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Galeon Developers Interview

Posted by michael on from the at-least-it-isn't-named-firebird dept.

Nachtjäger writes "The Galeon website has an interview with the developers, describing overall project health, current problems, and future direction. There's also a place to ask your own questions for future interviews."

7 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. They've had a lot of trouble. by James+A.+A.+Joyce · · Score: 5, Informative

    People have been abandoning the project for imaginary problems or unimportant problems, all of which stem from, allegedly, "libbonobogui", which appears to be a graphical API for GNOME. This has been the cause of lots of kludges in versions 1.2 and 1.3 and they look forward to ceasing to use it. They've also been hit hard by being dropped by both Red Hat and Slackware! Fortunately, they're getting back on their feet now since some people have stuck with Galeon (which is a pretty fine browser, if not the prettiest) and so it's been gradually improving. I believe a new version was released just a few hours/days ago.

    Go download it! Show your support!

    --

    Bash script for FP whores

    1. Re:They've had a lot of trouble. by javamutt · · Score: 2, Informative

      I agree with you. When I made the transition from RH8 to RH9 I lved the look, but felt trapped by the lack of configurability.

      It since hasbecome obvious to me that Metacity can do a lot more than the default options. Just load the Sun Gnome environment, and compare it to RH9. I wish Sun would adopt some of RH's tweaks!

      Bottom line is that a little documentation (maybe I missed something?) would have gone a long way towards making power users more receptive to the change.

  2. Galeon - use it! by kwenda · · Score: 2, Informative

    This used to be the default in the Slackware distro of X/KDE. Now they've switched to Konqueror... Galeon works better though, I recommend it.

  3. Galeon is unbloated without XUL interface by zymano · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the Manifest-

    MANIFESTO A web browser is more than an application, it is a way of thinking, it is a way of seeing the world. Galeon's principles are simplicity and standards compliance. Simplicity: While Mozilla has an excellent rendering engine, its default XUL-based interface is considered to be overcrowded and bloated. Furthermore, on slower processors even trivial tasks such as pulling down a menu are less than responsive. Galeon aims to utilize the simplest interface possible for a browser. Keep in mind that simple does not necessarily mean less powerful. We believe the commonly used browsers of today are too big, buggy, and bloated. Galeon addresses simplicity with a small browser designed for the web -- not mail, newsgroups, file management, instant messaging or coffee making. The UNIX philosophy is to design small tools that do one thing, and do it well. Galeon also addresses simplicity with modularity to make a light and powerful application. If something can be implemented using external applications or components, we use it rather than wasting resources in the web browser. Integration will be achieved with CORBA, Bonobo, and the ever popular command line. Mail will be handled with your favorite e-mail application (Evolution, pine, mutt, balsa, pronto, whatever); GTM (Gnome Transfer Manager) will be used to download files in a standardized manner. Standards compliance: The introduction of non-standard features in browsers could make it difficult or impossible to use alternative products like Galeon if developers embrace them. Alternative (standards complying) browsers could not be able to fully access web sites making use of these features. The success of non-standard features can ultimately lead to forcing one browser, on one platform to dominate the market. Standards compliance ensures the freedom of choice. Galeon aims to achieve this.

  4. Galeon RIP by grzebo · · Score: 5, Informative
    It used to be my favourite browser, but fore some reason or other the developers have decided to destroy it. While Galeon 1.2.x was superb, version 1.3 is just slightly better than IE.

    IMHO they got exactly what they worked so hard for - rejection from everyone.

    A far-from-complete list of features they broke:
    • Tab settings - how wide they are, if they should get shortened, etc.
    • favicons on tabs - supposedly it's possible to turnt them on using some magical commands, but I haven't managed
    • a button to erase the address bar - I don't want its content on my clipboard
    • focus of newly opened tabs/windows - additional clicks necessary
    • rocker style mouse gestures - just pressing RMB and then LMB used to go back
    • stability
    • saving sessions as groups of bookmarks
    • setting individual handling programs for different extensions


    Galeon used to be an example of how an Open Source Product can be better than proprietary one (i.e. Opera). Now it's just pathetic. One more reason to dislike anyting GNOME-related (and I used to run Galeon from KDE).
  5. Panel drawers WAS:They've had a lot of trouble. by stuntpope · · Score: 2, Informative

    Aren't the popup menus on XFCE's panel similar to Gnome's panel drawers? I never cared much for Gnome's drawers, but FWIC, you click an icon on the panel, it expands to show several launchers. XFCE has that.

  6. File Bookmark is there by Markus+Registrada · · Score: 2, Informative
    To file a bookmark, go down to the folder where you want to file it, and right-click. There you go: "Add Bookmark Here". "File Bookmark" was always confusing. Not having it is an improvement.

    In general, do a bit of exploration with the right mouse button. You'll discover all kinds of good things (besides a few remaining bugs).