>> The http://www.netsurf-browser.org gives the impression of offering >> all the same building bricks, and also that it could possibly be a >> much smaller alternative. > Except that we lack 90% (or more) of the bindings, rendering, etc, right now > :( > 1. Help with the CSS engine > 2. Help with the dynamic layout engine > 3. Help integrate that into NS > 4. Assist with the JavaScript bindings
On the one side, there is the interesting goal of being able to compete with the existing browser oligopoly and offer an extra, less bloated alternative, which is indeed a commendable endeavour. That would indeed allow users to surf the existing web without having to trust the existing cartel. On the other side, for a desktop application, the existing netsurf capabilities are already way more than "good enough". Lacking more than 90% of the bindings, rendering, etc is quite immaterial in that context. A desktop application has no need to be compatible with existing websites. Still, I concede that your goal -- no matter how different from mine -- is certainly commendable. > 5. Worry about whether or not it's a good plan to promulgate the idea that > desktop applications built out of web browsers isn't the work of an evil > mind aiming to destroy all semblance of reliable and uniform user interfaces. Yes, but -- except for the original, universal evil -- it is always possible to find situations for every given evil in which it is the lesser evil. That is why I reject the belief in absolute evil. Seriously, I am not a follower of absolute evil or its principle. Even chopping off someone's limbs is not necessarily an absolute evil. A doctor calls that an "amputation". That is also why pharmacies are allowed and even encouraged to sell their dangerous poisons. Furthermore -- except for the original, universal good -- there are always situations, for every given good, in which it is actually an evil. Pure water may be good, but not when you try to swallow an entire tropical river. That is called "drowning". I originally looked into doing a desktop application with lua + lgi (gtk bindings), but unfortunately, I cannot find sufficiently-effective cryptocurrency-related source code in lua, while this is way less of a problem in javascript. Maintaining a lua port would end up burning a lot of energy just to allow a few people to have their way, especially, since not everybody is a fan of small, embeddable scripting engines. At the moment, pretty much everybody else uses a 100+ MB web-runtime to create even the simplest crypto-wallet on the desktop. It allows for deploying an almost unmodified app to the mobile phone too. So, they are doing some kind of understandable trade-off engineering with lots of advantages and disadvantages. I am certainly not trying to push anybody to go off on a tangent that does not serve their own goals. I was just trying to find people who would have similar goals already.
