Nate

Some fairly big #Sunstone #browser feature implementations today. Bookmarks can be displayed at the 'sunstone://bookmarks/' uri. Clicking on the tag buttons for each bookmark card will bring up a page with all bookmarks that have that tag. There is also a search entry, which by default will search within the bookmark's name, alias, description, and url. This doesn't yet work from within a tag page, but that shouldn't take too much of a rafactor to implement. Because the search is implemented using the 'get' method, the search query is appended to the url. Technically, this could be added as a search engine the same way other search engines are added. I need to start writing some good documentation. I've learned a lot doing this. One thing I am not, and never claimed to be, is a web designer. But these features require creating web pages on the fly programatically, adding a custom scheme handler to WebKit, and even some css. No javascript so far. History is going to be implemented in much the same way, but with a lot more search parameters that can be set by the user. Some of the work done so far will support the history page nicely. The handler already breaks the query string down and stores key/value pairs in a hashmap to be passed to the function which generates the page. There's a fairly significant amount of code cleanup to be done around this last bit of hacking. For instance, originally I had a few different html templates for various uses, but I've knocked that down to one. I'll need to remove the orphans from the repository.

Ok, decision time. Teal, or Chrome/Black? #motorcycles #classic650 #royalenfield

I'm experimenting with a mini titlebar in #Sunstone for when the main controls are hidden. It's just big enough to give you a handle to move the windows around, with the title in the center. Clicking the title beings to the controls and focuses the address bar, hitting escape hides the controls again. So far I like it. If a new user accidentally hides the controls they can get them back with one click. I'll probably add a button on the left to open the sidebar, and some windows control buttons on the right. Thinking I'll make it configurable, and also add an option to hide it when the widow is maximized. This comes along with using client side decorations, so I'll be adding widow controls to the existing header bar as well. Might move things around slightly depending on how busy it looks after.

#Sunstone #browser grew a couple of features over the past two days.

- History
This is in the same `places` database as bookmarks. For the time being, there is no interface for browsing history or deleting entries. I've added two settings, max_entries and max_days. Every fifteen minutes a background job runs at low priority to clear and history beyond what those two settings allow. There are a lot of plans for how history is going to be displayed such as grouping visits by host and deleting items from arbitrary ranges of time.

- Address bar completions
Whatever you type into the address bar is now saved and used as entry completions. This was something I was having a hard time living without while dogfooding the browser as my daily driver.

There was a lot of code cleanup and refactoring done in the past couple of days as well. Most of the Sql used to access the places database is stored as snippets in the GResources vfs.

#Vala #Programming #Gtk

https://codeberg.org/jeang3nie/sunstone

Does Pam Bondi know that the Dow is no longer above 50k?

I spent a few hours today rethinking the schema for the bookmarks database in #Sunstone . The result is better functionality in less code, which is hopefully a lot less brittle. This database is also going to be used for history, and it's tied in to parsing address bar queries, so it's definitely worth getting it right before going too much further.

Next steps are going to be displaying bookmarks in list form in the sidebar, followed by serving a bookmarks page at the uri sunstone://bookmarks. Since the bookmarks are organized by tags, each tag will be available as a subfolder of that url (eventually).

It was a better day than I expected. My younger son came over and visited for a few hours. He's starting a new job at KSU tomorrow, so he'll be working really close to where I live and we might be seeing a lot more of him going forward.

#Sunstone #Browser got a few nice quality of life improvements today.

• A slim progress bar at the top of the WebView to display loading progress
• Page zoom via keyboard shortcuts. Currently there is no user feedback to display the zoom level because I still need to decide where to fit that into the interface and how it should look.
• You can create bookmarks now via the bookmark editor, called up via the button just to the right of the address bar. Some limitations apply (more on that below).
• You can visit a bookmark just by typing its name or alias into the address bar. This is similar to the ‘quickmarks’ feature in Qutebrowser, except integrated right into the bookmarking system. It’s quite handy - I came here by opening the browser, hitting Ctrl/g to focus the address bar entry and typing ‘slp [Enter]’. That’s five keystrokes after opening the browser and no touching the mouse.

