Webcat

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Your rating: None Average: 4.7 (66 votes)

A simple webbrowser which allows viewing webpages and surfing sites.
It is based upon the webkit engine provided by Qt5.

Current features include:

  • Landscape support
  • Tabbing support (real without reloading of tabs)
  • Bookmark support
  • Setting browser user agent
  • Setting default font sizes
  • Opening up links in new tab (by long press and hold on link)
  • Copy links (by long press and hold on link)
  • Open media links with internal or external viewer (e.g. LLs VideoPlayer)
  • Setting DNS Prefetch
  • Setting Offline WebApplication Cache
  • Manually add bookmark with specific user agent
  • Fast scroll to top or bottom of page
  • Watch Youtube with internal or external player (e.g. LLs VideoPlayer) with direct link
  • Download Youtube videos in different formats
  • Private Browsing
  • Clear Cache, Cookies, History
  • Page search functionality
  • Simple adblocking (simple rules no bloat)
  • Integrated file manager (with cut, copy, paste, creating folders, permission changes, renaming files)
  • Integrated Download Manager
  • Keyboard Hotkeys (for TOHKBD or bluetooth keyboards)
  • Support different screen resolutions (support for Nexus4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7)
  • Allow setting as default browser
  • Backup Manager (Import/Export Bookmarks,Cookies,History,Settings)
  • Proxy Support

Video demonstration: http://youtu.be/1uVjaETqmMA

0.9 Video demo: http://youtu.be/nNYjdr5tCSs

2.0 Video demo: http://youtu.be/WZXlqOrLKK8

2.0.9 Video demo: https://youtu.be/Ck2TND0-PwE

2.1.0 Video demo Backup Manager: https://youtu.be/sBge7JAlXro

Sourcecode: https://github.com/llelectronics/webcat

From Version 2.9.7 on it is recommend to use QtWebkit 5.212 in combination with Webcat. You can get builds from here: https://openrepos.net/content/llelectronicsdev/qtwebkit-5212-dev

