While most people prefer to use a specific webpage as the home page in their web browser, others have chosen to use about:blank instead. Is about:blank simply a blank webpage or does it have a special purpose? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answers to a curious reader’s questions.
Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.
The Question
SuperUser reader “Guy named Jon” wants to know what the about:blank page in web browsers is for:
What is the about:blank page in web browsers for?
The Answer
SuperUser contributors Keltari and bwDraco have the answer for us. First up, Keltari:
Followed by the answer from bwDraco:
Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.
Per IETF RFC 6694, about:blank is reserved for a blank page. Essentially, every web browser that supports about implements about:blank and it is pretty much the same everywhere.
Because about:blank is little more than a blank internal page, it does not depend on any external resources and serves as a good default on metered connections or slow systems.
