Talk:Link prefetching
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[edit] Article structure
The web browser example given in the article is just one specific instance of prefetching. Prefetching data carried out by processors is another example.
The article should begin by explaining what prefetching is in a generic sense, and then specifying examples. It could also go into the pros and cons of prefetching. eg. prefetching web pages may be undesirable if you have a data transfer quota, or if a badly designed implemented algorithm were to prefetch large binary files.
--TheParanoidOne 20:15, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- Agree. The article need to be rewriten to cover a boarden area. It is not just used in the Internet. --minghong 12:45, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I renamed the article to "Link prefetching". --minghong 21:00, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Mention Fasterfox?
I am going to mention fasterfox, because it allows another brouser (firefox) to prefetch links as well. I think just a mention is good enough. Cabd33 16:16, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Removed from Mozilla Firefox
The following was removed from Mozilla Firefox with comment "rvt. link prefetching is explain on own article.":
"Link prefetching involves an optimization technique that utilizes the browser's idle time to download or prefetch documents that the user might visit in the near future.
For example, if you search for "internet explorer", Firefox may connect with Microsoft's server (first link returned by Google), even if you eventually choose a link to Wikipedia."
I think it should be mentioned in this article, because this has obvious privacy implications. Also, IMO it is good idea to include the list of browsers that has prefetching (especially non-standard) enabled by default (like Firefox).
Another note: after the sentence "The standard is set out in a web standard." there is link to external source - Mozilla website, which is incorrect -- Mozilla is NOT some stardardization body, so what they say is irrelevant in this case.
Standardization body of HTML is w3c.org. Prefetching used in Firefox (and other Gecko-based web browsers) is enabled by default AND is NOT standardized in the same time. (In FF there is even no GUI to disable this feature. Bugs in Mozilla's Bugzilla related to this are closed with WONTFIX.)
How does prefetching work in FF? When there is somewhere in the page <link rel="prefetch" href="http://some.url"> then browser may in idle time "prefetch" http://some.url. But you know what? There is no value "prefetch" for "rel" in HTML standard! See here then click on "rel", you land here, then click on "link-types" and you finally land on "Link types". You see? There is no "prefetch".
Also, standard says (http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/links.html#h-12.3): (about <link>) "This element defines a link. Unlike A, it may only appear in the HEAD section of a document, although it may appear any number of times." But Firefox (and other Gecko-based browsers) recognizes <link rel="prefetch"> even in <body>. Another breaking of standard. 193.219.28.146 17:29, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
