5 ms·

ok... i'll bite... how does this compare to chrome in terms of rendering and compatibility? i don't see this thing listed on caniuse.com.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
sprash 6y ago
It does not even pass the ACID2 test. It is however the best independently developed browser engine out there. If you want an alternative to Webkit and whatever Firefox uses, Netsurf is the only viable option at the moment.
- ori_b 6y ago
  Basically, it's the only browser out there even trying to handle modern sites that's not mostly funded by Google or Apple (Firefox revenue is mostly coming from Google, and there's Safari), and which runs on rarer platforms. It's still relatively big, because web standards are incredibly complicated, but it's almost tractable. If you care about browser diversity, it's important.
  - mappu 6y ago
    There are a few others but all with their own caveats - https://www.ekioh.com/flow-browser/ https://www.ekioh.com/flow-browser/ is fully independent and can run Gmail, but it's commercial / non-FOSS. It's funded by contracts in the set-top-box industry. https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/ is non-FOSS with a free edition but you shouldn't run untrusted javascript on it And there are some lightly-maintained forks of the leaked Presto 12.x engine from before Opera became a Chromium derivative, but of course it's copyright infringement.
    - monocasa 6y ago
      I would love if Opera open sourced Presto. It's unfortunate that the lack of resources that pushed them to Chromium probably translate to a lack of resources needed to open source Presto properly, so I doubt we'll ever see it. : \
      - ralls_ebfe 6y ago
        I loved presto so much, not going open source is a huge loss. And now the future of servo is unclear as well. :(
- riquito 6y ago
  > It does not even pass the ACID2 test. It is however the best independently developed browser engine out there Flow browser passes ACID3 [1], closed source but independent (afaik, dont't really know much about it) Previous HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508979 [1] https://www.ekioh.com/devblog/acid/ https://www.ekioh.com/devblog/acid/
  - ezluckyfree 6y ago
    not available for Linux?
Santosh83 6y ago
Have a look here (but page not updated in years apparently, so its compatibility maybe better in reality) http://www.netsurf-browser.org/documentation/progress.html http://www.netsurf-browser.org/documentation/progress.html The general impression I get is that it is not bad when it comes to HTML and CSS but not even close for Javascript (disabled by default because of minimal support apparently), so comparing this with Chrome is like apples to oranges, given the way the modern Web is going.
- userbinator 6y ago
  In other words, HTML4 and CSS2. As a counterpoint, when you come across a site which should but doesn't work in one of these minimal browsers, maybe the blame should be put on the site for using needless complexity instead of the browser for not implementing it.
  - sli 6y ago
    You really cannot even begin to blame websites for using HTML5 and CSS3 just because an obscure browser doesn't support them.
  - anaganisk 6y ago
    Yeah, blame adobe Photoshop 2020 CC for not optimising it for Windows 95.
justapassenger 6y ago
It's good at old-school "websites". 0 support for modern web, aka "webapps".

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

sprash 6y ago

It does not even pass the ACID2 test. It is however the best independently developed browser engine out there. If you want an alternative to Webkit and whatever Firefox uses, Netsurf is the only viable option at the moment.

ori_b 6y ago
Basically, it's the only browser out there even trying to handle modern sites that's not mostly funded by Google or Apple (Firefox revenue is mostly coming from Google, and there's Safari), and which runs on rarer platforms. It's still relatively big, because web standards are incredibly complicated, but it's almost tractable. If you care about browser diversity, it's important.
- mappu 6y ago
  There are a few others but all with their own caveats - https://www.ekioh.com/flow-browser/ https://www.ekioh.com/flow-browser/ is fully independent and can run Gmail, but it's commercial / non-FOSS. It's funded by contracts in the set-top-box industry. https://sciter.com/ https://sciter.com/ is non-FOSS with a free edition but you shouldn't run untrusted javascript on it And there are some lightly-maintained forks of the leaked Presto 12.x engine from before Opera became a Chromium derivative, but of course it's copyright infringement.
  - monocasa 6y ago
    I would love if Opera open sourced Presto. It's unfortunate that the lack of resources that pushed them to Chromium probably translate to a lack of resources needed to open source Presto properly, so I doubt we'll ever see it. : \
    - ralls_ebfe 6y ago
      I loved presto so much, not going open source is a huge loss. And now the future of servo is unclear as well. :(
riquito 6y ago
> It does not even pass the ACID2 test. It is however the best independently developed browser engine out there Flow browser passes ACID3 [1], closed source but independent (afaik, dont't really know much about it) Previous HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508979 [1] https://www.ekioh.com/devblog/acid/ https://www.ekioh.com/devblog/acid/
- ezluckyfree 6y ago
  not available for Linux?

Santosh83 6y ago

Have a look here (but page not updated in years apparently, so its compatibility maybe better in reality) http://www.netsurf-browser.org/documentation/progress.html http://www.netsurf-browser.org/documentation/progress.html The general impression I get is that it is not bad when it comes to HTML and CSS but not even close for Javascript (disabled by default because of minimal support apparently), so comparing this with Chrome is like apples to oranges, given the way the modern Web is going.

userbinator 6y ago
In other words, HTML4 and CSS2. As a counterpoint, when you come across a site which should but doesn't work in one of these minimal browsers, maybe the blame should be put on the site for using needless complexity instead of the browser for not implementing it.
- sli 6y ago
  You really cannot even begin to blame websites for using HTML5 and CSS3 just because an obscure browser doesn't support them.
- anaganisk 6y ago
  Yeah, blame adobe Photoshop 2020 CC for not optimising it for Windows 95.

justapassenger 6y ago

It's good at old-school "websites". 0 support for modern web, aka "webapps".