The ideal browser would be one that's barebones and basic by default... [rss]

bow >30d ago #p10752 >>quote
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But allows you to integrate additional web functionality through plugins, kind of like firefox's old xul extensions but on a more advanced level.

oh, you need WebGL? install the plugin for that. You want HTTPS? (lmao it probably wouldn't be THAT basic, but maybe a default plugin) Install the plugin for that. How about CSS2/CSS3? Plugin for that. JavaScript? How about JavaScript new feature <X>? Plugins for that.

this would make browser development incredibly modular and you could make your browser incredibly light. you could finetune the browser so hard so you only have what you need. The core browser would adhere entirely to W3's original standards back in 1998/5 and everything else would be a plugin that seamlessly adds onto and integrates into the browser.

The UI should be native or something like XUL. It's only a shell of the browser. It should be incredibly easy to swap out the browser UI at will or run the browser in some sort of headless mode. It'd make the customization and maintainability of the browser's UI modular and extendable in the same way that the browser engine is.

Even better, if you have a hub or store where these plugins may hold (perhaps it should be designed in the same way package managers are designed: repositories), you could let the community design what they need for you instead of them relying on you as a centralized source. You'd have the ultimate browser that in theory would be incredibly lightweight by default (maybe supporting plenty of low-end old hardware), but capable of being modern at the same time. It'd also be the ultimate browser for privacy schizos who want to finetune and choose what specificially they need from a browser. It would capture minimalists, older graphic design users (Ideally, the toolkit should be hotswappable so everything can remain native, if thats possible. Wonder what XUL does in this case.

This way the program looks native if it uses the default theme instead of a custom UI plugin that themes it?), and maybe even the tech illiterates of the Internet who just want something that'll work without nagging them with constant updates (well, except for plugins, maybe) and suddenly forcing them to upgrade their OS. Maybe the Tor Project would move over to this browser, since all they would have to do is design a engine plugin and maybe a plugin for the default UI that integrates Tor into the browser.

My only concern with plugins now that I think about it would be needed plugins that rely on other plugins, like Tor needing an HTTPS plugin or something like that. This would in theory have the capability of spawning a dependency hell situation where great plugins could rely on shitty unwanted plugins or a centralized plugin.. like some sort of library providing plugin if that somehow happens to be the case, similar to Minecraft mods needing utility mods and utility plugins in order to work..

But I believe it'd be worth it honestly
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Replies: >>10756 >>18706
rave ## MOD >30d ago #p10755 >>quote
The real question is what actually belongs in the core.

Here's my proposal for a bare minimum that's non-negotiable without plugins:

HTML 4.01 tokenizer/parser
CSS1 cascade + box model renderer
HTTP/1.1 (without HTTPS.. that's a plugin or a default bundled one)
A basic DOM tree
The plugin loader/ABI itself

HTTPS, CSS2/3, JS engine, WebGL, media codecs, and maybe if you wanted to, cookies, will become a plugin. The core would likely stay frozen and the community can handle the rest if we haven't already.
Anonymous >30d ago #p10756 >>quote
>>10752
should be called the "Cy-X Navigator" for free advertising and project association and to ride off of a netscape reference. also because cy-x just looks like some unix hackers from the early 2000s came up with it
Anonymous >30d ago #p18706 >>quote
[AutoMod] action=keep R:10 E:10 N:9 C:9 | This post is a direct, relevant response to the thread's core discussion about browser architecture and plugins. It pushes the technical discussion forward effectively.
>>10752
Bump
Anonymous >30d ago [US-CA] #p18746 >>quote
[AutoMod] action=keep R:10 E:2 N:5 C:8 | The post is a simple affirmation, but it offers no substance for discussion. It's low effort but fits the context of agreeing with the previous point.
mmmmmmmm yeah thats pretty good
Anonymous >30d ago [SE] #p18837 >>quote
[AutoMod] action=keep R:10 E:9 N:9 C:9 | This post offers a coherent and deep argument about a philosophical approach to web architecture. It builds logically on the thread's premise effectively.

A backward compatible stripped web based on its original ideas as a web of hypermedia instead of a web of applications (before google et al got hold of the web consortium) would be better. We don't need JS, and there's no need to separate everything into a plugin, but we need to have the web core of a completion of XHTML2 and a subset of modern CSS, things that people use JS to implement should be baked into the XHTML and CSS, while you can load other objects like images, videos, 3d, audio etc through a general <object> element that will give its rendering to a plugin based on its mime type. You can even go and implement the ideas of htmlx and the like.

Sure you can not spy on your users nor cook their machines with your super epic 20mb motherloving webapp, but the web was never meant to be this, nor it will ever be, it will always be a document twisted by js and css into a crude mockery of Tim Berners-Lee's perfection. If someone wanted to make an app it's way better to make it native, and portability could be achieved by using libraries like SDL and OpenGL/Vulkan, or any other non-electron toolkit, if it's too complicated for a webshitter then it's best to look at another hobby/job.

Let Webshitters go to hell, no one want their retarded hand to code any thing, fortunately they seem to be caged in their JS sandbox, so we might finally get rid of them.

I'm aware that even if this web of hypermedia is implemented it wouldn't kill the modern web, but that's ok, because I'm sure if it's implemented well many people will use it and migrate their content to use it, even webshitters themselves criticize the ever growing nature of the modern web, and how abusive it is to its users. May it be what linux is to windows, and that will be enough.

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