WebKit posts

Filed under: Google, Social Software, web 2.0

Waver, a cross-platform Google Wave application for your desktop

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 22nd 2009

There's Tweetdeck for your Tweets, Seesmic for your Facebook stalking -- and now Waver for your Waves!

Waver is simply an Adobe AIR application that hooks into your Google Wave account. From there, you can create new waves, or update existing ones.

Adobe's Javascript implementation seems to do surprisingly well, rendering Waves as quickly or quicker than Google's own V8 -- though this could be due to the fact that Waver uses the cut-down iPhone UI output from Google Wave. Also, a lot of the UI seems to actually be, er, missing. And a lot of the shortcuts don't seem to work yet.

Try as I might, I could not get Waver to look like their sample picture -- perhaps it's because I'm running Windows 7 instead of OS X?

But let's not forget the most important thing here: in this case, Waver is merely rendering Google Wave using WebKit -- the same engine powering Chrome, Safari, and several other web browsers.

Is it really worth installing AIR and running a separate application to access your Wave account? Why not just open another tab in Chrome?

[via Life Rocks 2.0]

Tags: adobe-air, Google, social-software, Wave, WebKit

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source, Browsers

Webkit-based Arora browser hits v.10, now ships with AdBlock by default

by Lee Mathews Oct 6th 2009

Not familiar with Arora? It's a lightweight, cross-platform, open-source, Qt and Webkit-based browser. Brad first wrote about it back in July, and the development team has already rolled out one pretty significant addition.

Starting with v.10 -- which is now available for Windows, Linux, and Mac -- Arora ships with AdBlock pre-installed. Unlike Opera and Konqueror which allow for manual blocking by default, Arora utilizes subscription-based blocking out-of-the-box. Arora's developers claim this is a first for web browsers.

Arora also now includes a wallet (or password store) feature and a handy set of address completion hotkeys: ctrl + enter appends .com, ctrl + shift +enter adds .org, and shift + enter does .net. The new version also includes a number of bugfixes, which you can read about in more detail on the official blog.

Even with two fairly key additions, Arora remains very nimble and easy on system resources.

Tags: arora, browser, qt, webkit

Filed under: Linux, Open Source, Browsers

WebKit claims another browser as Epiphany bails on Mozilla

by Lee Mathews Sep 26th 2009

Gnome 2.28 was released this week, and one of the more interesting changes was the switch taking place in Epiphany, Gnome's default web browser. There's been a change under the hood, with Mozilla Gecko being replaced by Webkit.

Webkit has made some serious gains this year in terms of browser market share. Already providing the powerplant for Safari, Google Chrome, and Maxthon 3 (as well as numerous others), the open source project continues to win converts -- due in no small part to its speediness.

No, gaining Epiphany doesn't mean Webkit-based browsers are going to overtake Firefox for second place overall in browser share any time soon. But when you consider the large number of Gnome-based Linux distributions out there, this is still an interesting development for the Webkit project.

[via Linux Magazine]

Tags: epiphany, gnome, gnome-2.28, linux, web-browsers, webkit

Filed under: Windows, Linux, Open Source, Browsers

Midori - a lightweight Webkit-based browser - lands on Windows

by Lee Mathews Sep 14th 2009

While I like Google Chrome, there are plenty of Webkit-based alternatives out there. One I enjoy using on my Crunchbang system is Midori - an efficient and highly customizable browser that made the jump to Windows just a couple months ago.

It's important to note that Midori is still in the alpha stage - recently hitting 0.1.10 on Linux and the Windows binaries now on 0.1.8. If you're after absolute stability, Midori might not be your thing. I experienced the occasional crash while playing with the interface, though it was plenty stable while surfing and utilizing web apps.

With the same six tabs open in Midori and Firefox 3.5.3 - including GMail and two javascript-heavy web apps - Midori used about 80Mb less memory, peaking at about 99Mb total. The browser doesn't quite have Chrome's rendering zippiness, but it's still respectably fast.

So what else can Midori do? Apart from the expected features like tabbed browsing, and bookmark and history management it's got support for Userscripts, Userstyles, the Netscape plugin architecture, and extensions. Search options can be customized as well and you can assign a token (i.e. preface with g to search with google).

Want to learn more about Midori yourself? Check the FAQ over at XFCE.org or download it yourself and take Midori for a spin!

