features that offer administrators per-site configuration via policy rely on lists of rules in the URL Filter Format. Filters are expressed in a syntax that is similar to other matching rules, but different enough to cause confusion. ForContinue reading “Specifying Per-Site Policy with Chromium’s URL Filter Format”
Web Proxy Authentication
Last year, I wrote about how the new Microsoft Edge’s adoption of the Chromium stack changed proxy determination away from the Windows Service (WinHTTP Proxy Service) to similar but not identical code in Chromium. This change mostly goes unnoticed, but it can have performance and functionality implications. In today’s post, I want to explore anotherContinue reading “Web Proxy Authentication”
window.close() Restrictions
Sometimes, Web Developers are surprised to find that the window.close() API doesn’t always close the browser window. When looking at the Developer Tools console, they’ll see a message like: Scripts may close only the windows that were opened by them. Why Do Browsers Limit close()? Before we dive into what factors govern what happens whenContinue reading “window.close() Restrictions”
Client Certificates and Logout
Back in May, I wrote about Client Certificate Authentication, a mechanism that allows websites to strongly validate the identity of their visitors using certificates presented by the visitor’s browser. One significant limitation for client certificate authentication is that there is no standards-based mechanism for a user to “log out” of a site that uses thatContinue reading “Client Certificates and Logout”
Web “Sessions” in Private Mode
I’ve written about Private Browsing Mode a lot previously, and I’ve written a bit about the behavior of “Session restore” previously, but one topic I haven’t covered is how “Sessions” work while in Private mode. Session Sharing Historically, one of the top-reported Private Mode issues was that users unexpectedly found that opening a new PrivateContinue reading “Web “Sessions” in Private Mode”
Debugging Browsers – Tools and Techniques
Last update: March 29, 2021 Earlier this year, I shared a post on how you can become an expert on web browsers from the comfort of your desk… or anywhere else you have an internet connection. In that post, I mostly covered how to search through the source, review issue reports, and find design documentation.Continue reading “Debugging Browsers – Tools and Techniques”
Web Debugging: Watching Element Changes
Recently, I was debugging a regression where I wanted to watch change’s in an element’s property at runtime. Specifically, I wanted to watch the URL change when I select different colors in Tesla’s customizer. By using the Inspect Element tool, I can find the relevant image in the tree, and then when I pick aContinue reading “Web Debugging: Watching Element Changes”
