Benchmark Results: Standards Testing
This section includes standards compliance benchmarks like Acid 3, the new HTML5Test.com, and the CSS3 Selectors Test. While they're not speed tests like the rest of our Web Browser Grand Prix, these benchmarks are extremely important to a browser's ability to properly render Web pages using the latest standards.
With the exception of the Acid 3 completion times, these scores will be held separate from our final judgment on speed, but they will factor into our overall conclusion of performance.
HTML5 Test
Google Chrome takes the HTML5 compliance test by storm, earning a solid 32 point lead over second-place finisher Safari. Apple manages to pull off a slight upset, beating Opera by six points. Firefox places fourth, twenty points behind Opera's 159. As expected, IE8 flunks out, earning a meager 27 points.
CSS3 Selectors Test
Firefox tops the list for CSS3, bringing in a full 578 points. Opera places second with 576, while Chrome and Firefox tie for third with 574. Internet Explorer once again occupies last place, scoring only 349 points out of a possible 578.
Acid 3: Pass/Fail
Chrome, Opera, and Safari receive perfect scores of 100 in the Acid 3 test. Firefox also gets an A at 94 out of 100. Internet Explorer predictably fails, managing to only score twenty points out of the possible hundred.
Acid 3: Speed
In order to call a definitive winner, and to determine placement, we compared the completion times of the three browsers that earned perfect scores in Acid 3.
Opera slaughters the browsers from both Apple and Google. The Norwegian app finishes Acid 3 in almost half the time it takes Safari or Chrome. While I'm sure someone will point out that we are talking about partial seconds here, let me just say that we're also talking about half the time to achieve the same score. A decisive victory is won by Opera. Apple Safari beats Google Chrome by a mere 0.03 seconds to come in second.