I had been playing around with a custom data structure for storing and quickly looking up bookmarks, but I’ve decided to go easy mode and just use an sqlite database. I’m considering doing the same for history so that I can store more context for history items, but I digress. Sunstone is going to organize your bookmarks via tags instead of folders, which should make it quick and easy to find old bookmarks by topic. The database has a table for Bookmarks and a table for Tags. The current limitation with the editor is that when you update an existing bookmark and change it’s tags, the tags table isn’t updated. I just need to get around to writing the logic to handle that properly. I also think it wise to state that the current bookmark schema may change.

Currently there is nowhere in the interface to display bookmarks. I’m planning on having two different views for that, one in the sidebar and one as a webpage with the sunstone://bookmarks/ uri. The plan is to also integrate bookmark names, url’s and aliases into completion for the address bar.

https://codeberg.org/jeang3nie/sunstone

I’ve renamed my web browser project from SWB to Sunstone.

The sunstone was a translucent mineral prized by Viking navigators because it had a natural property that polarized light, making it possible to see through the haze and find the sun on a hazy day - quite common in the North Atlantic. I liked the connection to a primitive navigation tool.

Some code progress:

• Downloads are displayed in a grid form inside a popup menu with a progress bar
• I’ve added a (non-functional) bookmark editor button next to the address bar. Bookmarks should be coming fairly soon.
• If the tab bar or the command bar are hidden, those settings now persist across sessions.
• When the tab bar is hidden, the tab overview button is shown and the new tab button is hidden. You can still create a new tab from the button in the overview or from ‘Ctrl/t’. Keeps the interface cleaner.

#WebBrowser #sunstone #programming #Vala #Gtk

https://codeberg.org/jeang3nie/sunstone

A little work done on my web browser. I'm working on bookmarks, and instead of storing them in a text file like I originally planned I'm going to try out storing them in an sqlite database. Some of that infrastructure is in place. Bookmarks are going to be tag based rather than in folders, so you can tag a bookmark with multiple categories and it will show up in all of them. I think that's a better way of organizing them than the traditional folder view.

Downloads are working now, but the only feedback happens at the end of the download when it either finishes or fails. I'm working on a download widget that will provide progress bar, estimated time left and a cancel button for each download. Not sure if I want to stick downloads in a popover menu like Epiphany and Firefox do, in the sidebar, or in a dedicated tab (which gives the most space for feedback). Once I've added persistent settings I'll also add settings for choosing download locations. Right now it just defaults to ~/Downloads.

Speaking of feedback, there is a spinner on each tab button that lets the user know that a page is loading. However, there is no user feedback when the tab bar is hidden, so I'll be adding something to address that. Probably I'll add a spinner that is only shown in the control bar if the tab bar is hidden. I may add a very slim status bar at the bottom that will only show if the control bar is hidden, which will show some feedback when the rest of the interface is hidden. That requires adding some custom css, because I want it to be really slim and out of the way.

Getting more and more burned out and tired of school. I'm way too far in to give up now, but man sometimes I just really hate spending so much of my free time on this. I really hate that so many of my CS courses seem to be geared around exactly the type of dictate development that I have zero interest in - using some bloated web framework that's basically a black box to implement a list of features for a commercial oriented app I'd have zero interest in using or working on in the real world. I was looking over some of my abandoned projects from a few years ago and really missing getting to spend time on them. Starting SWB has me really excited about programming again, but it's hard to manage my time when I have something I want to do vs so many things I have to do.

I made some progress towards handling downloads in SWB. It took quite a bit of reading the docs to figure out where and how to trigger downloads when simply clicking on a linked file that WebKit can't display. Not much of it was obvious. Exploring names. I kind of like Sunstone, but theres a library that uses the name to implement a REST api. If anyone has any suggestions for what to call a new web browser, fire away please.

Currently 46° outside. The snow and ice are finally melting off the driveway enough to get the bike or for a ride. Had it out earlier picking up some candy for my wife for valentine's day and it immediately made me feel better than I have in months.

#motorcycles

Posting from Swb for the first time. Just enabled persistent cookies, so logins will persist across sessions. Some other goodies as of today:

• favicons in tab labels
• loading feedback via a spinner in the tab labels

Lots of other smaller features are underway but not finished. I did some groundwork on vertical tabs this morning, and layed out the classes for history storage.

