False HTML5Test Score Threatens to Get Maxthon Banned from the Test

HTML5, and its comrades, has been the talk of the town for the past few years, mostly warranted. The top browsers rightfully compete to offer the most comprehensive support for HTML5, CSS3 and company.

But with new technologies and features being implemented all the time, it's a never-ending struggle.

Still, having the browser with the most comprehensive support of HTML5 features, standardized or otherwise, comes with some bragging rights.

HTML5test.com keeps track of the features that each browser supports and assigned a score based on how many of the features listed in the HTML5 draft spec, along with WebGL, Web Audio API and a couple of other technologies.

Google, Opera and Mozilla are neck and neck and even Microsoft is keeping up. But you may be surprised to find out who's leading the pack (or not if you've been keeping up with this) it's Maxthon. That's right, the Chinese browser that few have heard about and no one uses.

It sounds very similar to Opera, a very solid browser which has struggled with user adoption despite being at the forefront of web technologies and standards for decades (more than one) now.

Except, not really. The latest Maxthon is based on WebKit, the same engine powering Chrome and Safari. WebKit is always getting better so the newer the version of WebKit you integrate into your browser, the better support it's going to have.

If that's not enough though, you can always cheat, after all, who's going to check? Earlier this year Maxthon made quite a fuss about the fact it offered better support for HTML5 than even Chrome.

But it turns out that features Maxthon claims it supports don't really work. Niels Leenheer, the creator of HTML5test.com, found out that WebGL, getUserMedia - webcam and microphone support, as well as subtitles and a few others don't work even though the browser claims they do.

That's not only in poor taste, it's not very smart either, as it's misleading to sites using any of those features. A site that has WebGL content will try to run it in Maxthon and fail in an unpredictable fashion.

Maxthon's score was downgraded to 422 points, still enough to claim the title for now. But Leenheer is threatening to remove the browser altogether if the next version still claims it supports features that don't really work.

Via: False HTML5Test Score Threatens to Get Maxthon Banned from the Test