[Oneiric-Topic] Default Browser

[Shane Fagan]

>> Please note, I was suggesting not having Firefox or Chromium as the
>> default, but a webkit based browser with a normal release cycle like
>> Epiphany (which uses webkitgtk :)).

Hey all,

Well there are two ways you can look at this.

1. Recognized brands like Chrome and Firefox which most people would
have heard of that users would know.

2. Other smaller browsers that you can brand as just web browser in
the interface and as long as its working with flash and other things
like that users would be happy.

>From the default users standpoint I don't think there is much
difference between most of the browsers so we should just choose the
best in terms of interface, integration into the platform and also
maintainability.

So what I think about the state of things at the moment is we cant use
Chromium because it doesn't fit in well as that it doesn't fit into
the default feel of Unity because it has 1 big menu and the fact it
doesn't match the default theme by default but we can fix that easy
enough. Also at the moment it doesn't use any of unity's features but
that can also be fixed pretty easy.

Firefox I don't think ever fit in because of XUL. It takes a lot of
work every release to get the plugin going to make Firefox act in some
way like a regular addition to the desktop. Also on integration issue
it also isn't integrated with unity with quicklists and all that kind
of thing.
NOTE: If we change to Thunderbird as the default email id say we
should stick with  Firefox since it would save space while still
keeping the level of application high.

Epiphany, ok here is where things get interesting. I think if we were
thinking in the most integrated way we could ship Epiphany and brand
it as Web Browser and have a nice icon and change the default
interface a little to make it nicer to use. Its already integrated in
the look and a lot of nice things in Gnome (keyring, GTK,
theming..etc) and Unity(menu bars, the new scroll bars probably and
wouldn't take much to integrate and patch for the missing bits).

I don't know about how responsive the upstream developers are to
patches but we could fork it and maintain it a lot easier than the way
we are maintaining Firefox at the moment. Maintaining the plugin for
Firefox and adding more bits to it every time and working around
compatibility stuff and having to keep the 2 packages going is a lot
more effort than just patching something once and shipping it.

I think using Epiphany would be best long term since we can mold the
pieces in and make it feel great to use with Unity with quick lists,
progress bars for downloads, maybe a web lense, maybe making a nice
all in one download manager like what was talked about at the last
UDS. It would be something we can have a lot more control over to make
the best overall experience for users and since the web is an
important part of the desktop for the majority of users we should be
really aiming for that.

The downside of Epiphany and it is a big one is the extensions
compared for Firefox and Chromium are almost non existent and id bet
that wont change in the future very soon. Also if a user wants to use
a bigger name browser it does add that extra step to their install
process but maybe we could have an optional screen in the installer
for to auto install the preferred browser for the user?

Hope that big long rant helps :)
--fagan