Midori instead of Lynx for faqs

New features which should be implemented in Porteus; suggestions are welcome. All questions or problems with testing releases (alpha, beta, or rc) should go in their relevant thread here, rather than the Bug Reports section.
nanZor
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Midori instead of Lynx for faqs

Post#1 by nanZor » 16 Mar 2021, 21:58

Yep - I know that browsers aren't included in the release iso's since the user is going to go online and typically get a more modern up to date browser of their choice anyway.

My suggestion is to include Midori as a default *replaceable* browser in the iso - even though it is long in the tooth as an easy way to read on-board html docs/faqs without having to download anything, or assume online access. Or assume that users come from the days when making sites "lynx-friendly" like I did. :)

A good example is Slitaz - which uses Midori to good effect. In fact they take it further by making it part of their system utilities, but I'm not asking for that type of integration. Typically a user will upgrade the browser, but in the meantime, Midori serves a great purpose especially for those systems which don't go online.

AntiX uses Dillo for their on-board faqs, but unless one is skilled at editing their own .dillorc file to get readable fonts and such, it is pretty ugly. I modify my .dillorc, but what a pita for newbs. So the docs go unread.

Just sayin' - not all installations of Porteus may actually go online, but a simple browser modern enough to be easy to use and render html docs nicely as included in the release iso would be nifty - as long as it doesn't severely bloat the iso of course.

And, maybe just for visiting simple sites like Porteus forums itself, it would be enough to get the job done nicely without having to load up with other browsers at all. If a user wants more, they can install the biggies.

I've tried putting Netsurf into this role, (3.9), but it is just too rough around the edges. Like mouse-clicks not tracking links properly, etc etc.

Just my .2c
That's a UNIX book - cool. -Garth

fulalas
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Midori instead of Lynx for faqs

Post#2 by fulalas » 25 Mar 2021, 21:30

Thanks for your suggestion. :)

Last time I tried to build a Midori module, it got so big (including its dependencies) that I gave up thinking this is a minimalist web browser. I'll give it a second try later.

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ncmprhnsbl
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Midori instead of Lynx for faqs

Post#3 by ncmprhnsbl » 25 Mar 2021, 23:06

i think the trick with midori seems to be building webkit2gtk without a bunch of functions..
eg. here's an idea of the stuff to turn off: https://github.com/kisslinux/community/ ... 2gtk/build
probly streaming being the main one, so as not to pull in gstreamer..
looking at slitaz, webkit is the largest lib on board..
although, if this: http://hg.slitaz.org/wok/file/1049482a1 ... -r/receipt is anything to go by, seems gstreamer is enabled..
they also have their own "tazweb", a webkit based very minimal browser, too
repo: http://hg.slitaz.org/tazweb/file/46a16f731de8 and build script: http://hg.slitaz.org/wok/file/1049482a1 ... eb/receipt
and they're using gtk2, where gtk3 is preferred here..
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nanZor
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Midori instead of Lynx for faqs

Post#4 by nanZor » 26 Mar 2021, 07:47

Right! Strip Midori down and get rid of anything not needed. Rip out javascript if it's not needed to access the Porteus forum, or any other decrepid extras. Ie, it becomes obvious that nobody is going to use Midori for daily use, but more as an html tool - without having to resort to Dillo, Lynx, Elinks and the like.

Multipurpose: It can also server as an image viewer, or even a simplified local file browser if a user simply directs the url locally - typically with:

Code: Select all

file:///
or sometimes
file://
in the url bar. Heck, I even do this with Lynx sometimes for local filesystem browsing using a single period

Code: Select all

lynx .
So a stripped-down Midori - if possible - maybe with the homepage cooked into it for the porteus forum, and being able to serve as an image viewer, and simple file browser *might* make it worth considering stripping it down as a utility, rather than a daily driver.

Again - just thoughts, nothing religious about the browser...
That's a UNIX book - cool. -Garth

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