Donations via PayPal

Screenshots: 
Application versions: 
AttachmentSizeDate
File harbour-webcat-0.8-2.armv7hl.rpm58.49 KB11/01/2014 - 19:47
File harbour-webcat-0.8-3.armv7hl.rpm64.67 KB12/01/2014 - 03:14
File harbour-webcat-0.8-4.armv7hl.rpm79.63 KB03/05/2018 - 15:12
File harbour-webcat-0.8-5.armv7hl.rpm79.65 KB18/01/2014 - 03:09
File harbour-webcat-0.9-1.armv7hl.rpm92.09 KB31/01/2014 - 23:22
File harbour-webcat-0.9-2.armv7hl.rpm92.05 KB03/02/2014 - 15:02
File harbour-webcat-0.9-3.armv7hl.rpm92.25 KB07/02/2014 - 13:44
File harbour-webcat-0.9-4.armv7hl.rpm99.62 KB13/03/2014 - 00:20
File harbour-webcat-0.9.6-1.armv7hl.rpm123.05 KB13/06/2014 - 23:31
File harbour-webcat-0.9.7-1.armv7hl.rpm123.69 KB03/08/2014 - 21:13
File harbour-webcat-0.9.8-1.armv7hl.rpm125.66 KB26/08/2014 - 20:29
File harbour-webcat-0.9.9-1.armv7hl.rpm134.53 KB21/12/2014 - 14:41
File harbour-webcat-0.9.9-2.armv7hl.rpm134.54 KB24/12/2014 - 15:03
File harbour-webcat-1.0.0-1.armv7hl.rpm139.59 KB31/01/2015 - 22:23
File harbour-webcat-1.0.1-1.armv7hl.rpm139.88 KB07/02/2015 - 14:41
File harbour-webcat-1.0.2-1.armv7hl.rpm140.2 KB17/02/2015 - 14:12
File harbour-webcat-1.9.9-1.armv7hl.rpm190.17 KB05/03/2015 - 00:28
File harbour-webcat-1.9.9-2.armv7hl.rpm156 KB03/05/2018 - 15:12
File harbour-webcat-2.0.0-1.armv7hl.rpm156.18 KB17/03/2015 - 15:24
File harbour-webcat-2.0.1-1.armv7hl.rpm156.27 KB13/05/2015 - 17:59
File harbour-webcat-2.0.2-1.armv7hl.rpm156.52 KB03/05/2018 - 15:12
File harbour-webcat-2.0.3-1.armv7hl.rpm156.52 KB14/05/2015 - 12:47
File harbour-webcat-2.0.5-1.armv7hl.rpm167.81 KB27/06/2015 - 11:43
File harbour-webcat-2.0.5-2.armv7hl.rpm167.66 KB27/06/2015 - 13:08
File harbour-webcat-2.0.7-1.armv7hl.rpm168.48 KB06/08/2015 - 20:33
File harbour-webcat-2.0.8-1.armv7hl.rpm177.98 KB14/10/2015 - 18:49
File harbour-webcat-2.0.9-1.armv7hl.rpm182.34 KB03/12/2015 - 20:00
File harbour-webcat-2.0.9-2.armv7hl.rpm182.42 KB22/12/2015 - 17:05
File harbour-webcat-2.1.0-1.armv7hl.rpm195.54 KB12/02/2016 - 19:47
File harbour-webcat-2.1.0-1.i486.rpm206.11 KB12/02/2016 - 19:47
File harbour-webcat-2.2.0-1.armv7hl.rpm202.02 KB05/03/2016 - 13:00
File harbour-webcat-2.2.0-1.i486.rpm212.92 KB05/03/2016 - 13:00
File harbour-webcat-2.2.1-1.armv7hl.rpm217.84 KB03/04/2016 - 14:28
File harbour-webcat-2.2.1-1.i486.rpm228.56 KB03/04/2016 - 14:28
File harbour-webcat-2.2.2-1.armv7hl.rpm218.97 KB16/05/2016 - 19:30
File harbour-webcat-2.2.2-1.i486.rpm229.58 KB16/05/2016 - 19:30
File harbour-webcat-2.3-1.armv7hl.rpm224.99 KB03/05/2018 - 15:12
File harbour-webcat-2.3-1.i486.rpm240.86 KB03/05/2018 - 15:12
File harbour-webcat-2.4-1.armv7hl.rpm230.41 KB08/12/2016 - 20:03
File harbour-webcat-2.4-1.i486.rpm242.32 KB08/12/2016 - 20:03
File harbour-webcat-2.5-1.armv7hl.rpm234.54 KB10/01/2017 - 13:09
File harbour-webcat-2.5-1.i486.rpm246.44 KB10/01/2017 - 13:09
File harbour-webcat-2.6-1.armv7hl.rpm234.73 KB09/02/2017 - 19:04
File harbour-webcat-2.6-1.i486.rpm246.42 KB09/02/2017 - 19:04
File harbour-webcat-2.7-1.armv7hl.rpm238.34 KB30/05/2017 - 14:42
File harbour-webcat-2.7-1.i486.rpm249.41 KB30/05/2017 - 14:42
File harbour-webcat-2.8-1.armv7hl.rpm267 KB24/06/2017 - 19:05
File harbour-webcat-2.8-1.i486.rpm283.6 KB24/06/2017 - 19:05
File harbour-webcat-2.9-1.armv7hl.rpm269.12 KB18/08/2017 - 15:22
File harbour-webcat-2.9-1.i486.rpm284.82 KB18/08/2017 - 15:22
File harbour-webcat-2.9.7-1.armv7hl.rpm302.86 KB21/09/2017 - 13:21
File harbour-webcat-2.9.7-1.i486.rpm318.92 KB21/09/2017 - 13:21
File harbour-webcat-2.9.8-1.armv7hl.rpm310.98 KB29/04/2018 - 14:40
File harbour-webcat-2.9.8-1.i486.rpm325.56 KB29/04/2018 - 14:40
File harbour-webcat-3.0.0-1.i486.rpm359.59 KB19/06/2018 - 17:34
File harbour-webcat-3.0.0-1.armv7hl.rpm344.45 KB19/06/2018 - 17:34
File harbour-webcat-3.0.1-1.i486.rpm360.65 KB04/07/2018 - 19:11
File harbour-webcat-3.0.1-1.armv7hl.rpm345.07 KB04/07/2018 - 19:11
File harbour-webcat-3.0.2-1.i486.rpm361.7 KB02/08/2018 - 00:20
File harbour-webcat-3.0.2-1.armv7hl.rpm345.72 KB02/08/2018 - 00:20
File harbour-webcat-3.0.3-1.i486.rpm367.49 KB30/10/2018 - 16:13
File harbour-webcat-3.0.3-1.armv7hl.rpm351.9 KB30/10/2018 - 16:13
File harbour-webcat-3.0.4-1.i486.rpm368.47 KB09/11/2018 - 13:44
File harbour-webcat-3.0.4-1.armv7hl.rpm352.91 KB09/11/2018 - 13:44
File harbour-webcat-3.0.5-1.armv7hl.rpm353.04 KB13/01/2019 - 16:42
File harbour-webcat-3.0.5-1.i486.rpm368.52 KB13/01/2019 - 16:42
File harbour-webcat-3.0.6-1.armv7hl.rpm365.62 KB19/04/2019 - 14:00
File harbour-webcat-3.0.6-1.i486.rpm381.16 KB19/04/2019 - 14:00
File harbour-webcat-3.0.7-1.armv7hl.rpm372.49 KB26/05/2019 - 18:54
File harbour-webcat-3.0.7-1.i486.rpm388.15 KB26/05/2019 - 18:54
File harbour-webcat-3.0.8-1.armv7hl.rpm373.19 KB28/07/2019 - 19:14
File harbour-webcat-3.0.8-1.i486.rpm388.96 KB28/07/2019 - 19:14
File harbour-webcat-3.0.9-1.armv7hl.rpm370.65 KB12/09/2019 - 12:49
File harbour-webcat-3.0.9-1.i486.rpm390.2 KB12/09/2019 - 12:49
File harbour-webcat-3.1.0-1.aarch64.rpm329.16 KB13/05/2021 - 13:06
Changelog: 
  • Add qwant search engine
  • Fix youtube getting stream (new API)

