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A new version of HTTP, short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, has been approved by the IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group) to help speed up how fast web pages are delivered. The standard is important for governing how a web browser communications with a server to load a web page, and is therefore a vital foundation to the internet.
The last major version of HTTP was introduced 16 years ago in 1999. There has been several revisions of the standard since, including an updated spec released in June last year by the HTTPbis Working Group.
Support for encryption grew stronger after Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations
HTTP 2.0 is based on Google’s SPDY protocol which was first implemented in the company’s Chrome web browser before spreading to other popular applications including Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Websites such as Facebook also adopted the SPDY protocol to ensure compatibility with this faster standard.
The standard is able to load web pages faster due to “multiplexing” which allows for several date-transfer requests to share a single network connection between a browser and a server. A downside to this is the computing resources which such a set-up requires, although this has become less of an issue as technology has improved.
Aside from sheer speed, HTTP 2.0 will also increase security due to enhanced encryption. SPDY requires TLS (Transport Layer Security) to be enabled which follows Google’s push to protect privacy on the web and reduce the number of hacking vulnerabilities. Although not a requirement for HTTP 2.0, support for encryption grew stronger after Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations and helped some members of the IETF push the new standard.
The last major version of HTTP was introduced 16 years ago in 1999.
Despite TLS not being a requirement for the HTTP 2.0 standard, it is for the standard’s use in Chrome and Firefox. As the two most-used browsers according to W3Schools, encryption is sure to be widely-adopted in order to benefit from the performance of HTTP 2.0’s usage.
“For the common Web browsing case, HTTP/2 servers will need to use TLS if they want to interoperate with the broadest selection of browsers,” Nottingham said in an earlier blog post summarizing the encryption debate.
One last formality is required before HTTP 2.0 is unleashed to the world, and that is the “Request for Comment” documenting and editorial process. We will keep you updated with further developments as and when we get them.
What are your thoughts about the new HTTP 2.0 standard? Let us know in the comments.
