Uzbl — Mediated Wiki

{{Short description|Open source minimalist web browser}} {{Infobox web browser | name = Uzbl | logo = File:Uzbl logo.svg | screenshot = 200px | caption = Uzbl running on Ubuntu | author = Dieter Plaetinck, et al. | latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q1185067|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | latest release date = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|Q1185067|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}}} | programming language = C, Python | operating system = Unix-like | engine = WebKit | genre = Web browser | license = GPL-3.0-only<ref name="gpl3license">[https://github.com/Dieterbe/uzbl/blob/9ffda40a7fe43be4df100aa1e599d4556833b4ad/LICENSE Uzbl LICENSE file] from GitHub.</ref> | website = [http://www.uzbl.org/ www.uzbl.org] }}

'''Uzbl''' is a discontinued free and open-source minimalist web browser designed for simplicity and adherence to the Unix philosophy. Development began in early 2009 and is still considered to be in an alpha state by the developers. The core component of Uzbl is written in C, but other languages are also used, most notably Python. All parts of the Uzbl project are released as free software under GNU GPL-3.0-only.

The name comes from the word ''usable'', spelled in lol speak.<ref name="perrin20101115">{{cite web |last=Perrin |first=Chad |url=http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=1987 |title=Try the uzbl browser if you're tired of feature bloat |work=TechRepublic |date=2010-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123154321/http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=1987 |archive-date=2010-11-23 |access-date=2019-02-20 |quote=21 April 2009 marked the first commit in the GitHub project for a browser called uzbl — lolcat spelling for “usable” — though the uzbl website’s first news item dates to almost a month earlier.}}</ref>

Development of Uzbl is in the alpha stage. Uzbl was originally designed for Arch Linux, but operates with other Linux distributions and BSD systems. Compilation guides are available for Gentoo Linux, Ubuntu, MacPorts, and Nix package manager.<ref name="uw_howto">{{cite web |url=http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/howtos |title=howtos |work=Uzbl Wiki |access-date=2010-03-03 |archive-date=2010-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227202457/http://www.uzbl.org/wiki/howtos |url-status=dead }}</ref> The project is currently "abandoned" due to lack of time.<ref name="github.com">{{cite web|url=https://github.com/uzbl/uzbl/issues/408|title=What is the official status of this project? #408|website=GitHub }}</ref>

Despite being in early stages of development, Uzbl has gained prominence as a minimalist browser.<ref>{{cite web |title=Software Review: 2009 LnF Awards |url=http://www.archlinux.org/static/magazine/2010/ALM-2010-Jan.html#review |date=January 2010 |work=Arch Linux Magazine |access-date=2010-03-13 |archive-date=2010-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216154649/http://www.archlinux.org/static/magazine/2010/ALM-2010-Jan.html#review |url-status=dead }}</ref> As of 2019, further development on the project has been discontinued.<ref name="github.com"/>

== Design == Uzbl follows the Unix philosophy, “Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.”<ref name="homepage">{{cite web |title=Uzbl – a browser that adheres to the Unix philosophy. |url=http://www.uzbl.org/ }}</ref> As a result, Uzbl does not contain many of the features of other browsers. Uzbl has none of its own tool bars or graphical control elements, and does not manage bookmarks, history, downloads, or cookies, leaving them to be handled by external programs or scripts. These scripts are typically user-written, although some are available for download like ''uzbl_tabbed'' for tabbed browsing support. For interaction it can read input from standard input (FIFO pipe) or from POSIX local IPC socket or it can be passed text files such as a configuration file. This design is intentional, allowing for more customization.{{Who|date=January 2010}}

[[File:Uzbl screenshot Acid3.png|thumb|Uzbl browser fully passing the Acid3 test]]

== Features == Uzbl uses the WebKit layout engine, and therefore inherits support for many web standards, including HTML, XML, XPath, Cascading Style Sheets, ECMAScript (JavaScript), DOM, and SVG, passing the Acid3 browser test.<ref name="lwn341245">{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/341245/ |title=Uzbl: a browser following the UNIX philosophy |access-date=2010-03-03 |last=Vervloesem |first=Koen |date=2009-07-15 |work=LWN.net |publisher=Eklektix, Inc. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://cdwillis.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/a-comparison-of-linux-web-browsers/ |title=A quick comparison of Linux web browsers |access-date=2010-03-03 |date=2009-06-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626090804/http://cdwillis.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/a-comparison-of-linux-web-browsers/ |archive-date=2009-06-26 }}</ref> Web kit supports Netscape-style plugins such as Adobe Flash Player and MPlayer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://trac.webkit.org/wiki/WebKitFeatures |title=WebKitFeatures |work=WebKit Wiki |access-date=2010-03-03 }}</ref>

