GTK WebCore

May 12, 2007

GTK-WebCore, a project about porting Apple WebKit to GTK is now up-and-running on my Ubuntu 7 wobbly desktop.

The codebase is still small compared to Moz and others, although the current trunk does not have all the features needed to make it feature-compatible.

WebCore

Anyway, the codebase is now building on my devel box which is a really a big task by itself, setting-up the dependencies in order to get the trunk compiling.

First Class Browser Elements

This is really not an issue and it is best handled by standards what features go where, and stuff like when these features go marching-in into the code. I’m all for that simply because it creates a stable condition.

That’s probably why we have these projects like gtk-webcore. Innovators or simply those with so much time on their hands could play with outrageous concepts like making some objects first class browser elements.

The implications for those who grok these concepts are wide-ranging. You, my dear reader will probably nod in agreement how cool these ideas are, there is no doubt about it, gtk-webcore does have that potential to provide a big playground, a fertile ground for innovators to play in.

First class elements are basically protected by a standard. Imagine the chaos of not having a standard on how elements get rendered, it would not become a platform for users, though.

There is a need to have a balance between those who add elements to the browser and the ones who protect them. The process alone may not look like a walk-in-the-park, but the resulting product based on a moving standard could benefit a lot.