[C++ & Qt][Alpha]Symphony (Web Browser)

[TimeBomb]

Hi all. I have been working with Qt and C++ over the past few weeks to put together a sturdy web browser. Although it is still in alpha, it is quite powerful, intuitive, and unique.

I feel it is in a stage where it is ready to be unveiled to friends and people who aren't completely clueless (i.e. most of RageZoners [at least the ones who visit this section of the forum]). Do note that it is still in alpha, so expect bugs and all that such.

Take from the front page:

Symphony is currently in alpha, but is already very user-friendly and feature-intensive.

Symphony uses intuitive features and designs which result in a very simplistic and user-friendly web browser. One of the highlights of Symphony's UI is its custom tab system, which, although completely unique, is designed for ease of use and intuitiveness.

Symphony is designed with all types of internet users in mind, which may vary from users whom are completely new to browsing the web, all the way over to power users who like to get the most out of their browser.

Symphony comes with built-in security features, including NoScript, which allows the user to pick and choose which sites to enable javascript and plugins on, as well as AdBlock, which blocks common ads throughout all websites.

Screenshot from V0.0.005 - showing off the basic UI, as well as the new on-hover tab-preview feature.


Official Site / Download / Info:
symphony-browser - Symphony is an open-source cross-platform web browser developed using Qt/C++. It is released under the GNU GPL v3. - Google Project Hosting

Update as of June 19, 2011: The source code has been organized a bit, and is now uploaded to the SVN. The source code includes the whole project, as well as all icons(.png format) that go along with the .qrc(qt resources) file which contains the icons.

Please feel free to report any complaints/suggestions/comments in this post or in the google discussion group for Symphony (see the official site for links). Bugs can be posted in this post or via the issue tracker (once again, see the official site). Thanks for your interest all.

[MentaL]

[hackerz10001]

Very nice, I hope this goes far! I also may try it out.

Edit: Try to expand to Linux and Mac and maybe as far as iPhone/iPod/iPad.

[rice]

Way cool man, hope you finish this.

Also, love the tab layout

[Justei]

One of the more impressive ones I must say. (If you coded it yourself of course :) and not just used VB inet or w/e lol.)

Keep it going! might check it out some time.

[TimeBomb]

You guys have made my day. Thanks for the excellent comments, I really appreciate them.

@hackerz10001: The framework supports Linux and Mac OS X. My main problem at the moment is I am somewhat certain I need those operating systems to compile for those operating systems. I am still looking in to cross compiling though (Windows compiled for Linux, etc etc).

@Justei: Yes, I coded it from scratch. There are one or two algorithms that were borrowed from other Qt/C++ browser projects, along with the base of AdBlock from one of the other projects. (Although I had to heavily optimize AdBlock several times over before it was in a publicly acceptable state.) The code is currently around 5k lines.

[Justei]

You guys have made my day. Thanks for the excellent comments, I really appreciate them.

@hackerz10001: The framework supports Linux and Mac OS X. My main problem at the moment is I am somewhat certain I need those operating systems to compile for those operating systems. I am still looking in to cross compiling though (Windows compiled for Linux, etc etc).

@Justei: Yes, I coded it from scratch. There are one or two algorithms that were borrowed from other Qt/C++ browser projects, along with the base of AdBlock from one of the other projects. (Although I had to heavily optimize AdBlock several times over before it was in a publicly acceptable state.) The code is currently around 5k lines.

Then that sounds very nice :).
Hit me up if you need hosting for a website for your project, can give you some space on one of my companies servers :).
Looks like a project worth supporting and I like to encourage development of this kind.

[TimeBomb]

@Justei Thanks a lot for the kind comments. I'll keep your offer in mind.


I have updated from V0.0.005 to V0.0.006.

Changelog:

V0.0.005 -> V0.0.006

Backend Stuff:

-Cache system added
-Minor optimizations

Frontend Stuff:

-None

Fixed Bugs:

-Bug that was disabling flash and other plugins has been fixed
-The tab bar has had several moderate visual bugs patched, and should now be in tip-top condition

Check the site's download page to get it.

[rice]

You're adding a "check for updates" feature later on right?

Also can you make Ctrl+W close the tab?

[TimeBomb]

You're adding a "check for updates" feature later on right?

Definitely. But probably around the time of beta, not alpha.

Also can you make Ctrl+W close the tab?

Sure. Currently, you can close tabs via the tab menu [down arrow at the left of the tab bar], and by right clicking a tab and clicking close tab. I am trying to think of where to put something along the lines of a "X" so that people can easily close the tab. In the meantime, I'll add the "Ctrl+W" shortcut.

[pspboy2008]

I like it. Maybe add the close tab button on the far right side of the tab bar? And having the mouse display "Close Tab" when hovering over it so there is no confusion to be made.
Like so..
http://i.imgur.com/rwGkk.jpg

I did no tampering with your code, Just used photoshop :]

[TimeBomb]

I have released V0.0.007.
Changelog:

Frontend Stuff:

The bookmark system has been updated a tad. You are now presented with a small window whenever you add a bookmark, where you will be able to modify the name and url of the bookmark.

The download system has been slightly modified. It will now be easier to use and understand. All downloads are currently saved to the downloads folder inside the Symphony Browser folder. This will be made configurable soon.


Fixed Bugs:

Downloading files should now work fine all the time.

I have slowed down development just a tad, so I don't get burned out.

I am looking in to changing the project hoster I am using [at the moment - Google Code], mainly to try to achieve a more 'community' feel, as well as keeping simplistic issue tracking/reporting, downloading, etc.
If anyone has any suggestions, I am open to them. Preferably stuff that you think I may not have heard about. I know about most of the major project hosters, as well as a few of the smaller ones.

[Justei]

I have released V0.0.007.
Changelog:


I have slowed down development just a tad, so I don't get burned out.

I am looking in to changing the project hoster I am using [at the moment - Google Code], mainly to try to achieve a more 'community' feel, as well as keeping simplistic issue tracking/reporting, downloading, etc.
If anyone has any suggestions, I am open to them. Preferably stuff that you think I may not have heard about. I know about most of the major project hosters, as well as a few of the smaller ones.

I recommend making your own if you want a community feeling to it as well, maybe making it completely open source as well to let others modify their own versions later on and so on to make addons that can later be added to the main repository?

[TimeBomb]

I recommend making your own if you want a community feeling to it as well, maybe making it completely open source as well to let others modify their own versions later on and so on to make addons that can later be added to the main repository?

I was thinking of possibly doing something along the lines of combining multiple scripts, i.e. SVN browser, forum, issue tracker, etc etc, in to one that I can use as my project's main management "website".
It is a somewhat big job though, and I am not sure how deep I want to get in to all of this. Connecting users amongst multiple different scripts is very do-able, but annoying imo.

[Sharky]

This looks excellent, and it's one of the best things I've seen on these forums :D
Keep developing!