Comments

skyjumper's picture

Oh I understand completely - badly worded sentences or grammer is frustrating... Have a look at this: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/a-before-consonants-and-an-be... - see what you think :-)

olf's picture

Thanks, that site provides some nice distraction for the evening.  But it were rather your statements (as we both seem to be in accordance on the grammar rule), which made me reconsider the original point:

a. My initial statements were too brief and thus not concise (in thinking *and* writing). ;\  Specifically, I would / should have spelled it "an URL", denoting to address the classic TLA of "Uniform Resource Locator", which is pronounced "U-R-L".

b. Thinking about it, I realise that many tend to use "url" as a simple noun nowadays, which is pronounced "yurl", hence should be spelled as "a url".  Well, many acronyms were always handled like this, e.g. "snafu", but OTOH think of "YMCA".

I personally still tend to use style a. (and pronounce it as single letters), but ... yes, I am growing old and language is permanently evolving.  Is this line of thoughts comprehensible and does it make sense for you?

skyjumper's picture

Yeah, makes sense to me. Though I would always says the letters as compared to saying the word - that seems strange. Though "an URL" seems stranger!

olf's picture

Thanks, as your last statement ultimately made me understand, that it ought be "a U" in any case (i.e. never "an U"), as even the single letter U is pronounced "ju", right?

mr_Upolo's picture

Hello! Sometimes at surfing a part of the page doesn't display (only white background). To make the page displayed need to refresh the page, or TO OPEN BOOKMARKS AND GO BACK TO THE PAGE. How to fix this problem?

llelectronics's picture

You can't it's an issue of SailfishOS. I reported it already

mr_Upolo's picture

So... What do we do? Just to reconcile?

llelectronics's picture

I suppose the problem is with the wayland compositor. So the only thing we can do is wait and hope Jolla fixes it.

