FixBrowser

Forum: General Discussion: Sugestions

Marcin
2025/06/09 17:40 1. Please design icons for browser, proxy and scripts.
2. Please create compilation script according to standards that your programs could be implemented in popular distributons.
3. Your browser is similar to Netsurf. Mayby you could go in direction of Dillo, Html Viewer 3 (hv3) and concentrate on viewing local html on computer, minimalistic mobile webpage, simplicity reader mode (instead render full html with pictures).
4. You could also create new technology of new highly compressed html type code with pictures definded resolution in html code, and picture loading on demand or with delay, similar to reader mode. See: "Google I/O 2013 - Mobile HTML: The Future of Your Sites". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_web
5. Epub is a html based standard that can be read very easy on web browser.
6.RTF, ODT, PDF, DJVu, email, postscript, txt.

jezek2
2025/06/10 02:25 I don't see any limitations of using shell scripts for compilation for distributions. They use scripts for building so basically any form is fine. Previously I've had a Makefile but removed it because it was more complicated than the shell script.

The goal is to render full HTML (and even provide some form of interactivity using trusted extensions). Basically anything that FixProxy is able to show in a regular web browser should be possible with FixBrowser as well.

FixBrowser is currently an alpha version, not really suited for regular browsing (unlike FixProxy) so it's premature to compare it to other browsers.

Reader mode is an interesting thing to do in the future as an extension. It can benefit from the current system of fix scripts to have access to a more "normalized" HTML pages. In addition to that it could also have it's own set of fix scripts to improve on web pages where a general conversion algorithm would fail.

Ability to open local pages will be added at some point in the future. It could fail if the pages would require JS, fix scripts couldn't be used there.

Opening of other file formats (esp. PDF) is planned at some point in the future (most likely using a trusted extension).

arcin
2025/08/05 12:40 Are there any plans to put fixproxy in embedded devices like Gargoyle Router Management Utility (OpenWrt)?

jezek2
2025/08/05 22:50 No current plans, but since it's Linux based it should be possible to compile for it (as it's possible on Raspberry Pi). There may be issues with big-endian architectures like MIPS though.

The compilation script is simple enough so it shouldn't be hard to adapt it for compilation using a cross-compiler.

arcin
2025/08/13 10:40 Is it possible today, to create Android 4 version of fixproxy? I'm not Android developer, but I want to use old web browser in my Amdroid 4.1 device.

jezek2
2025/08/15 19:40 Technically it should be possible with no obvious problems. Getting the SDK/NDK installed and figured out etc. is another story though.

I have some previous experience but it was on Windows and with no NDK. For serious usage it would need to be Linux based so it can be available with the rest of cross-compilers to other platforms.

There are also some "newer" web browsers, such as Firefox 68 (called Fennec).

There used to be some project that allowed to run Debian on old Androids, but have no idea what the project was. I remember it having a caveat that it required to use internal storage and was quite big. On the other hand basically all SW was available including a C compiler.

I will try to look at the SDK situation as it would be good for future expansion of supported platforms, and trying to put FixProxy there is a good test. I also happen to have an Android 4.1 device to test on.

Though no promises on the time or actual delivery. I will post here if I will get some progress.

jezek2
2025/08/29 04:38 It appears that Google is going to remove the ability to sideload apps from unverified developers on Play Store enabled devices (which is basically all of them). This means adding support for Android native apps is no longer a viable plan.

I have planned to add support both in FixScript and FixBrowser at some point. That would justify the work required to bring up support for another platform, but it's not worth without it.

It would be a different case if I've already added support for the platform, like in MacOS case which seems to be on a long-term path to become a closed platform but is still open. In that case it would be straightforward to at least support old versions.

The support for mobiles will be based on PWAs (installable web apps) the same way as on iOS, the other closed platform. This has some advantages and disavantages. The major one is that it would require a server proxy to get access to the internet (which I will provide for people who donated).

FixProxy can't be implemented in this way, though it could isolate and pass the generated HTML directly to the host browser. This seems like an interesting experiment to try. But again no promises on the time or actual delivery.

