A Chromium-based Memento-aware Web Browser
This addresses a niche usability issue for web archivists and users accessing historical web content, but it is incremental as it builds on existing Chromium without introducing new paradigms.
The researchers tackled the problem of web browsers not distinguishing between live and archived webpages (mementos) by developing a proof-of-concept browser based on Chromium that adds memento-awareness, enhancing user experience with minimal code changes.
Web browsers provide a user-friendly means of navigating the web. Users rely on their web browser to provide information about the websites they are visiting, such as the security state. Browsers also provide a user interface (UI) with visual cues about each tab that is open, including icons for if the tab is playing audio or requires authentication to view. However, current browsers do not differentiate between the live web and the past web. If a user loads an archived webpage, known as a memento, they have to rely on UI elements present within the page itself to inform them that the page they are viewing is not the live web. Additionally, memento-awareness extends beyond recognizing a page that has already been archived. The browser should give users the ability to archive live webpages, essentially creating mementos of webpages they found important as they surf the web. In this report, the process to create a proof-of-concept browser that is aware of mementos is presented. The browser is created by adding on to the implementation of the open source web browser by Google, Chromium. Creating this prototype for a Memento-aware Browser shows that the features implemented fit well into the current Chromium implementation. The user experience is enhanced by adding the memento-awareness, and the changes to the Chromium code base are minimal.