#swb #vala #WebBrowsers

Some progress on Simple Web Browser today.
- Forward/Back/Reload implemented
- Control buttons are sensitive only when they do something (ie, forward button is greyed out if you can't go forward)
- Added a shortcut to focus the address bar
- Change text in address bar and window title when changing tabs

https://codeberg.org/jeang3nie/swb

#swb #vala #programming #WebBrowsers

Repository is now public. Right now this is just called Swb, or Simple Web Browser. Open to naming suggestions.

Swb is being written in Vala using WebKitGtk. I've been daily driving Gnome Web since Mozilla's new CEO decided that Mozilla should be an AI company, but I'm cheap (actually quite poor) and have a crappy laptop with a small, low-resolution screen and I hate that there's no way to reduce the size of the interface. That was the original motivation, anyway.

I used DWB back in the day, and Qutebrowser for a number of years until I couldn't stomach the idea of Blink taking over the web. I love a browser with a minimal interface that can be driven from a keyboard, but I don't want to saddle people with Vim style keyboard shortcuts or make the thing unusable for newer users. The idea is to build something usable by people who just fired up their first Linux installation last week, and also for those who live 99% of their time on the command line. But I want those advanced users to have tools like short bookmark aliases (qutebrowser calls them Quickmarks) and easily configurable searchengines where you just prepend a short alias to the search query to tell it where to search. The sort of tool that you can use right away, but that you can grow into using really productively over time.

There is a ton left to do to make it what I want it to be. Right now it's sitting at just over 1100 lines of code and is basically just a minimally viable proof of concept. No saved state or settings, no bookmarks (yet) and not all browsing features like back/forward/reload are implemented. I'm putting it out there to hopefully attract contributions, so as such it's GPL3 licensed and has a code of conduct based on the one that the Rust project uses.

https://codeberg.org/jeang3nie/swb

I mentioned a little while back that I was considering starting a new browser project using WebKitGtk. The result, written in Vala, is nearing minimum viability. Right now it's nothing special, just a simple tabbed browser that's missing a lot of features, but the skeleton is good and you already get some goodies that Gnome Web doesn't give you:
- Ability to hide the tab bar
- Ability to hide the address bar and other controls
- When the tab bar is hidden, am overview button appears in the controls like on a mobile browser

Once I have what I consider minimally viable, I'll make the repository on Codeberg public and link to it.

#vala #programming #browsers #webbrowsers

Beginning a new #FreeSoftware project and I want to have an inclusive code of conduct in place right from the beginning. Anyone have any good examples to share to help me get started?

It was cold, but I haven't even had the bike running in almost two weeks so we both needed a little ride while the sun was out and the roads were mostly clear.

Wonderful to see Liam Ramos and his father going home. Lots more to do, and Liam will no don't be scarred for life. But let's take a small victory lap anyway. Going to play "One Little Victory" by Rush in their honor.

Is MAGA a cult? Ok, so here's something I don't talk about much. My high school girlfriend, who I married at 18, was a member of the LDS church. She got me involved in it because that was the only way that we could be together. I've been out for years now, but the experience set my life and my maturity back by a lot. One of my favorite television moments of all time is when Stan asks his Mormon friend incredulously, "You mean you people know this story and you STILL BELIEVE!!!!" I guess what I'm saying is that not all cults are of the "we're all going to drink this arsenic-laden cocktail and transcend to our true destiny tonight" variety. There are people trapped in those type of cult, and they desperately need help to leave. I don't want to minimize that. But you can be in a cult where they don't actually ask much of you, just that you believe what they tell you is real, in spite of any and all evidence to the contrary. Of course when you take MAGA to its logical ending, they're not only going to go out in flames they're going to take the world with them. But right now that isn't apparent to most people. What is apparent is that for those trapped in MAGA, their understanding of reality is controlled by the supreme leader in spite of all evidence to the contrary. In the Mormon church we were taught that the one unforgivable sin, worse even than rape or murder, was leaving the church after the "truth" had been revealed to you. Look at how tightly controlled Republican lawmakers are, and the absolute terror that they have to vote their conscience rather than voting with their party. Look at how quickly Marjorie Taylor Greene was labeled a traitor and ostracized. In church we were taught that ONLY our church had the full truth and that not only were other churches missing vital parts of the truth, they were literally the work of Satan. Compare this with the contempt that MAGA has for not just the left, but for Republicans who have not kissed the ring. So yeah, MAGA? It's a cult.