thumb|Numbered links feature enabled for keyboard navigation Uzbl's design focuses on keyboard control and hot keys, although it also supports mouse and other pointing device input. Like the ''pentadactyl'' and ''vimperator''<ref name="linuxfr">{{cite web|url=http://linuxfr.org/~Enixos/28263.html |title=Uzbl: un navigateur internet, rien qu'un navigateur internet |trans-title=Uzbl: a web browser, just a browser|access-date=2010-03-03 |last=Bataille |first=Benoit |date=2009-05-12 |language=fr }}</ref> Firefox extensions, Uzbl employs a mode-based interface derived from the vi and Vim text editors. Rather than move the cursor to an address bar or a link, a user presses a hotkey to switch to "command" mode. From this mode the user may: select links in the view port through assigned keys (0 through 9 by default) or through typing an unambiguous string of the link text; navigate to another web page by typing its URL; modify settings; and perform other normal web-browsing tasks. While this mode-based interface creates an initially steep learning curve, once learned it typically allows a user greater speed and convenience than many other browsers. Uzbl allows configuration of the hot keys used.

== History == The idea of creating a new web browser started in spring 2009 on the internet forums of Arch Linux.<ref name="Origin">{{cite web |url=http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=539028#p539028 |title=Arch Philosophy/Structure Applied to a Browser |work=Arch Linux BBS |date=2009-04-19 |access-date=2011-12-27}}</ref> Dieter Plaetinck started the development of the browser and was then supported by other developers.<ref name="lwn341245"/> The first code was published on April 21, 2009.<ref name="perrin20101115"/><ref name="Origin"/> The product was usable after only two months of development .<ref name="linuxfr"/> Besides compilation guides for a series of Linux distributions and Mac OS X/Darwin (Mac Ports) several pre-compiled binaries are available,<ref name="uw_howto"/> although officially there is not yet a version marked as stable. On September 21, 2009, Uzbl was accepted into the Debian unstable repository branch<ref>{{cite mailing list |url=http://packages.qa.debian.org/u/uzbl/news/20090921T211043Z.html |title=Accepted uzbl 0.0.0~git.20090826-1 (source i386) |first=Stefan |last=Ritter |date=2009-09-21 |mailing-list=debian-devel-changes}}</ref> and was migrated to its testing branch on October 2, 2009.<ref>{{cite mailing list |url=http://packages.qa.debian.org/u/uzbl/news/20091002T163921Z.html |title=uzbl 0.0.0~git.20090826-1 MIGRATED to testing |author=Debian testing watch |date=2009-10-02 |mailing-list=uzbl}}</ref>

== See also == *qutebrowser *surf *xombrero (discontinued)

== References == {{reflist|2}} * {{cite journal |title=Uzbl, votre nouveau navigateur web |language=fr |trans-title=Uzbl, your new web browser |url=http://www.gnulinuxmag.com/index.php/2010/02/26/gnulinux-magazine-n%c2%b0125-mars-2010-chez-votre-marchand-de-journaux |author=Carl Chenet |journal=GNU/Linux Magazine France |volume=125 |pages=8–12 |date=March 2010 |editor=Denis Bodor |issn=1291-7834 |access-date=2010-03-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519203323/http://www.gnulinuxmag.com/index.php/2010/02/26/gnulinux-magazine-n%C2%B0125-mars-2010-chez-votre-marchand-de-journaux |archive-date=2011-05-19 |url-status=dead }}

== External links == {{Portal|Free and open-source software}} {{Commons category|Uzbl}} * {{official website|http://www.uzbl.org/}} * [http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/09/05/2142235 slash-dot story] * [http://video.fosdem.org/2010/lightningtalks/saturday/17-sat-uzbl.xvid.avi FOSDEM Talk Video] and [http://users.edpnet.be/dieter/uzbl/uzbl-fosdem2010.pdf Slides]

Category:Free software programmed in C Category:Free web browsers Category:POSIX web browsers Category:Software based on WebKit Category:Web browsers that use GTK Category:Discontinued web browsers Category:Software using the GNU General Public License