I just made a browser using c# as one of my first projects of programming and it works pretty good but its pretty generic. I tried adding different tools on it but it still ends up pretty bare and I'm better off using Firefox. Is there a way to add useful apps and color on your browser. I want to make it more personal and add things that make it unique not necessarily better than all the others. I did it more for practice than anything but I want to add a little flare to it. If I'm not doing it for a job I might as well go for style points.
+5
A:
Implement HTML5 and CSS3. All of it. That would be worth using.
Now in the short run what I'd really like, would be a browser, that combines V8 JavaScript engine, WebKit as rendering engine with flexibility of XPCOM (but without its bloat). I mean basically cross-platform Google Chrome, accepting Firefox extensions.
vartec
2009-04-07 15:50:51
AFAICT, if it's as one of his first projects it's not a rendering engine - it seems to be based on the WebBrowser control. The WebBrowser control is just a wrapper around whatever version of IE the user has installed on Windows.
Lucas Jones
2009-04-07 16:09:07
person-b: probably. But he's got ambition to make unique web browser. ;)
vartec
2009-04-07 16:13:14
I do have the ambition to make a unique browser so how should I start? I will have plenty of time in the summer and if somebody points me in the right direction hopefully I can teach myself.
Zach
2009-04-07 20:43:26
Zach: Start by creating some useful extensions for existing browsers.
vartec
2009-04-08 07:04:35
+4
A:
I suspect you'll find most of the really useful ideas have already been implemented in the major browsers. If you think of something really neat which hasn't been done already, I think it would be a more useful contribution to the world if you'd implement it for/in the major browsers instead of in your own one.
I'm not trying to put a damper on your aim - it's just that quite a few people have already thought about browsers long and hard. It's great to do something as a route to learning, but it would be unrealistic to think you'll come up with a world-beating new idea at the same time.
Jon Skeet
2009-04-07 15:51:39
+1 for the idea. Though, his implementation is in c#, so it will be hard to put in any of the major browsers out there.
Sunny
2009-04-07 16:03:30
I wouldn't be so sure. There is quite a lot of W3C stuff, that isn't yet implemented. And stuff that is implemented - well, it can be done better.
vartec
2009-04-07 16:05:34
A:
Most browsers these days have given up competing on features and now battle it out on the speed and stability front. Safari 4 (using their SquirrelFish / Nitro JavaScript engine) is the self proclaimed "fastest browser in the world", Chrome implemented their V8 JavaScript engine and also separated processes for each tab in their browser. Firefox 3.5 apparently has increased JavaScript performance to rival Safari 4.
There are umpteen Gecko and WebKit browsers out there trying to come up with the next big idea, but bar Chrome, no browser has made significant (any?) impact on the web in the past few years.
pmckenna
2009-04-07 16:11:36