about:blank requests Safari

[pete-redmond-cko]

Scenario

• inspecting the network tab in Safari after data is collected you can see several about:blank requests in the network tab.
• Mac OS 10.15.7 and Safari 14.1
• @fingerprintjs/fingerprintjs-pro": "^3.3.2" and can be reproduced using https://stackblitz.com/edit/fpjs-3-cdn?file=index.html&devtoolsheight=100

Steps to reproduce

• load page with fingerprint.js https://stackblitz.com/edit/fpjs-3-cdn?file=index.html&devtoolsheight=100
• inspect network tab and see about:blank requests

Is it possible to suppress these empty requests?

[Finesse]

I haven’t searched for ways to suppress the requests in the network tab. I don’t consider it as a problem. The requests are produced by iframes used to encapsulate DOM elements from the page CSS. Do you have an idea for a solution?

Also Safari shows twice more about:blank requests than there are actually.

[Finesse]

Some problems that the iframes (producing the about:blank requests) solve:

• Font component changes due to @font-face #592
• Fonts source changes the look of the page #628

We can make a non-iframe solution specially for Safari, but it will increase the complexity of the code and decrease the stability. So, we need to make sure that many people have this issue before making the change.

[Finesse]

A potential solution is creating iframes with a fake custom URL scheme, e.g. iframe.src = 'ieuuaskl:'. A quick test shows that it leaves no traces.