On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 7:16 AM, Tiago Marques <tiagomnm@gmail.com> wrote:

While I still use it from time to time, the fact is I currently mostly use Chrome, because it is rather pointless to me not to. The browser is fast, somewhat lean, renders everything ok and with a gtk-engine-qt package it integrates mostly without looking out of place. AFAIK, it is not exactly dependence heavy, so that's another plus for integrating a piece of software from another party in a distro that shipped with Trinity.

I would even go as far as saying that in Trinity, given some necessity to keep things lean development wise, dropping KHTML from Konqueror would not be a bad idea. After all, while I love Trinity as a base for my OSs, one must reckon that it is likely that the whole software distribution will slim down as we as users do the long transition from local apps to web apps, further enabling the need for a stable, compatible and fast browser.

But this is just my point of view, taken from my usage pattern and from people close to me.

Konqueror, as a file manager works great. Not as much when dealing with FTP, I've found that sometimes I had to use Kasablanca, but it mostly works fine. I also use it extensively for SMB, where it is also very practical.

Still, it probably isn't that hard to keep KHTML in konqueror in an up 2 date state, to have it render everything ok.

When you mean "controlling browser experience", you are referring to what? I actually never use konqueror extensively due to lack of plugins, session management, adobe flash block... I still think it may provide a better browser experience than the current version of Firefox but Chrome is too good to pass, IMO.

Best regards,
Tiago

Time for a long email (didn't make it long on purpose, just had too much to say):

Believe it or not, there are people that try to avoid GTK, and last I checked Chrome uses GTK. I personally prefer Qt. The only reason I use Firefox over Konqueror is for site compatibility (I could never get Gmail and some other sites to display right in Konqueror). Older versions of Flash (up to version 9) do work in Konqueror, but this causes problems for videos using newer versions of Flash. I have noticed, though, that Youtube works fine on my Wii's Opera-based browser using Flash 7 (it is provided by the Wii Shop Channel and the Wii doesn't allow me to browse the filesystem, so I can't upgrade Flash). Outside of Youtube, I don't visit sites using Flash, and the ones that use Flash get them blocked by one of my plugins. The only other GTK app I use is Pidgin, and only because it has better support for file transfer. I like Kopete much better, and Konqueror fits in with my KDE theme much better than Firefox, so if it could render sites better, I'd use that instead.

When she referred to customizing Konqueror, I think she was referring to the options that are built-in (go to KDE Control Center and select Internet & Networking, or open Konqueror and go to the Settings menu then choose Configure Konqueror). It has more built-in features without the use of plugins than any other browser I've used. The reason Knoqueror is lacking in the plugins is because browsers like Firefox and Internet Exploiter (Exploder?) caught people's attention first, so sites are developed mainly for these browsers.

Konqueror has worke well for me as FTP. Of course, I don't do much FTP, and it's rarely to upload stuff (I use SFTP (FTP through SSH) on a webserver). Perhaps if you file a bug report for Trinity about what Konqueror isn't doing right with FTP, it could get fixed at some point.

I've heard good things about WebKit, and I believe there is a Qt version of WebKit. I haven't used it before, but it is based on KHTML and is what Safari uses, so perhaps we could find a way to use it to replace KHTML (I've heard rumors that's possible)?

As for Chrome, I keep seeing references to it being Proprietary Software. For those of us who are Free Software Purists (I've been working toward ridding myself of Proprietary stuff), Chrome isn't a rea option. While it is a good browser for users of Proprietary Software who want a lean interface, it is a good browser. But for those of us who are purists, Chrome won't cut it.

I will be learning how to program in Qt/C++, and I'll be starting within the next couple days. It will be on my own time (and there isn't much of it, so it could take awhile), though provided I can use another browsing engine like WebKit or Mozilla's Gecko, I'd be willing to write a Free Software browser based on Chrome (not exactly a clone of Chrome, just something with a lean, configurable interface). Provided that tqtinterface is working by the time I eventually get it to a usable state, we should be able to use it in Trinity. Personally, though, I don't like overly-lean or overly-simple. I need a menu bar, toolbar (back, forward, refresh, stop, home, and URL bar, and a search bar is a plus). tab bar, and status bar, and Chrome was missing the menu bar and toolbar, and I seem to remember the Chrome status bar disappearing whenever it was idle (something that I found annoying). There is probably a way to change this, I never bothered to look though.