What is Headless Chrome?
Headless Chrome is a headless browser. Great answer! But what is a headless browser? 😉
What is a headless browser?
A headless browser is a browser without a graphical user interface (GUI). Instead of controlling the browser's actions via its GUI, headless browsers are controlled programmatically using the command line interface (CLI).
In essence, a headless browser is a type of software that can access webpages without presenting it the actual web page graphically to the user and can pipe content of the webpages to another program. Unlike a normal browser, nothing will appear on the screen when you start up a headless browser since the programs run in the backend.
But why would one want to control the browser without the GUI?
Why do we need headless browser?
A headless browser is a great tool for automated testing and server environments where you don't need a visible UI shell. Some examples are listed below:
- Search engines use headless browser to render pages, generate dynamic content, and index data from Single Page Application (SPA).
- SEO tools use headless browser to analyze websites and make suggestions on how to improve it.
- Monitoring tools use headless browser to monitor JavaScript execution time in web apps for performance diagnosis
- Headless browsers can be used to generate PDFs of web pages on the backend server.
- Headless browsers provide automated testing of web applications.
What are the common types of headless browsers beside Headless Chrome?
- Firefox headless mode
- PhantomJS
- Zombie.js
- HtmlUnit
- Splash
- Electron
- NightmareJS
Top comments (1)
Headless Chrome is definitely a game-changer for automating tasks like web testing and scraping, especially in environments where you don’t need a visible browser interface. It’s also interesting how headless browsers are used in industries like SEO and monitoring tools.
On a related note, when it comes to automating secure transactions, platforms like PayMyDoctor make managing online payment for medical bills seamless. While headless browsers help with web automation, services like PayMyDoctor help patients easily handle healthcare expenses online, offering a secure and efficient way to track and pay bills without hassle.