DNS Prefetching Speeds Up Display of Pages When a Link is Clicked
 
    BEIJING, July 28 — Hardly a week after announcing the public release of the alpha 4 of it’s new browser, Maxthon today released 3.0.0.140 alpha of Max-3, the Internet’s first automatic drive hybrid browser.
   The free alpha of Max-3 is available for download at http://dl.maxthon.cn/mx3/mx3.0.0.140.exe
    Max-3, expected to be officially released early next year, will contain two rendering engines.  One is the Trident engine already used in the current version of Maxthon, as well as in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer: the second rendering engine that is used by Max-3, known as Webkit, is also used by Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari browsers.
    The hybrid browser will automatically switch between the two engines, depending on whether a webpage was created using the original HTML formatting or was designed with the newer cascading style sheets (CSS).

    Faster DNS Information
    One of the major improvements featured in 3.0.0.140 alpha is the prefetching of domain name system (DNS) addresses, a change that improves browsing speeds.  When a link is clicked, a browser has to contact one of several DNS servers on the Internet that maintain lists of domain names, such as www.maxthon.com, matched up to a DNS numerical address (for example, 219.232.241.166).  The browser has to retrieve the numerical address before it can download the page’s contents.
    With DNS prefetching, while a webpage is loading, Max-3 resolves links it finds on the page and stores the information in the background.  Then, if a users clicks one of the page’s links, Max-3 begins downloading the new page without having to request the address information from a DNS server.
3.0.0.140 alpha also contains updates, fixes to the Webkit core, and improved support for keyboard shortcuts and mouse buttons.

    Shifting Gears
    In Maxthon’s hybrid rendering engines, running display commands through Webkit is called Ultra Mode in recognition of its extreme high speed and its ability to work with the latest Web design fashions.  Ultra Mode significantly improves JavaScript execution and page loading speeds.  It also has a much better support for the W3C standards, as evidenced by Max-3’s passing of the W3C’s Acid2 and Acid3 tests.
    Most of the time, Max-3 will operate in Ultra Mode.  Max-3 may encounter pages, such as certain online banking sites, that Webkit cannot display.  When that happens, Max-3 automatically suspends Ultra Mode and engages the Trident engine to put the browser into Retro Mode.  As the name suggests, Retro Mode will function to display correctly webpages that have used the same design commands that originated some 20 years ago.  The switch from Ultra to Retro is seamless and ordinarily goes unnoticed by the user.
    If the browsing mode is not switched automatically, the user can make the switch manually by clicking the Browsing Mode button next to the address bar. Maxthon makes a data entry about the mode selected by the user, and automatically activates that mode during return visits to the page.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ——Maxthonguy

 

Beijing – Maxthon released alpha version 4 of its new browser, Max-3, for public download and testing.  The alpha is available at  http://dl.maxthon.cn/mx3/msetup3.0.0.139.exe.When the complete version of the browser is released, early next year, Max-3 will be the Internet’s first browser to use automatic-detection hybrid technology to power its display of Web pages.
Max-3 will contain two rendering engines.  One is the Trident engine already in the current version of Maxthon, as well as being used by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
The second rendering engine, Webkit, is newer than Trident, and used by Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari. Both of those browsers have won praise in reviews for their rendering speed. Early benchmark tests of Chrome found it to be 42 times faster than Internet Explorer 7, and nine times faster than Firefox 3. Max-3 is expected to have similar speed advantages.
 
A rendering engine is a collection of code that translates the text-based HTML and Javascript instructions into signals used to correctly display a Web page that could include photos, graphic decorations, video, and text.
Trident is relatively little changed since it was introduced several years ago. Since then, design trends have introduced such innovations as CSS with different functions, the W3C standard, and different aesthetics. The result is that a page rendered by Webkit may look fine. When Trident tackles the same page, it doesn’t understand the newer instructions and botches the display.
Webkit, however, may not properly construct one of the millions of older Web pages originally designed to display on systems running only Internet Explorer.
Max-3 is designed to provide the best of both rendering engines.

Shifting Gears
In Maxthon’s hybrid rendering engines, running display commands through Webkit is called Ultra Mode in recognition of its extreme high speed and its ability to work with the latest Web design fashions. Ultra Mode significantly improves JavaScript execution and page loading speed. It has also much better support for the W3C standards, as evidenced by Max-3’s passing the W3C’s Acid2 and Acid3 tests.

Most of the time, Max-3 will operate in Ultra Mode. Max-3 may encounter pages, such as certain online banking sites, that Webkit cannot display. When that happens, Max-3 automatically suspends Ultra Mode and engages the Trident engine to put the browser into Retro Mode. As the name suggests, Retro Mode will function to display correctly Web pages that have used the same design commands that originated some 20 years ago. The switch from Ultra to Retro is seamless and ordinarily goes unnoticed by the user.
If the browsing mode is not switched automatically, the user can make the switch manually by clicking the Browsing Mode button next to the address bar. Maxthon makes a data entry about the mode selected by the user, and automatically activates that mode during return visits to the page.
The hybrid engines are available for testing in the new alpha. Other major updates to the alpha code include:
* Auto-Update Module, allowing Max-3 to be updated online.
* Address Bar Optimization. The bar now supports smart sorting of its drop-down list and shortcuts for completing URLs. For example, users may type the first part of a URL and complete it with Ctrl+Enter for .com, Shift+Enter for .net, and Alt+Enter for .org.
* Added Favicons for display in the Address Bar, Tab Bar, Favorites Bar, and Favorite List.
* Smooth Scrolling Support. Web pages will move smoothly when scrolling the mouse wheel.
* Enhanced Javascript performance by about 10 percent.

After months of development and testing, Maxthon International has released version 2.5.3 of its award-winning browser.
The free Maxthon 2.5.3 is available for download at http://maxthon.com/download.htm.

Updated Maxthon Browser Features
Version 2.5.2 of Maxthon focuses less on adding new features and more on improving the browsers stability and performance.

“We are headed into a major change with the release early next year of the hybrid-engine Max-3,” said Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon. “Max-3 will incorporate two rendering engines–the Trident engine also used by Internet Explorer, and Webkit, found in Google Chrome and Apple Safari. We want to make sure that we go into the third edition with a strong, stable program.”

Still, there are some significant new features in the interim Maxthon 2.5.3, including a new way to save addresses of favorite sites on line. The use of the http protocol makes Maxthon Online Favorites more reliable than ever before.

The version also includes isolator technology, which puts a barrier around each tabbed page in the browser so that a crash of one tab doesn’t affect other tabs. It now provides support for Flastget3, Bitcomet, and Thunder Mini.

Bug Fixes
Bug fixes for version 2.5.3 were focused on optimization and stability in the browser’s code. Users no longer need to change their Gmail settings to upload attachments. The fixed program allows them to use the Flash-based upload.

The edition corrects problems relating to Windows’ input method editor, which permits the typing of Chinese, Japanese and other non-Latin alphabets, and fixes errors arising from embedded media players. Support for Internet Explorer toolbars is re-enabled, and some download manager issues have been fixed.

A more comprehensive list of changes for developers can be found on the Maxthon Web site at http://www.maxthon.com/changelog.htm.