6 ms·

Dooble Web Browser

56 points by smartmic 4y ago

paulryanrogers 4y ago
Page wasn't clear what it is though the GitHub project had this: > Dooble is a scientific browser. Minimal, cute, unusually stable, and available almost everywhere. Completed. Guess it's not so completed if they're still updating.
- andybak 4y ago
  What a terrible post and/or landing page (HN's rules probably hamstrung OP to some degree). Absolutely lacking in any context. I'm still unclear about the "why should I care?" part.
  - blueflow 4y ago
    I found it to be a refreshing contrast to all these websites that try to sell me some software or product. And the sort of things mentioned in the changelog gives a good impression about the state of the codebase.
    - user00012-ab 4y ago
      There are like 100 new things on HN every day. No one is really going to look at your page if you give 0 explanation on what it is or why someone should care. Even a 1 paragraph about summary would have been useful. Even the title here was completely void of any meaning on what this was.
      - blueflow 4y ago
        Its a web browser.
        andybak 4y ago
        We have those. Why is this one interesting or different? Heck. What rendering engine is it using?
        blueflow 4y ago
        I found it interesting because it has stability written on their Github page and the Change log reads like a matured project. I might try it as replacement for Firefox. I don't know what you would find interesting.
        andybak 4y ago
        I didn't make it to the changelog because I had nothing that gave me a sense of whether this was worth digging into.
        lostgame 4y ago
        Why would I replace it with Firefox? What makes it different than Firefox? If I'm already using Firefox, and have it set up the way I'd like, why should I change it? That's the point I think a lot of commenters here are making. Same here, I saw the landing page and immediately dismissed it. There needs to be information about what you are offering.
  - masukomi 4y ago
    I had the same reaction. I came to the comments here hoping someone had already explained "why i should care" or "why i should use this". Alas...
stareatgoats 4y ago
Earlier discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29736882 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29736882 (December 30, 2021, 52 comments)
snvzz 4y ago
This is just another browser using Qt's WebEngine (uses chromium's blink underneath) lib. It would be interesting if it was an actual new engine. Alternative (non khtml or gecko derivative) open-source engines sorted by descending perception of liveliness include: Ladybird[0], NetSurf[1], Links[2] and Dillo[3]. 0. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/tree/master/Ladybird https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/tree/master/Ladybird 1. https://www.netsurf-browser.org/ https://www.netsurf-browser.org/ 2. http://links.twibright.com/about.php http://links.twibright.com/about.php 3. https://www.dillo.org/ https://www.dillo.org/
- pipeline_peak 4y ago
  Writing a browser engine that supports the modern web and run on personal computers is never going to happen unless there’s some legal intervention. All the examples you’ve given are living proof. We’re at the mercy of Blink and WebKit. The latter only due to Apples iron grip on iOS browsers.
  - callumprentice 4y ago
    https://awesomekling.github.io/Ladybird-a-new-cross-platform-browser-project/ https://awesomekling.github.io/Ladybird-a-new-cross-platform... A mammoth task but the Serenity team is making huge progress.
  - quicklime 4y ago
    It's not impossible, and the examples listed are living proof that it is possible. People often cite the failure of Edge/Trident - even with the resources of Microsoft, it's still impossible to compete with Google. But there's a big difference between "competing with Google and taking significant market share away from Chrome" and just "writing a browser engine that supports the modern web and runs on personal computers". The latter is definitely not impossible.
    - fabrice_d 4y ago
      I also don't think it's impossible, but none of these engines show that it's possible either (same goes for Servo that is being revived by Igalia). None of them is usable for day-to-day browsing yet, and they are likely still in the phase where a lot of impressing progress can be made quickly. I'd be curious to see how they progress on interop tests like https://wpt.fyi/interop-2023 https://wpt.fyi/interop-2023
alphabet9000 4y ago
confusing choice for the main image used on the page. my first impression, having never heard of "doodle web browser", was that it was somehow related to that 'astro pi vis' device
muppetman 4y ago
I love it mentioned Windows portable and then utterly fails to provide a binary anywhere I can find. I'm sure it's great but I tried and failed.
- qwertygnu 4y ago
  Did you see the "Download Binaries" button on the top right?
  - jdthedisciple 4y ago
    No such thing at least on mobile (Android, Chrome)
  - muppetman 4y ago
    I did, yea, but there's no Windows binaries, only 2 source files and a .tar.gz which seems to have a Linux binary. Oh wait no if I scroll down to a Dec 2022 release there's a Windows binary. I just didn't search hard enough.
yosito 4y ago
I'm really confused what the USP is here. The URL says "text browser", but the screenshot looks like "Chrome fork" and there's no description of the goals of the project, just a long, noisy changelog.
deafpolygon 4y ago
> Dooble is a minimal, scientific, and stable Web browser. What makes this scientific?
kristopolous 4y ago
I saw "textbrowser" and I got overly excited. A usable modern terminal browser which generates the modern web sanely would be great. By "sanely" I mean that across the board. For instance, if you go to youtube, using say, libcaca isn't sane. Just start up a helper app for web video like vlc or mpv. Similarly, you can block out a rectangle of the appropriate size for an image but you'd still start some helper app like imagemagick or whatever if the user wants to see it. I just want a distraction free engagement with online content. It doesn't have to be from the ground up. You can use v8 for js - large chunks of existing engines ... just make it a full screen terminal app.
- nathanwh 4y ago
  Perhaps Carbonyl may be of interest to you? https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl
  - kristopolous 4y ago
    no, this is exactly not what I want. Thanks though.

