Posted on

SPDY protocol available in nginx 1.4

Nginx 1.4 can now do SPDY (draft 2). It’s hiding away in a separate file http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_spdy_module.html

So what is SPDY? In a nutshell, it does multiplexing, prioritization and compression of HTTP/HTTPS requests over a single TCP/IP connection. It also enables the server to push data before requested. These enable a browser or web services client to obtain multiple responses quickly by opening and authenticating a single connection to a web server and then issue multiple requests in parallel (well, whenever it wants, but in any case not requiring additional the completion of one request before the next request and not requiring, though still possible, multiple TCP/IP concurrent connections). For more info on SPDY, see http://www.chromium.org/spdy/spdy-protocol.

There is also an Apache 2.2 module for SPDY (https://code.google.com/p/mod-spdy/). Browser support for SPDY is present in Firefox, Chrome, the default Android web browser, and Opera.

If you have production experience with SPDY, good or bad, we’d like to hear about it! Particularly since SPDY is still relatively new and not yet used everywhere, the more information is published, the better.

edit: official docs are up.

Posted on
Posted on

Tool of the Day: Firefox Tab Kit extension

We often need many tabs open in a browser, and horizontal tabs become unmanageable. Tab Kit allows you to have them vertically on the left, with various additional configuration choices.

I opted for the tree structure, so when I open a tab from another one it’ll show up as a child to the original. I can “lock” tabs so they cannot be closed by an accidental click or keypress. They get a “read” marker so if you open a few tabs and leave them till later you can still tell which ones you’ve actually already looked at. And there’s colour coding also.

In short, a great help. Just click the Tools/Add-Ons menu in Firefox and find Tab Kit in the extensions. Install, configure, and enjoy!

Posted on