Prerender definition in html5 spec

I'd like to propose adding link type "prerender" to the html5
specification. It is similar in nature to the existing link type "prefetch"
in the specification.

The "prerender" keyword is meant to be a hint to the browser to load a
webpage in anticipation of a user navigation. It's implemented in Chrome
and IE11 as an experimental feature.

We discussed this in the Web Performance working group:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-web-perf/2013Jun/0013.html

I've written below the proposed addition to the html5 spec below. Please
let me know if you have any comments on it and what would be the next step
in considering this addition to the spec.
Thanks,
Arvind

4.13.5.10 Link type "prerender"

The prerender keyword may be used with a
link<http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/single-page.html#the-link-element>
, a<http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/single-page.html#the-a-element>,
and area<http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/single-page.html#the-area-element>
 elements. This keyword creates an external resource
link<http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/single-page.html#external-resource-link>
.

The prerender keyword indicates that preemptively fetching and loading the
specified resource in a hidden top-level browsing
context<http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/single-page.html#top-level-browsing-context>is
likely to be beneficial, as it is highly likely that the user will
navigate to this resource. If the resource is navigated to, the user agent
may replace the current browsing context with the one it loaded the
specified resource in.

The user agent may discard the browsing context corresponding to the
prerendered resource if any of the following is true:


   - If the resource is not navigated to within a reasonable amount of time.
   - If the user navigates to some other resource from the current browsing
   context.
   - If the link element is removed from the document.

There is no default type for resources given by the prerender keyword.

Received on Wednesday, 10 July 2013 01:39:07 UTC