olf's picture

Well, on the technical side, the result of spending a good part of this weekend with testing is:
The HTML5 compatibility has regressed in your QtWebKit build v5.212.0-10.43.1.jolla compared to v5.6.2+git3-1.19.1 from Jolla by "-18 points" in the area of "Storage" providers and by "-1 point" in "Performance: Shared workers", according to HTML5test.com.
But the improvements are vast and impressive: An increase in the cumulative HTML5test score by 75 "points" (329 - 292 + 18 + 20, trying to take the "cheating" of Webcat 2.9-1 in the areas HTML5-Audio and -Video into account), so with "-19 points" due to aforementioned regressions, other HTML5 features were improved "by 94 points". BTW, both QtWebKit5 based web browsers for SFOS, Webcat 2.9.7-1 and the last (now unmaintained) WebPirate 2.1-3, score "329 points" with your QtWebKit 5.212.0-10.43.1 on my two Jolla 1 phones; note, that you reported "326 points", so if this has not been a typo, there is something (positively) different on my devices.
Much more importantly though, is the impact in practice: Finally I tested a couple of web pages which used to fail with Jolla's latest QtWebKit 5.6.2 build, e.g. EFF's Panopticlick: They now work well with your QtWebKit 5.212.0-10.43.1 (as with the Gecko based Jolla Browser or Firefox for Android under AlienDalvik), and specifically Webcat scores quite well on Panopticlick (in contrast to WebPirate, so here your browser makes a significant difference!).

But the big take away is IMO:
Manually downloading and installing the five RPMs is not really a feasible way to distribute QtWebKit 5.212, and keeping it up to date implies regularly visiting your Mer-OBS repository. Although I tried to be more cautious than you suggested by using pkcon install-local *webkit*.rpm, I once accidentally downloaded one out of the five RPMs at v5.6.2-10.90.1.jolla (just "mis-tapped" a single line lower or higher in the directory listing), creating a version mismatch after installing all five RPMs, which caused Webcat to crash on startup; it took a while until I had analysed this and ultimately understood what went wrong (while many may have given up in this situation). And anybody not reading your instructions carefully will download and install the newest and highest numbered RPMs available there, as I initially did.
Hence my suggestion is:
Please create two qtwebkit5-V-R.jolla.*.rpm ("V" is currently "5.212.0" and "R" "10.43.1") "meta-RPMs" for armv7hl and i486 (if "qtwebkit5" does not collide with any existing package name, otherwise pick some other name, e.g. "webkit5"), which contain nothing but dependencies on the five RPMs libqtwebkit5 libqtwebkit5-widgets qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental qt5-qtwebkit-uiprocess-launcher in exactly (i.e. Requires: P = V-R in the RPM spec) their corresponding version. Then upload these six RPMs to your repository on Openrepos. Finally create a new Webcat RPM, which depends on the meta-RPM, requiring at least version 5.212.0 (i.e. Requires: qtwebkit5 >= 5.212.0) for i486 and armv7hl. This scheme (introducing one level of indirection) allows you to update QtWebKit independently of Webcat and vice versa, and easily switch to using an updated QtWebKit5 when finally distributed by Jolla, simply by updating the "meta-RPM".
As you stated, that you are expecting Jolla to integrate QtWebKit >= 5.212.0 in SFOS 2.1.4 or 2.1.5, this will take 5 to 10 months (if Jolla maintains their current release cadence), so IMHO it is definitely worth to effort, in order to provide users with an easily installable, well working and vastly improved Webcat-"experience" until then.

As you may have already derived from the increasing amount of lengthy postings here (not just mine ;) ), there are many former WebPirate users looking for an alternative (to the Jolla Browser), native web browser:
And there is only one, your Webcat!

olf's picture

Oh, I forgot that you also upload Webcat to the Jolla Store ("harbour"), where pulling in a new QtWebKit is forbidden.

Well, so it might make sense to ...

... either create a separate harbour version of Webcat (which may also reintroduce the workarounds for the old QtWebKit 5.6.2), but that creates an additional, though temporary maintenance burden.  In this case the OpenRepos version could depend directly on the five new QtWebKit 5.212 RPMs, after uploading them to your OpenRepos repository.