56 points by smartmic 4y ago

Page wasn't clear what it is though the GitHub project had this: > Dooble is a scientific browser. Minimal, cute, unusually stable, and available almost everywhere. Completed. Guess it's not so completed if they're still updating.

andybak 4y ago
What a terrible post and/or landing page (HN's rules probably hamstrung OP to some degree). Absolutely lacking in any context. I'm still unclear about the "why should I care?" part.
- blueflow 4y ago
  I found it to be a refreshing contrast to all these websites that try to sell me some software or product. And the sort of things mentioned in the changelog gives a good impression about the state of the codebase.
  - user00012-ab 4y ago
    There are like 100 new things on HN every day. No one is really going to look at your page if you give 0 explanation on what it is or why someone should care. Even a 1 paragraph about summary would have been useful. Even the title here was completely void of any meaning on what this was.
    - blueflow 4y ago
      Its a web browser.
      - andybak 4y ago
        We have those. Why is this one interesting or different? Heck. What rendering engine is it using?
        blueflow 4y ago
        I found it interesting because it has stability written on their Github page and the Change log reads like a matured project. I might try it as replacement for Firefox. I don't know what you would find interesting.
        andybak 4y ago
        I didn't make it to the changelog because I had nothing that gave me a sense of whether this was worth digging into.
        lostgame 4y ago
        Why would I replace it with Firefox? What makes it different than Firefox? If I'm already using Firefox, and have it set up the way I'd like, why should I change it? That's the point I think a lot of commenters here are making. Same here, I saw the landing page and immediately dismissed it. There needs to be information about what you are offering.
- masukomi 4y ago
  I had the same reaction. I came to the comments here hoping someone had already explained "why i should care" or "why i should use this". Alas...

stareatgoats 4y ago

Earlier discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29736882 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29736882 (December 30, 2021, 52 comments)

snvzz 4y ago

This is just another browser using Qt's WebEngine (uses chromium's blink underneath) lib. It would be interesting if it was an actual new engine. Alternative (non khtml or gecko derivative) open-source engines sorted by descending perception of liveliness include: Ladybird[0], NetSurf[1], Links[2] and Dillo[3]. 0. https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/tree/master/Ladybird https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/tree/master/Ladybird 1. https://www.netsurf-browser.org/ https://www.netsurf-browser.org/ 2. http://links.twibright.com/about.php http://links.twibright.com/about.php 3. https://www.dillo.org/ https://www.dillo.org/

pipeline_peak 4y ago
Writing a browser engine that supports the modern web and run on personal computers is never going to happen unless there’s some legal intervention. All the examples you’ve given are living proof. We’re at the mercy of Blink and WebKit. The latter only due to Apples iron grip on iOS browsers.
- callumprentice 4y ago
  https://awesomekling.github.io/Ladybird-a-new-cross-platform-browser-project/ https://awesomekling.github.io/Ladybird-a-new-cross-platform... A mammoth task but the Serenity team is making huge progress.
- quicklime 4y ago
  It's not impossible, and the examples listed are living proof that it is possible. People often cite the failure of Edge/Trident - even with the resources of Microsoft, it's still impossible to compete with Google. But there's a big difference between "competing with Google and taking significant market share away from Chrome" and just "writing a browser engine that supports the modern web and runs on personal computers". The latter is definitely not impossible.
  - fabrice_d 4y ago
    I also don't think it's impossible, but none of these engines show that it's possible either (same goes for Servo that is being revived by Igalia). None of them is usable for day-to-day browsing yet, and they are likely still in the phase where a lot of impressing progress can be made quickly. I'd be curious to see how they progress on interop tests like https://wpt.fyi/interop-2023 https://wpt.fyi/interop-2023

alphabet9000 4y ago

confusing choice for the main image used on the page. my first impression, having never heard of "doodle web browser", was that it was somehow related to that 'astro pi vis' device

muppetman 4y ago

I love it mentioned Windows portable and then utterly fails to provide a binary anywhere I can find. I'm sure it's great but I tried and failed.

qwertygnu 4y ago
Did you see the "Download Binaries" button on the top right?
- jdthedisciple 4y ago
  No such thing at least on mobile (Android, Chrome)
- muppetman 4y ago
  I did, yea, but there's no Windows binaries, only 2 source files and a .tar.gz which seems to have a Linux binary. Oh wait no if I scroll down to a Dec 2022 release there's a Windows binary. I just didn't search hard enough.

yosito 4y ago

I'm really confused what the USP is here. The URL says "text browser", but the screenshot looks like "Chrome fork" and there's no description of the goals of the project, just a long, noisy changelog.

deafpolygon 4y ago

> Dooble is a minimal, scientific, and stable Web browser. What makes this scientific?

kristopolous 4y ago

I saw "textbrowser" and I got overly excited. A usable modern terminal browser which generates the modern web sanely would be great. By "sanely" I mean that across the board. For instance, if you go to youtube, using say, libcaca isn't sane. Just start up a helper app for web video like vlc or mpv. Similarly, you can block out a rectangle of the appropriate size for an image but you'd still start some helper app like imagemagick or whatever if the user wants to see it. I just want a distraction free engagement with online content. It doesn't have to be from the ground up. You can use v8 for js - large chunks of existing engines ... just make it a full screen terminal app.

nathanwh 4y ago
Perhaps Carbonyl may be of interest to you? https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl
- kristopolous 4y ago
  no, this is exactly not what I want. Thanks though.