New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
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New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#2Here's some screenshots of the new client.
New games list: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_library.jpg
New store site: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_store.jpg
New in-game overlay and browser: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_browser.jpg
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#3About time! I always wondered how such a successful product could lag so behind in polish. That embedded IE control steam uses is an absolute pain in the ass.
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#4Wow, that looks much better! Does anyone know how much better it performs compared to the IE-based client?
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#5Why is the fact that they're switching to WebKit buried in the document so deeply? That's like the best thing they did.
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#6I wonder if this a step towards multi-platform Steam...
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#7Wow, that looks much better! Does anyone know how much better it performs compared to the IE-based client?
As far as subjective measurements go, it's night and day. Repainting is quicker, pages load faster, content (like images) streams in more quickly onto the screen, and the UI in general pauses less. It helps that they also overhauled the user interface so that it's easier to use, which makes it feel faster even if it actually isn't.
I always speculated that a lot of the random pauses/hangs in the Steam UI were caused by IE, and now I'm fairly certain as most of them are gone in the new one.
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#8Specifically, they're using the Chromium Embedded Framework:
http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Fr...
I'm looking forward to seeing them release the modified source. Always nice to see a game studio participate in the open source community.
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#9Why is the fact that they're switching to WebKit buried in the document so deeply? That's like the best thing they did.
Their customers care more about the surface symptoms than the technical details behind why it's an improvement. If you use the new UI, it's immediately obvious why it's a big deal: Because the UI is vastly improved. The fact that WebKit is involved isn't really important (though it is a cool detail).
Re: New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit
#10I wonder if this a step towards multi-platform Steam...
There's OS X style close buttons and menu layouts in the Steam files now, so I'd guess that multiplatform Steam is a good bet.