... or leave Webcat's dependencies as they currently are, while creating aforementioned "meta-RPM" and upload the (then) six QtWebKit RPMs to OpenRepos, so users can easily install QtWebKit 5.212 by simply installing the "meta-RPM" in Warehouse / Storeman (i.e. just a single package, as the other five will be downloaded and installed automatically).

olf's picture

While I was primarily keen on having the revived QtWebKit5 available for SailfishOS (thanks again for pursuing this) for security issues and other bugs fixes, I was also curious about functional improvements QtWebKit 5.212.0 brings over v5.6.2+git3.
Comparing the results of HTML5test.com of Webcat 2.9.7-1 and QtWebKit 5.212.0-10.64.1 with Webcat 2.9-1 and QtWebKit 5.6.2+git3-1.19.1, there are indeed a couple of improvements, but actually the final score is lower (276 of 555 points, down from 292 points), as some HTML5 functionality has seemingly regressed:

  • Performance: Shared workers
  • Video: 0 points (!), down from 20 of 33
  • Audio: 0 points (!), down from 18 of 30
  • Storage: 15 points, down from 33 (!) of 35

The seemingly lacking support for HTML5 audio and video makes me wonder, if these regressions are really caused by QtWebKit 5.212.0 in general or if they are specific to you build 5.212.0-10.64.1.jolla?

olf's picture

Now tried HTML5test.com with your QtWebKit 5.212.0-10.66.1 build (dated 2017-09-23) together with the slightly older Webcat 2.9-1: HTML5 audio and video scores are on par with the same Webcat version (2.9) in conjunction with the old QtWebKit 5.6.2 from Jolla, only the regressions (-18 "points") in the "Storage" area and the single "Performance" regression remain (now scores 314 of 555 points, up from originally 292). So I believe these remaining issues may be attributed to your QtWebKit builds.
But with Webcat 2.9.7-1 this fresh build of QtWebKit (5.212.0-10.66.1) still only scores 276 points: HTML5 audio and video are apparently still completely broken (both still at 0 points), hence seemingly this can be attributed to the new Webcat version, not to your QtWebKit5 builds.

llelectronics's picture

You are testing the wrong packages. Like stated in my other posting you need version 10.43.1 for enabled html5 audio + video support. 

Together with Webcat 2.9.7 I get a score of 326 points on html5test.com 

Webcat 2.9 cheated on that test anyway as it basically said to support everything html5 audio+video. Ultimatively it did not support everything of course. 

It would be nice if you could remove your instructions on how to add the repo so others won't follow that instructions as they will introduce the problems you encounter. 

olf's picture

O.K., so I was misinterpreting your statement

So you need version 5.212.0-10.43.1 currently as this is the newest version. See the dates in the repo

to pick the newest version by looking at the file dates: The v5.212.0-10.64.1 RPMs, which I originally tested, were replaced by v5.212.0-10.66.1 on 2017-09-23, which both were few days newer than v5.212.0-10.43.1 (2017-09-19).
So one should stubbornly use v5.212.0-10.43.1 and not take the timestamps of these RPMs into account, until you state something else, right?
And directly using Mer-OBS repositories seems to be generally broken and useless to counterproductive under SailfishOS, currently. I wonder what these repositories are good for, except for placing RPMs built by OBS there. Guess, I still have to find a piece of the SailfishOS infrastructure (both, inside or outside / around SFOS), which does not turn out to be more or less severely flawed, when looking closely.
This is annoying, crappy shit, but ... not your business! Yes, this experience ultimately convinced me, so I will delete or substantially alter my original post WRT your QtWebKit packages.

llelectronics's picture

There are several problems with the repos. First my inexperience with it lead to me creating branches. One of them ships QtWebkit 5.212 with the configure config of Jollas/Mers QtWebkit 5.6 so without HTML5 Audio+Video support (after inspecting this is the newer version of packages). 

The other one is the 10.43.1 which is the branch with HTML5 Audio+Video support. 

So partly my mistake. The other issues with repo not able to refresh is however an issue with the mer obs. 

carmenfdezb's picture

I've tried to install QtWebkit from leszek repository, but this error is showed:
Error fatal: There is no update candidate for libqtwebkit5-5.6.2+git3-1.18.1

olf's picture

This sounds, as if you accidentally omitted the pkcon refresh step.

llelectronics's picture

See my comment about this. 

Don't use the repository download the files directly and install them manually. 

carmenfdezb's picture

Ok, sorry, I didn't see your comment. I've followed your instructions and now it works. Thank you!!

olf's picture

As the recent Webcat update (to v2.9.7-1) has a couple of workarounds for the outdated QtWebKit 5.6.2 (SailfishOS currently still provides) removed (see Webcat's changelog), and I appreciate leszek's push for replacing it with the revived QtWebKit5 very much, I opted for installing the recent build of it from leszek's Mer-OBS.
This turned out to work well, but took a while for me to figure out how to do that properly, hence I am documenting these steps here to save other people's time.