Tags: linux, midori, web browsers, WebBrowsers, webkit, xfce

Filed under: Developer, Games, Browsers

WebGL: bringing native 3D graphics to your browser

by Jay Hathaway Sep 14th 2009

One of the most-anticipated features HTML5 promises for the web is the canvas tag, which allows for dynamic rendering of 2D images. If you can use HTML to draw a 2D image, can native 3D graphics be far behind?

The WebGL project is making that a reality by combining the canvas element, a bit of JavaScript, and the OpenGL 3D drawing engine. OpenGL has been around for years, and you might know it because of its use in many popular desktop video games - if this project is a success, you could be playing 3D games in your browser.

WebGL isn't that far along, though, It's just started turning up in developer builds of Webkit -the engine behind Safari and Google Chrome - and isn't even enabled by default in the nightly builds yet. Webkit is just the first test, too. It's only one segment part of the market, that doesn't include IE and Firefox. For native 3D games to really take off on the web, they'd have to be supported for a much larger percentage of web users. Google, Mozilla and Opera are all on board for the WebGL working group, but Microsoft hasn't said anything. MS doesn't have a history of playing nicely with web standards, but they might be forced to offer some support if everyone else is doing it.

If you want to see WebGL in action, check out the video after the jump.

[via Slashdot]

Tags: 3d, browsers, games, graphics, opengl, webgl, webkit

Filed under: Features, Google, Browsers

10 handy Userscripts for Google Chrome

by Lee Mathews Sep 2nd 2009

So it's finally a year old, and many of you have been playing with Google Chrome as a secondary browser for quite some time now. Heck, quite a few of you are probably using it as your primary browser by now - which may explain your interest in this post.

Just because Chrome doesn't boast the huge assortment of add-ons that Firefox does doesn't mean it's not extensible. With Userscripts alone, there is plenty of functionality you can add to Google's browser. Here are ten scripts I find handy!

AdSweep can be had as a Chrome extension, but since they're pretty well just packaged Userscripts you might as well just use the script version. It does an excellent job vacuuming up excessive adverts without mangling page layouts too badly.

AutoPagerize is a classic Greasemonkey script, if such a thing exists. When reading multi-page articles, AutoPagerize will automatically load the next page's content inline. I find it useful on lengthy-but-split-up reviews like the ones on Tom's Hardware Guide.

Better GMail has also made the jump from Firefox and Greasemonkey to Chrome. Since it's a collection of individual scripts, you can drop in only those you want to activate. Components include mouseover row highlighting, folders4gmail, and various page element hiding scripts.

BlockFlash2 (pictured above) is just what you've been looking for if you're missing FlashBlock for Firefox. While it's not as full-featured, it gets the job done. Flash elements won't autoload after dropping in BF2 - they'll be replaced with a blank placeholder and appear only when you give the go ahead. You can whitelist sites, though you'll have to do it manually by editing the .js file.

Tags: google chrome, GoogleChrome, greasemonkey, userscripts, webkit

Filed under: Windows, Freeware, Browsers

Maxthon 3 gets turbo-charged with WebKit

by Lee Mathews Sep 1st 2009

If there's a solid browser out there that gets less coverage than Opera, it's got to be Maxthon. After testing out the latest alpha build of version 3, it appears that they're going to make sure people start taking notice.

Witness the V8 benchmark score above - that's Maxthon on the left and Chrome 4.0.203.2 on the right. As you can see, Maxthon 3 puts up pretty competitive numbers. In practical surfing on my core web apps and sites? It's just as fast as Chrome, if not just a hair faster.

What's responsible for the big change? Well, prior versions of Maxthon had used the Trident engine from Internet Explorer. While that meant Maxthon was good at handling IE-friendly pages that didn't work so well on other browsers, it came at the price of last-generation performance.

With WebKit now under the hood, Maxthon 3 looks likes it's ready to make some serious noise. Enthusiasts, get ready - this is going to be a fun year when it comes to browsers.

Many of the core features you'd want in an everyday browser aren't working yet in Maxthon, but if you want to take it for a spin anyway you can download it from Maxthon's forums or from Softpedia.

