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V. Subhash's
HTML Unicode Numeric Character Reference Table
a.k.a
A really ultimate browser JavaScript benchmark

In 2010, when this article was written, it seemed that all Javascript benchmarks were queered in favour of dumb JavaScript engines whose speed could not be matched by their associated HTML-rendering engines. The state of affairs seems to have improved since that time but not by much. Opera 12.x was the best performing browser in this benchmark but after it became a Chrome clone, it fails like Chrome.

Browsers like Safari and Chrome can execute JavaScript routines very fast but their HTML-rendering engines are still slow. If the JS engine was executing a very long CPU-intensive routine, then the UI would get locked up. Any attempt to click inside the page would hang the browser. IE will give up the ghost. Firefox/Chrome will get concerned that a JS routine is taking too long to finish and prompt you whether to continue or break the execution.

Only one browser was able to execute long JavaScript routines smoothly and still keep the user interface responsive and updated. Opera's Javascript engine was not as fast as that of Chrome or Safari but it managed to keep in sync with the HTML-rendering engine. It did not lock up at all. In Opera, you will see the progress bar slowly move to completion. In Firefox/Chrome, the progress hits 100% in no time but the table takes quite a few seconds to be displayed.

My "Real" Browser JavaScript Benchmark

The real reason why I created this Javascript utility was to easily obtain dingbat and smiley faces such as ™ ℡ Ω ⅓ ↛ ↣ ↭ ⇙ ⇛ ⇪ ☺ ☻ ☹ ☼ ♣ †, ‡, ™, ¤, ®, °, ¼, ½, ¾, ɤ, ɸ … ‘ ’ “ ” ∞ ← ↑ → ↓ ↔ ↕ ↖ ↗ ↘ ↙ ↚ ↛ ↜ ↝ ↞ ↟ ↠ ↡ ↢ ↣ ↤ ↥ ↦ ↧ ↨ ↩ ↪ ↫ ↬ ↭ ↮ ↯ ↰ ↱ ↲ ↳ ↴ ↵ ↶ ↷ ↸ ↹ ↺ ↻ ↼ ↽ ↾ ↿ ⇀ ⇁ ⇂ ⇃ ⇄ ⇅ ⇆ ⇇ ⇈ ⇉ ⇊ ⇋ ⇌ ⇍ ⇎ ⇏ ⇐ ⇑ ⇒ ⇓ ⇔ ⇕ ⇖ ⇗ ⇘ ⇙ ⇚ ⇛ ⇜ ⇝ ⇞ ⇟ ⇠ ⇡ ⇢ ⇣ ⇤ ⇥ ⇦ ⇧ ⇨ ⇩ ⇪ ⇫ ⇬ ⇭ ⇮ ⇯ ⇰ ⇱ ⇲ ⇳ ⇴ ⇵ ⇶ ⇷ ⇸ ⇹ ⇺ ⇻ ⇼ ⇽ ⇾ ⇿ √ ∛ ∜ ⊢ ⊣ ⊤ ⊥ ⊦ ⊧ ⊨ ⊩ ⊪ ⊫ ═ ║ ╒ ╓ ╔ ╕ ╖ ╗ ╘ ╙ ╚ ╛ ╜ ╝ ╞ ╟ ╠ ╡ ╢ ╣ ╤ ╥ ╦ ╧ ╨ ╩ ╪ ╫ ╬ 💩 ⅐ ⅑ ⅒ ⅓ ⅔ ⅕ ⅖ ⅗ ⅘ ⅙ ⅚ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ ⅟ Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅴ Ⅵ Ⅶ Ⅷ Ⅸ Ⅹ Ⅺ Ⅻ Ⅼ Ⅽ Ⅾ Ⅿ ⏺ ⦾ ⦿ ⵙ ⵚ ⵕ ⏹ ❐ ⵔ ○ ◯ ● ▀ ▄ ⬓ ⬒ █ ▒ ░ ▓ ◽ ◾ ☁ ☂ ☃ ☔ ★ ☆ ✯ ✮ ✰ ☎ ☏ ☑ ☒ ☠ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ✌ ✊ ✋ ㎏ ㎑ ㎒ ㎓ ㎤ ㎤ ㏒ 𝓐 𝓑 𝓒 𝓓 𝓔 𝓕 𝓖 𝓗 𝓘 𝓙 𝓚 𝓛 𝓜 𝓝 𝓞 𝓟 𝓠 𝓡 𝓢 𝓣 𝓤 𝓥 𝓦 𝓧 𝓨 𝓩 𝓪 𝓫 𝓬 𝓭 𝓮 𝓯 𝓰 𝓱 𝓲 𝓳 𝓴 𝓵 𝓶 𝓷 𝓸 𝓹 𝓺 𝓻 𝓼 𝓽 𝓾 𝓿 𝔀 𝔁 𝔂 𝔃 💥 💣 💯 💳 💵 💶 💷 📈 📉 📊 📌 📋 📡 📠 📞 📬 📪 📫 📨 📹 📻 🔚 🔙 🔛 🔝 🔥 🕺 🕷 🖐 🖕 🗨 🗯 😁 😂 😆 😈.

Or, you can run this benchmark to stress test a new version of your browser.