Edit: Do not carry out the steps below! Rather perform everything manually with leszek's RPMs v5.212.0-10.43.1, as described in his first reply to this post.
Although using Mer-OBS repositories directly is supposed to make downloading, installing and updating RPMs much easier, this seems to be slightly broken under SailfishOS, resulting in "it almost works, but not really"; a state, in which one can spend hours on debugging, only to ultimately conclude that this is fundamentally flawed, and not one's failure to use it correctly (you may gain some background knowledge and experience with zypper, OBS and pkcon, though ;\ ).

1. Adding leszek's Mer-OBS repository
As adding a repository is deliberately impossible per pkcon, install zypper to perform this step:
[nemo@sailfish]$ pkcon install zypper
Then use it to add leszek's Mer-OBS repository:
[nemo@sailfish]$ devel-su
[root@sailfish]# zypper ar -c http://repo.merproject.org/obs/home:/leszek/sailfish_latest_armv7hl/home:leszek.repo

Note that, for x86-devices (e.g. Jolla Tablet), you have to use instead: zypper ar -c http://repo.merproject.org/obs/home:/leszek/sailfishos_latest_latest_i486/home:leszek.repo
To check, that this went well, use zypper lr and look for the repository named home_leszek.
If this has been successful, hit Ctrl-d (or type exit) to close the root shell and become the regular user nemo, again.

2. Upgrade QtWebKit5:
First you must execute (which takes a while):
[nemo@sailfish]$ pkcon refresh
You will be interactively asked to accept lesek's signing key, which is necessary to proceed.
If you want to check the versions of the installed QtWebKit5 RPM-packages before upgrading, do pkcon search name webkit (they all ought to be at SailfishOS's last Webkit version: v5.6.2+git3-1.19.1).
Then perform the upgrade proper:
[nemo@sailfish]$ pkcon update libqtwebkit5 libqtwebkit5-widgets qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental qt5-qtwebkit-uiprocess-launcher
If you get a Fatal error: File './*/*.rpm' not found on medium 'http://repo.merproject.org/obs/home:/leszek/sailfish_latest_*/', repeat the pkcon refresh
To ensure that all these packages were successfully updated to leszek's current builds (v5.212.0-*), take a close look at the output, and / or use pkcon search name webkit, again. If a package is missing (which should not be the case, when Webcat is already installed), simply do pkcon install libqtwebkit5 libqtwebkit5-widgets qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental qt5-qtwebkit-uiprocess-launcher (nothing will happen for already installed packages).

3. In order to check for updates of QtWebKit5 (no matter, if from leszek or Jolla) at any (later) time, and to download and install them (when there are any updated versions), just execute these two command lines (again):
[nemo@sailfish]$ pkcon refresh
[nemo@sailfish]$ pkcon update libqtwebkit5 libqtwebkit5-widgets qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental qt5-qtwebkit-uiprocess-launcher

4. If you want to delete your subscription of leszek's Mer-OBS repository on your device (e.g. when Jolla starts distributing QtWebKit 5.212 or newer), simply execute
[root@sailfish]# zypper rr home_leszek

@leszek: Is this the route you envisioned for users to upgrade QtWebKit?
BTW, can you please briefly explain the difference between your RPMs qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin and qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental, e.g what experimental features the latter contains?

Thank you so much for your efforts!

llelectronics's picture

It is is not recommend by me currently to do it this way. (e.g. adding the repo) 

Instead I would recommend installing the rpms manually as mer obs somehow managed to automatically give some older packages higher version numbers. 

So you need version 5.212.0-10.43.1 currently as this is the newest version. See the dates in the repo url: http://repo.merproject.org/obs/home:/leszek/sailfish_latest_armv7hl/armv...

So download the rpms : 

  • libqtwebkit5-5.212.0-10.43.1.jolla.{armv7hl/i486}.rpm
  • libqtwebkit5-widgets-5.212.0-10.43.1.jolla.{armv7hl/i486}.rpm
  • qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-5.212.0-10.43.1.jolla.{armv7hl/i486}.rpm
  • qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental-5.212.0-10.43.1.jolla.{armv7hl/i486}.rpm
  • qt5-qtwebkit-uiprocess-launcher-5.212.0-10.43.1.jolla.{armv7hl/i486}.rpm

save them into a folder on your device. 

