Syllable 0.6.4 has been released. "Syllable 0.6.4 contains many new features, enhancements and bug fixes from previous releases. Highlights of this release include a new version of ABrowse; the web browser has been re-written using the WebKit engine. A new version of Whisper, and the Contact address book is now included. A large number of usability and user interface fixes, largely curtesy of Anthony Morphett. New drivers for the SysKonnect Yukon1 network cards & ACPI CPU management and updated drivers for Radeon, GeForceFX, SiS and Trident video cards, HD Audio, Intel & VIA SATA controllers and Realtek 8169 network cards. The usual clutch of bug fixes and enhancements."
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Member since:2005-07-06
Flash support has nothing to do with the rendering engine really. WebKit supports most scripting on the web.. can you be more specific about what standard features it's lacking?
Member since:2005-06-29
a.k.a: a user wants a browser with the features he has come to expect (flash, scripting, ajax, etc) rather than a slightly better rendering engine.
Scripting, AJAX, and Flash are browser-independant. Even if they DID port Firefox/Geck, they still would not have had Flash.
Member since:2005-07-06
ABrowse team? Damn, I wish!
Flash isn't part of the browser and is not a W3 standard, and ABrowse supports "scripting", AJAX and everything else very nicely, being based on WebKit and all.
Even if a working port of FireFox magically appeared on Syllable it would be more work to maintain that than the WebKit port & ABrowse. Seriously, FireFox and Gecko are huge, and WebKit gets us the same features in a much smaller footprint, so why bother?
Member since:2006-03-16
Absolutly correct, not only are FireFox and Gecko huge, but they are also a PITA to support on alternative platforms*. The main devs focus on Windows, Linux and Mac, and they don't write the code portable at all:
* almost no abstractions or interfaces, just macros depending on platform
* force new dependencies which in some cases arn't even viable on alt. OS'es
* more 'hacking' than coding
IMO WebKit seems to be more aware on all of the points above as well as actually encouraging ports.
*) In fact, I'm not even sure there will be a Firefox 3 on BeOS.
Member since:2005-04-01
a.k.a: a user wants a browser with the features he has come to expect (flash, scripting, ajax, etc) rather than a slightly better rendering engine.
So I assume you feel as though Safari and Konqueror should also be dropped in favor of Firefox? They are KHTML based too. In fact, the iPhone should immediately drop iSafari and move to Gecko too. Right?
Member since:2006-11-30
"So I assume you feel as though Safari and Konqueror should also be dropped in favor of Firefox? They are KHTML based too. In fact, the iPhone should immediately drop iSafari and move to Gecko too. Right?"
You obviously didn't read my post. I think comparing the resources of Apple and Syllable is kinda lame.
Member since:
2006-11-30
"That's a debatable statement. Many of us (inlcuding myself) prefer WebKit/khtml to Gecko."
That's not the point. The point is that the ABrowse team will never ever be able to keep up with FF.
a.k.a: a user wants a browser with the features he has come to expect (flash, scripting, ajax, etc) rather than a slightly better rendering engine.