Servo latest update boosts speed, xPath, and adds dark mode & advanced CSS support

The latest updates to the Servo web browser engine have made the nightly builds faster, more reliable, and 20% smaller. These updates have improved support for web apps like Discord, although message sending is still in development.

Servo now supports dark mode, integrating with platform settings on Windows and macOS, and recognizes the prefers-color-scheme media query. CSS capabilities have been expanded to include script-triggered transitions, flex container sizing properties, and better alignment for positioned elements. JavaScript functionality has been enhanced with support for console.trace(), PointerEvent, and clonable on ShadowRoot, along with Shadow DOM layout support via experimental flags. A significant rework of the script crate improves reliability and build speed, including DOM synchronization and ReadableStream support.

Basic XPath functionality is introduced, enabling compatibility with libraries like htmx. Performance has been boosted with flex column layout caching, reducing memory usage and unnecessary reflows, and improving rendering speeds for animations. The servoshell binaries are now 20% smaller, with options for WebGPU builds and layout optimizations. Incremental layout groundwork has begun, promising significant performance gains, and test reliability has been improved with better handling of synchronous resizing. Users can now configure thread pool sizes to optimize performance on multi-core systems.