Then either ssh into your device or open up the terminal and cd into the folder where the rpms are stored and install the rpms with pkcon install-local *.rpm

It will ask you if you really want to install and you hit y then. 

I really hope these instructions are clear for all who have the knowledge. 
If it sounds like black magic to you just be patient and wait until Jolla maybe includes QtWebkit 5.212 in SailfishOS 2.1.4 or 2.1.5 

 

Regarding qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental this is a normal package containing the QtWebkit Experimental features. There is nothing really new in here compared to the previous versions. 

olf's picture

Thanks for the clarification WRT qt5-qtqml-import-webkitplugin-experimental.

Still I do not really comprehend, why you advise to not using your repository as such, but instead suggest to manually download your RPMs from it with a web browser. As the resources at Jolla are limited, I expect the integration of QtWebKit 5.212 to take a while, and have not yet seen a clear commitment from them to really do that (reading the "community collaboration meeting" log, where you asked them to).
So, while enabling your repo is a bit more work once, installing those packages and keeping them up to date, when you built new versions (e.g. 2017-09-23), is much easier and far less error prone with pkcon (IMO), than manually looking them up / checking if they are updated in a web browser, downloading each of the five RPMs manually, and finally installing them manually one by one.

olf's picture

Oh, the 2017-09-23 update of the metadata for your Mer-OBS repository seems to be broken: A pkcon refresh now always results in Fatal error: [home_leszek|] Repository not found.
The trailing pipe character ("|") is apparently new and supposedly the reason. So now everybody is now forced to perform downloading, installing and checking for updates of your QtWebKit packages manually.

I wonder, why I was unable to locate the pipe character in any of the metadata files (a fgrep "|" *.xml on the gunzip'ed metadata files, repomd.xml and home:leszek.repo yields nothing).

Can you please fix that, so one has a choice how to obtain and maintain your QtWebKit5 builds, again.

llelectronics's picture

I did not change anything so not sure whats going on here. 

This is maybe another reason not to use the repository directly but download the rpms manually. 

The other is that the higher version number does not correspondent with the latest version. As stated above the newest html5 audio + video enabled version is: 10.43.1

atlochowski's picture

When you will add Polish translation? It's ready on transifex.

llelectronics's picture

uff did miss that one. Will add this in next release and import it soon to github.

Kabouik's picture

Thanks for the update and your continued efforts for making this browser powerful, it's greatly appreciated.

Two questions/requests:

- I am using Mailpile as a secure and fully encrypted e-mail client, it runs on my server and is accessible via webmail. It works great on Sailfish Browser and Brave (Android), but somehow scrolling is broken with Webcat (and Webpirate), either with mobile or desktop user agents/respective UIs. Since it works fine with Sailfish Browser, it means the issue is not with Mailpile UI nor Sailfish gestures, so there is hope. Could you please have a look and tell me if a fix would be possible? I suppose other websites could fail as well. Here is a demo of Mailpile where you can see the issue: https://demo.mailpile.is/in/inbox/ and see Sailfish Browser working as expected.

- Would it be possible to add a "Close current tab" in the extra toolbar? It would be great to be able to close current tab with just one click and without going to the tab view. Even better would be to allow custom actions (close current tab, for instance) for long press on the menu button that shows the extra toolbar. Currently it only has a shortpress action. Webpirate had this feature with a custom button with user-defined shortpress and longpress actions. I was using New tab/Close tab as actions and used this button all the tlme, but now Webpirate is long dead.

- And one last thing because I announced two but can't stop: why not moving the Favorite toggle button to the extra toolbar? It's a button that is typically seldom used because users set their favorites only once even if they visit them often, they don't need to be toggled often. It eats significant space in the main toolbar and in fact I often missclick on it. I would be happy to free some space for the URL bar by moving it to the extra toolbar, or even better to leave space for a new "Custom" button with user-defined shortpress and longpress actions (the Webpirate code on Github would certainly help)!

Thanks in advance for your answer, keep up the great work on the best Sailfish browser (and video player).

llelectronics's picture

... but somehow scrolling is broken with Webcat (and Webpirate), either with mobile or desktop user agents/respective UIs ...

