Developer(s) | The Chromium Project and contributors |
---|---|
Initial release | 3 April 2013[1] |
Repository | |
Written in | C++ |
Type | Browser engine |
License | BSD and LGPLv2.1 |
Website | www |
Blink is a browser engine developed as part of the Chromium project with contributions from Google, Meta, Microsoft, Opera Software, Adobe, Intel, IBM, Samsung, and others.[2][3] It was first announced in April 2013.[4]
Blink's naming was influenced by the non-standard presentational blink HTML element, which was introduced by Netscape Navigator and supported by Presto- and Gecko-based browsers until August 2013. Blink has, contrary to its name, never functionally supported the element.[5][6][7]
Blink is a fork of the WebCore component of WebKit,[8] which was originally a fork of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE.[9][10] It is used in Chrome starting at version 28,[11][12] Microsoft Edge starting at version 79,[13] Opera (15+),[11] Vivaldi, Brave, Amazon Silk and other Chromium-based browsers and frameworks.[citation needed]
Much of WebCore's code was used for features that Google Chrome implemented differently such as sandboxing and the multi-process model. These parts were altered for the Blink fork, and although slightly bulkier, it allowed greater flexibility for adding new features. The fork also deprecates CSS vendor prefixes; existing prefixes will be phased out and new experimental functionality will instead be enabled on an opt-in basis.[14] Aside from these planned changes, Blink initially remained relatively similar to WebCore.[12]
By commit count, Google was the largest contributor to the WebKit code base from late 2009 until 2013 when they started work on their fork, Blink.[15]
Blink engine has the following components:[16]
Internally, public API of the Blink doesn't rely entirely on the C++ Standard Template Library. Instead, it uses its own implementation.[17]
Several projects exist to turn Chromium's Blink into a reusable software framework for other developers:
Chromium Blink is implemented on seven platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Fuchsia, Android, and Android WebView.
Blink is also unofficially supported on FreeBSD[29] and OpenBSD.[30]
iOS versions of Chromium continue to use the WebKit WebCore renderer.[31]