Blink (browser engine)

{{Short description|Open source browser engine of the Chromium project}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Blink

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| developer = The Chromium Project

| released = {{start date and age|df=yes|2013|4|3}}{{cite web |last=Barth |first=Adam |url=https://blog.chromium.org/2013/04/blink-rendering-engine-for-chromium.html |title=Blink: A rendering engine for the Chromium project |website=blog.chromium.org |date=3 April 2013 |access-date=12 March 2024 |archive-date=11 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511104842/https://blog.chromium.org/2013/04/blink-rendering-engine-for-chromium.html |url-status=live }}

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| programming language = C++

| genre = Browser engine

| license = BSD and LGPLv2.1

| website = {{URL|https://www.chromium.org/blink/}}

}}

Blink is a browser engine developed as part of the free and open-source Chromium project. Blink is by far the most-used browser engine, due to the market share dominance of Google Chrome and the fact that many other browsers are based on the Chromium code.

To create Chrome, Google chose to use Apple's WebKit engine.{{cite web |last=Fisher |first=Darin |url=https://blog.chromium.org/2008/09/chrome-3s-webkit.html |title=Chrome <3s WebKit |website=blog.chromium.org |date=5 September 2008 |access-date=12 March 2024 |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312120850/https://blog.chromium.org/2008/09/chrome-3s-webkit.html |url-status=live }} However, Google needed to make substantial changes to the WebKit code to support its novel multi-process browser architecture.{{cite web |first=Peter |last=Bright |title=Google going its own way, forking WebKit rendering engine |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/google-going-its-own-way-forking-webkit-rendering-engine/ |website=Ars Technica |publisher=Conde Nast |date=3 April 2013 |access-date=9 March 2017 |archive-date=21 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221222631/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/google-going-its-own-way-forking-webkit-rendering-engine/ |url-status=live }} Over the course of several years, the divergence from Apple's version increased, so Google decided to officially fork its version as Blink in 2013.

Blink's name was influenced by two factors: the implication of speed, and a reference to the non-standard blink HTML element,{{cite news |last=Lardinois |first=Frederic |date=2013-04-03 |title=Google Forks WebKit And Launches Blink, A New Rendering Engine That Will Soon Power Chrome And Chrome OS |publisher=TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/03/google-forks-webkit-and-launches-blink-its-own-rendering-engine-that-will-soon-power-chrome-and-chromeos/ |access-date=2013-11-25 |archive-date=25 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125154909/http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/03/google-forks-webkit-and-launches-blink-its-own-rendering-engine-that-will-soon-power-chrome-and-chromeos/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Shankland |first=Stephen |date=2013-04-03 |title=Google parts ways with Apple over WebKit, launches Blink |publisher=CNet |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-parts-ways-with-apple-over-webkit-launches-blink/ |access-date=2013-11-25}} which was never actually supported by Blink.{{cite news |last=Kobie |first=Nicole |date=2013-08-07 |title=Firefox 23 finally kills "blink" tag |publisher=PC Pro |url=https://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/383512/firefox-23-finally-kills-blink-tag |url-status=dead |access-date=2013-11-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202221923/http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/383512/firefox-23-finally-kills-blink-tag |archive-date=2 December 2013}}

By commit count, Google was the largest contributor to the WebKit project from late 2009 until the fork in 2013.{{cite web |last=Siracusa |first=John |title=Hypercritical: Code Hard or Go Home |publisher=Hypercritical.co |date=2013-04-12 |url=http://hypercritical.co/2013/04/12/code-hard-or-go-home |access-date=2013-06-15 |archive-date=1 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501003500/http://hypercritical.co/2013/04/12/code-hard-or-go-home |url-status=live }} One of the first changes of the new fork was to deprecate CSS vendor prefixes, including WebKit's; experimental Blink functionality is instead enabled on an opt-in basis.{{cite web |title=Blink Developer FAQ |website=The Chromium Projects |url=https://www.chromium.org/blink/developer-faq#TOC-Will-we-see-a--chrome--vendor-prefix-now- |access-date=22 October 2014}}