um, please don't ask me why but i found grail, the python-based web browser, and have managed to hack it into submission sufficiently to view e.g. http://www.google.co.uk. out of sheer apathy i happened to have python2.4 still installed which was the only way i could get it to run without having to rewrite regex expressions (which i don't understand).
if anyone else would be interested in resurrecting this historic web browser, just for fits and giggles, please let me know. l. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