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Marcin 2025/06/09 17:40	1. Please design icons for browser, proxy and scripts. 2. Please create compilation script according to standards that your programs could be implemented in popular distributons. 3. Your browser is similar to Netsurf. Mayby you could go in direction of Dillo, Html Viewer 3 (hv3) and concentrate on viewing local html on computer, minimalistic mobile webpage, simplicity reader mode (instead render full html with pictures). 4. You could also create new technology of new highly compressed html type code with pictures definded resolution in html code, and picture loading on demand or with delay, similar to reader mode. See: "Google I/O 2013 - Mobile HTML: The Future of Your Sites". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_web 5. Epub is a html based standard that can be read very easy on web browser. 6.RTF, ODT, PDF, DJVu, email, postscript, txt.
jezek2 2025/06/10 02:25	I don't see any limitations of using shell scripts for compilation for distributions. They use scripts for building so basically any form is fine. Previously I've had a Makefile but removed it because it was more complicated than the shell script. The goal is to render full HTML (and even provide some form of interactivity using trusted extensions). Basically anything that FixProxy is able to show in a regular web browser should be possible with FixBrowser as well. FixBrowser is currently an alpha version, not really suited for regular browsing (unlike FixProxy) so it's premature to compare it to other browsers. Reader mode is an interesting thing to do in the future as an extension. It can benefit from the current system of fix scripts to have access to a more "normalized" HTML pages. In addition to that it could also have it's own set of fix scripts to improve on web pages where a general conversion algorithm would fail. Ability to open local pages will be added at some point in the future. It could fail if the pages would require JS, fix scripts couldn't be used there. Opening of other file formats (esp. PDF) is planned at some point in the future (most likely using a trusted extension).
arcin 2025/08/05 12:40	Are there any plans to put fixproxy in embedded devices like Gargoyle Router Management Utility (OpenWrt)?
jezek2 2025/08/05 22:50	No current plans, but since it's Linux based it should be possible to compile for it (as it's possible on Raspberry Pi). There may be issues with big-endian architectures like MIPS though. The compilation script is simple enough so it shouldn't be hard to adapt it for compilation using a cross-compiler.
arcin 2025/08/13 10:40	Is it possible today, to create Android 4 version of fixproxy? I'm not Android developer, but I want to use old web browser in my Amdroid 4.1 device.
jezek2 2025/08/15 19:40	Technically it should be possible with no obvious problems. Getting the SDK/NDK installed and figured out etc. is another story though. I have some previous experience but it was on Windows and with no NDK. For serious usage it would need to be Linux based so it can be available with the rest of cross-compilers to other platforms. There are also some "newer" web browsers, such as Firefox 68 (called Fennec). There used to be some project that allowed to run Debian on old Androids, but have no idea what the project was. I remember it having a caveat that it required to use internal storage and was quite big. On the other hand basically all SW was available including a C compiler. I will try to look at the SDK situation as it would be good for future expansion of supported platforms, and trying to put FixProxy there is a good test. I also happen to have an Android 4.1 device to test on. Though no promises on the time or actual delivery. I will post here if I will get some progress.
jezek2 2025/08/29 04:38	It appears that Google is going to remove the ability to sideload apps from unverified developers on Play Store enabled devices (which is basically all of them). This means adding support for Android native apps is no longer a viable plan. I have planned to add support both in FixScript and FixBrowser at some point. That would justify the work required to bring up support for another platform, but it's not worth without it. It would be a different case if I've already added support for the platform, like in MacOS case which seems to be on a long-term path to become a closed platform but is still open. In that case it would be straightforward to at least support old versions. The support for mobiles will be based on PWAs (installable web apps) the same way as on iOS, the other closed platform. This has some advantages and disavantages. The major one is that it would require a server proxy to get access to the internet (which I will provide for people who donated). FixProxy can't be implemented in this way, though it could isolate and pass the generated HTML directly to the host browser. This seems like an interesting experiment to try. But again no promises on the time or actual delivery.