Tags: alpha, maxthon, webkit

Filed under: Google, Browsers, Microblogging

PBtweet powers up your Twitter web experience on Google Chrome

by Lee Mathews Aug 31st 2009

Google Chrome has had Userscripts support for a long time. Unfortunately, a lot of the really great Userscripts are designed with Greasemonkey for Firefox in mind, meaning you miss out if you're using Chrome.

PBtweet, on the other hand, works just fine in webkit-based browsers like Chrome and Safari and it brings a more powerful interface to Twitter's web client.

Save that script into your User Scripts folder and activate support using the --enable-user-scripts switch, and you're ready to rock. PBtweet adds several handy features including auto-refresh, threaded replies, short URL expansion, translation, retweeting, and picture thumbnails from sites like Twitpic and Tumblr.

For a touch of eye candy, PBtweet makes use of Webkit's support for CSS3 transition effects. If you'd prefer not to monkey around with a Userscript, there's even a bookmarklet you can use to activate the features.

Not sure how to enable Userscripts in Google Chrome? Chrome Plugins spells it all out.

Tags: bookmarklets, google-chrome, marklets, pbtweet, twitter, userscripts, webkit

Filed under: BlackBerry, Mobile Minute, Browsers

Mobile Minute: WebKit based Iris browser coming to Blackberry

by Lee Mathews Aug 24th 2009

Blackberry has acquired Torch Mobile, developers of the Iris web browser. The webkit-based browser is currently not available for RIM's smartphones though that's about to change in the wake of the acquisition.

As reported on the Torch Mobile website, "Our team of developers will join RIM's global organization and will now be focused on utilizing our WebKit-based mobile browser expertise to contribute to the ongoing enhancement of the BlackBerry® platform."

Iris is a pretty slick mobile browser, supporting CSS 2 and 3, HTML 4 and some HTML 5, Javascript, the Netscape plugin API, touch controls, phishing/spoofing protection, and much more.

Haven't seen Iris in person yet? Check the YouTube clip from Torch Mobile after the break.

Update: It looks like the browser isn't just coming to the BlackBerry, it's also leaving Windows Mobile. Development on that platform will be ceased.

[via Boy Genius Report]

Tags: blackberry, torch-mobile, webkit

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source, Browsers

Arora: A light-weight, cross-platform web browser based on WebKit

by Brad Linder Jul 30th 2009

Arora is an open source web browser that uses the same WebKit rendering engine found in Safari and Google Chrome. But unlike those browsers, Arora is already capable of running on Windows, Linux, and OS X, as well as a few other platforms including FreeBSD.

That's because Arora is built to work on any platform that supports the Qt toolkit. I first noticed Arora's existence when the folks at Canonical picked it as a possible default web browser for Kubuntu 9.10.

The browser has a couple of features that are all the rage with the kids these days, including full page zoom (as opposed to text-only zooming), and a private browsing mode that will let you surf without saving any cookies or other personal data to the hard drive. It's also relatively light on system resources, and boots and loads web pages reasonably quickly.

Tags: arora, webkit

Filed under: Design, Developer, Macintosh, Browsers

Snow Stack shows off Safari's CSS visual effects

by Jay Hathaway Jul 20th 2009

If you're not excited about the potential of updated CSS and HTML standards support in the newest WebKit browsers, you might be after you check out Snow Stack.

Snow Stack is a demo of some slick visual effects using just HTML, WebKit CSS effects, and some Javascript. To see the live demo, you need to be running Snow Leopard and Safari, or Leopard and the latest nightly build of WebKit.

Snow Stack shows off a 3D wall of Flickr photos - if you're familiar with the Cooliris photo viewer, it looks a lot like that - and all the animation, reflection and transformation is done in CSS. If you're not on a Mac or can't run a new version of Safari, there's also a YouTube video that shows Snow Stack in action.

For developers, the source code and some useful development notes are available on the webpage, so you can check out how the demo was built.

Tags: css, html, safari, snow-leopard, snow-stack, webkit

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Open Source, Browsers, Windows x64

Portable Open Source browser QtWeb updates to version 2

by Lee Mathews Mar 25th 2009

Qt Web, the portable, privacy-focused web browser I first posted about in January, has announced the release of its second major version.

The new version features even more customization options for menus, hotkeys, and buttons, including the ability to hide the main menu. Version 2 also adds a virtual keyboard for mouse-only surfing, a print preview option, a better download manager, and improvements to QTWeb's privacy tools. A number of bugfixes have also been implemented - the full list is available on the QT web site.