Ok, something other than politics for a minute. Browsers.

I started daily driving Gnome Web around the time the new Mozilla CEO announced the AI-heavy focus for the company going forward. I’m not having any problems with WebKit as a rendering engine, but I think the interface leaves a bit to be desired for my uses. Here’s my complaints.

• The interface takes up too much screen real estate on small laptop screens
• Bookmarks are currently not even working for me
• I already miss the vertical tabs option from Firefox
• I’d like an option to hide the tab bar completely
• I’d also like an option to hide the header bar / url bar when not needed and just bring it up with a keycombo

I’m toying around with starting a WebKitGTK+ based browser to address these things and possibly other issues. The idea is a very minimal interface, driven as much as possible by keyboard but using the same shortcuts that people are used to from conventional browsers like Firefox or Chromium. Configurable so that you can have the tab bar and address bar shown or hidden, so that new users don’t freak out when they don’t see a place to input where they want to go. Probably not too different from Gnome Web in it’s default form, but more configurable.

I’d like input and ideas here. I’m not even sure what language I want to use at this point, but I’m leaning towards something nice and easy for others to contribute to like Vala or Python, since GTK+ and WebKitGTK+ wind up doing most of the heavy lifting. GPL3 right from the start. FWIW I’ve gone partially down this road previously with a little toy browser using WebKit and Gtk_rs, so I have some idea what’s involved.

#browsers

Seven Republicans joined every Democratic senator last night in voting no for for Federal funding bill during a test vote. They need 60 votes to push the funding package through, and only got 45. This is significant. That said, all of the seven denied that it had anything to do with ICE, with a couple of them making strong statements that they support the agency and mass deportations. So they are still trying to appease both sides. That's since really cowardly shit. The seven were: Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Rick Scott, R-Fla. Ted Budd, R-N.C. Ashley Moody, R-Fla. Mike Lee, R-Utah Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. If your senator is not on this list and is Republican, then they voted to continue funding ICE with no demands for accountability. It is important to continue writing and calling. No politician should feel comfortable supporting this. [1/2]

Temporary protected status for Haitians ends at 11:59 PM this upcoming Tuesday. There are around 30 thousand Haitian immigrants in central Ohio, about 2/3 of whom live in Springfield. This is the sane Springfield that became infamous during the 2024 election due to the spread of false rumors by JD Vance and Donald Trump that Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets and the ducks and geese from a local park. Vance and Trump both made sure to characterize the Haitian immigrate population of the region as having illegally entered the country as well as colluding them as criminals. It should be understood that the vast majority came to the country legally, and settled in Springfield and surrounding areas to take jobs that had been created by local leaders reinvesting in their communities. It is expected that beginning this upcoming Wednesday there will be a major surge in Ice activity and mass deportations in the Haitian community, who came to the country legally but have now lost their legal status due to a policy change. I hate that this is coming to my state. These are people who have built lives here and done it all the right way, like the political right always claims they are in favor of.

@jab01701mid@mastodon.social @indivisibleteam@mastodon.social @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social Davos is probably going to be remembered in history as the moment where the rest of the world basically decided to isolate and ignore the USA, too the best of their abilities, in terms of world trade. In particular when you contrast Trump's speech with Mark Carney's, and the reactions that the two men got. It was very telling that there was close to a two day delay between the summit and Trump's tirade against Carney on truth.social. I assume that someone in his inner circle must have finally had to explain to him that Carney's speech was about forming a coalition of middle powers to combat the threat pissed by the United States becoming a fascist nation, because the speech was clearly delivered in language that Trump is unable to understand. But details aside, you've hit the nail on the head. Trump insulted and alienated all of our closest allies, brought us to the brink of war with them, and squandered 75 years of goodwill that we have been building with Europe since entering the second world war. The worst part is that no matter what he and his minions tell themselves he walked away with nothing. This "framework for a deal" is a described the exact same deal that we have had for 75 years now. Trump himself walked away from Davos diminished, and in so doing he diminished our nation's standing. Every other nation involved called his bluffs and he blinked, and now they know thar is exactly how to handle him in the future.

@phryk@mastodon.social migrated to Forgejo a while back, hoping the devs can implement something similar. This sounds like a great mitigation.