How does Browser Work?

A short walk through what actually happens when you type a URL and press enter — parsing, networking, rendering, paint. It is not a canonical academic reference, but it is the shortest path to something every product director on the web needs and almost none has: a working picture of the browser as a machine with distinct stages, each with its own costs. The piece pairs well with Rascia's treatment of the DOM: together they close the gap between intuition and ignorance about the medium you ship on. Read it once, keep it in your head, and every "why is this slow" conversation will go differently afterwards.