Two new features that developers will appreciate have been added. Web Inspector - a Firebug-like tool for examining web pages - makes it easy to analyze and troubleshoot code. The Inspector also includes a resources view (pictured) which tracks load times for individual elements on a page. Command line scripting has also been added, which allows dumping pages (including javascript-heavy ones) to a single file.

The installer, portable executable, and zipped portable version are all available from the QtWeb download page.

Tags: open-source, opensource, portable, qtweb, web-browser, webkit

Filed under: Windows, E-mail, Google, Browsers

Google Chrome adds support for Hotmail

by Brad Linder Jan 29th 2009

The Google Chrome web browser is built on the same rendering engine as Apple's Safari, so in theory any web site you can access with Safari should play nice with Chrome. But for some reason users have been complaining that Google Chrome and Microsoft Hotmail (or Windows Live Mail) are like oil and water.

Some users reported that Hotmail caused Chrome to crash, while I was able to open Hotmail with a recent build of Chrome. I just couldn't actually read any messages or switch folders.

Now there's a new version of Chrome that works just fine with Hotmail. No, Google didn't dramatically rewrite the browser's code. No, all they did was add some user agent spoofing so that when you visit Hotmail with Chrome, the browser will identify itself as Safari.

You can download the latest build of Chrome from Google, or you can update an existing installation by clicking the "About" button in your settings and checking the "Update Now" box if Chrome reports that a new version is available.

[via LiveSide]

Tags: chrome, google-chrome, hotmail, safari, webkit, windows-live-mail

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Freeware, Open Source, Browsers, Windows x64

Portable QTWeb is a privacy enhanced web browser

by Lee Mathews Jan 22nd 2009

QTWeb is an open source browser based on the Webkit rendering engine and the QT framework. It's been developed with special attention paid to protecting your privacy.

Page load times are fast, and QT scored well on AcidTests (for what it's worth). Oddly enough, Webkit's SunSpider Java benchmark didn't complete. Resource usage is very respectable, typically less than or equal to Chrome with the same sites open.

Like most current browsers, QT includes a private browsing mode. Activate it, and QT will mask your user agent and make sure no local traces of your history are left behind.

I did experience a few rendering issues, though they were mostly limited to Flash-heavy sites. Most of the time a quick page down/page up would correct things.

Development is very active, with the most recent build coming just six days ago. Given some time to work out the bugs, QTWeb should become an excellent alternative browser. I wouldn't recommend QTWeb as an everyday browser just yet, but it's definitely a project worth watching.

In its present state. the portable version is only about 4mb and would still make a good addition to your USB flash drive or Windows PE disc. Source code is available from the QT Google Code project page.

Tags: portable, privacy, web-browser, webkit

Filed under: Google, iPhone, Browsers, Mobile, Android

WebKit optimized iGoogle gets canned

by Christina Warren Jan 19th 2009

Last January, Google introduce a special iPhone optimized version of its iGoogle page. When Android launched on the T-Mobile G1 in October, its WebKit-based browser (WebKit is what powers Mobile Safari) also offered up the optimized iGoogle interface. Although the G1 and the iPhone are capable of displaying the full iGoogle interface (more or less, there are some issues with certain widgets), the nice thing about the optimized interface was that it really laid sections of the page, and especially news articles and search panes in a really attractive way.

A year later, the optimized version of the site is gone. Instead, iPhone user and Android users get treated to the same crappy mobile iGoogle interface that other phones suffer through.

So much for progress.

On Saturday morning, when the change went into effect, users started asking questions in the iGoogle discussions page withing Google Help. The response from Google employee Paul:

Hey everyone, I have an update for you. We've decided to direct iPhone users to the standard mobile iGoogle page. We've found that people hit iGoogle from lots of different phones -- we want to ensure you'll all see the same version.

Most or all of your existing content should translate over to the standard mobile version. The only exception would be any gadgets that aren't compatible with most mobile browsers.

Needless to say, the masses who love their iGoogle were not assuaged. This brought up a whole list of accusations that Google is saving the special iGoogle interface for Android users only and punishing iPhone users for not buying the Google phone.

This isn't quite true.

Tags: android, google, igoogle, igoogle mobile, IgoogleMobile, iphone, webkit

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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