Opera shows off paged browsing
Opera Software’s chief technology officer, Håkon Wium Lie, demonstrated a proposed new feature for web browsers that would allow you to page through web pages rather than scroll through them. Web browsers would also be able to apply different styling depending on the device they’re on.
This new feature would be implemented through Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), a web standard that Lie helped develop, and users that prefer scrolling to paging would be able to opt to continue perusing websites that way.
Lie unveiled (and demonstrated) his proposed additions to the CSS specification on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 at Up North Web 2011, Opera Software’s annual conference held in Oslo, Norway.
During interviews with the media after Opera’s press conference, Lie said that he posted the Request For Comment document suggesting the addition to the CSS standard the evening before.
With the proposal so young it wasn’t certain how widely it would be supported by other browser makers.
Håkon Wium Lie with Android tablet showing CSS paging in action
Suggested implementation
To show his idea in action, Lie used a build of the Opera Mobile browser on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet PC.
Image, text, and advertisement layout changed depending on the orientation of the tablet, with the overall presentation looking similar to that of a newspaper or magazine.
Lie said that the changes he is proposing to the CSS standard present an opportunity to rethink adverts on the web, as well as the user interface.
For the web designers and developers, and the more technically inclined, Lie showed three different techniques for achieving paginated web pages.
These are shown in the pictures below.
Three CSS3 techniques for paging websites
Another thing Lie said he proposed but didn’t highlight during the press conference is the ability of the browser to do a “media query.”
This will allow the browser to apply different styles to a webpage based on the device it’s running on. Variables such as the size of the screen and type of device would help determine which styles the browser applies.
Browsers rehashing user interface developments of desktop PCs?
But aren’t web standards just following in the footsteps of smartphone and tablet PC apps that turn online content into newspaper or magazine-like reading experiences?
Lie conceded that in this case the proposed standard did come after apps, but said he liked to think of it as the web emulating the Romans who invented books.
Posed a similar, but broader question about whether browsers aren’t just rehashing the user interface developments in operating systems and desktop applications, Lie said that what makes the web better is reach.
Christen Krogh, chief development officer at Opera, added to that by saying that he sees a healthy integration and flow of ideas between apps and the web.
The web’s advantage is that it is open and doesn’t belong to one actor, Krogh said.
Where would you page rather than scroll?
On a tablet PC, as demonstrated at Up North Web, Lie’s proposed paginated browsing comes across as a very natural way to read online content.
However, I can imagine instances where it would be preferable to be able to scroll rather than read. It’s good to hear then that the plan is for the page-based layout to be optional for those who elect to not browse the web that way.
Lie also mentioned that for browsing on a TV with a remote control, scrolling isn’t a very natural way to navigate.
This also leads one to consider feature phones that typically use directional keys to navigate around a web page – not nearly as natural a way to scroll as the touch-based input that is common on modern smartphones.
Keeping this in mind, it may be interesting to see whether browsers on such small screens could also benefit from the standard.
Further reading
W3C CSS Working Group- CSS Generated Content for Paged Media Module
Jan Vermeulen was a guest of Opera at Up North Web 2011 in Oslo
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