Microsoft Enhances Windows 11 with WebView2 for Faster Complex Web Applications

Recent discussions have highlighted concerns about the web-driven decline in user experience within Windows 11, especially with the revelation that the Notification Center’s new Agenda view relies on WebView2 technology. However, Microsoft has announced plans to enhance the speed of complex web applications, including Outlook.

“From our extensive experience, we recognize that intricate applications necessitate sophisticated architecture, often requiring multiple windows, iframes, or worker threads, ” Microsoft mentioned in a recent support document.

Rather than steering developers away from web applications, Microsoft is introducing a new diagnostic tool called “Delayed Message Timing.” This API aims to help developers assess where time is invested when using the “postMessage()” function within their applications, according to a GitHub entry discovered by Windows Latest.

While this tool isn’t designed to magically boost the speed of web applications, Microsoft assures that it will provide insights into performance issues by reporting timing data for messages exchanged between different contexts such as windows, iframes, and web workers through the Performance APIs.

Impact on WebView2 Applications in Windows 11

This initiative targets all web applications, which includes those operating on WebView2 within Windows 11. While it will improve performance, the enhancements will be subtle and specific.

WebView2 processes in Windows 11 Task Manager

For context, applications like Outlook and WhatsApp utilize WebView2 to integrate web content, relying on the Microsoft Edge rendering engine based on Chromium. This relationship often contributes to slower performance on Windows 11, as many applications are fundamentally connected to Chromium’s architecture, which is funded by Google.

The “Delayed Message Timing” API is particularly beneficial for WebView2-based applications that heavily exploit postMessage() interactions, allowing developers to identify performance bottlenecks more effectively.

Performance Concerns with the New Outlook for Windows 11

The New Outlook app offers a reasonable user experience on Windows 11; however, it still contains several inefficiencies. For instance, clicking on a notification sometimes causes the application to launch slowly, attributable in part to the embedded web engine. Factors such as initial page loading and authentication processes contribute significantly to this delay.

If users encounter an interface that appears but operates sluggishly, this may be due to delayed handling of postMessage() events within the web layer. The new API will highlight these delays, facilitating the identification of issues affecting overall app performance.

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