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Meet Uzbl — a Web Browser With the Unix Philosophy

DigDuality writes "Dieter@be over at Arch Linux forums, a release engineer for Arch Linux, got inspired by this post. The idea? To create a browser based on the Unix philosophy: 'Write programs that do one thing and do it well, programs that work well together, programs to handle text streams because that is a universal interface,' among other points. The result? A fast, low-resource browser named Uzbl, based on WebKit, which passes the Acid3 Test with a perfect score. The browser is controlled (by default) by vim-like keybindings, not too dissimilar to vimperator for Firefox. Things like URL changing, loading/saving of bookmarks, saving history, and downloads are handled through external scripts that you write (though the Uzbl software does come with some nice scripts for you to use). It fits great in a tiling window manager and plays extremely well with dmenu. The learning curve is a bit steep, but once you get used to it, it's smooth sailing. Not bad for alpha software. Though built for Arch, it has been reported to work on Ubuntu."

7 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Browser name should be changed by DiamondGeezer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I suggest NUZBL.

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  2. vi? by clang_jangle · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm very tempted to try it, but it has those nauseating, voodoo-like vi keybindings. What's wrong with using the sweet and pure emacs keybindings? Well, I'm going to go take a look now and see if that's configurable.
    MODERATOR HINT: I'm guilty of attempted humor, not flamebait.

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    1. Re:vi? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Great! Anyone in on a Emacs port?

    2. Re:vi? by FlyingBishop · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd be happy to help, but AC, you have an annoying fickleness. I'm not really sure I can trust you to follow through.

  3. 50 tabs? by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2, Funny

    What are you doing that requires 450 or even 50 tabs for that matter? You sound like an RMS nutjob.

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  4. Re:And the UNIX philosophy is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Trolls trolling trolls.

  5. Re:And the UNIX philosophy is... by MadnessASAP · · Score: 2, Funny

    Trolling troll is trolled.

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