Interesting. Only noticed that problem on Google+ (that you can make run if you don't access the plus.google.com page but a subpage instead). I think this is limitation of the qtwebkit engine. Maybe I can find a workaround but my hopes are not very high on fixing that. 

 Would it be possible to add a "Close current tab" in the extra toolbar?

The extra toolbar is cramped up already and basically full already. But I think the reload button there could be removed as it is already active as soon as you press on the urlbar itself. Also the reload function for quick access seems not very often used. Close Tab instead is one thing used more often. Btw. if you don't know it yet. You can reach any extratoolbar item and quickswitch between tabs by pressing and holding the goto / tab button (bottom left) and then just like the pulley menu but horizontaly mark the items in the extra toolbar menu and let go on the item you want to activate. 
This works quite fine on the Jolla 1. Sadly the newest SailfishOS updates made it almost impossible to use on the Jolla C or Jolla Tablet as it interferes with the newer bigger swipe to minimize or open app drawer actions. 

- And one last thing because I announced two but can't stop: why not moving the Favorite toggle button to the extra toolbar? 

As I said the extra toolbar is already cramped up. But I think I could move the favorite option next to the reload button when focus is on the urlbar. That makes the most sense I guess and should be easily found by the users aswell. 

Thanks for your comment and suggestions on improving the browser. 

Kabouik's picture

I think this is limitation of the qtwebkit engine. Maybe I can find a workaround but my hopes are not very high on fixing that.
Hope you'll find a way, thanks for trying anyway even if so far only Google+ seemed to exhibit the same issue.

The extra toolbar is cramped up already and basically full already.
It depends on the device you are using. On Jolla C, there is still room for one icon in portrait mode, and more icons than necessary in landscape mode. Note that it could also use the same mechanism as in Webpirate, i.e., an horizontally scrollable bar (is it tricky to mix features from Web Pirate source code in Webcat?), which would solve the issue in smaller devices. Most Android phones being ported to Sailfish by the community are also about the size of the Jolla C, or even bigger for the latest models, as are the Jolla and Youyota tablets, or the - hopefully - future keyboard phone from Chen.

Closing tabs without going to the tab view would really be useful: there are a lot of links that you just click on and they open a new tab, you read these new tabs a little and then just want to close them to go back to the origin website. Think of Wikipedia and it's billion of links that no one can resist clicking when reading an article for instance. This is especially true as the animation to show and hide the tab list in Webcat is a bit slow: it can get a bit frustrating when used repeatedly because it makes you feel you are literally waiting for it to end.

I concur with you about the Refresh icon, especially as it shows up when you touch the URL bar anyway, as you said.

The quick tab switch and access to the extra toolbar features are nice (but the latter is redundant with the right menu icon, or did I miss something?), but require some accuracy. Or instead I should say I am personally not very efficient in using them and am a lot more comfortable using the Menu icon on the right that displays the extra toolbar (but could use a secondary action on long press). Plus I'm currently using a Jolla C, and as you said it's more convenient on the original Jolla.
But I think I could move the favorite option next to the reload button when focus is on the urlbar. That makes the most sense I guess and should be easily found by the users aswell.

Yes, I think people would associate favorites with URLs anyway so it would make sense to have them together, while the extra toolbar would be more focused on being a "tool" bar (read view, split screen, lock orientation, etc.). Instead, I do think that showing an icon with two user-defined actions for short and long presses would make sense though. And if they really want it, users could choose to use "favorite" as one of these functions! But I don't think anyone would do it to be honest, which kind of supports the whole point.

One additional thing: landscape mode is often useful when using a mobile browser, and Webcat support for landscape is great overall (the split screen option is a jewel), but the Tab page is a bit akward to use in that orientation because it just splits the view horizontally between bookmarks and tabs, which makes it significantly hard to use/read when you have more than four tabs. Would it not make sense to split vertically and have one side of the screen showing bookmarks and the other the open tabs? Letting users choose sides would be great for better left- and right-handed support, but that's not critical.
By the way, I noticed that the Lock orientation does not work on Jolla C. I don't know about Jolla 1, I seem to remember it used to work correctly but that was a long time ago and I can't test properly now as my Jolla 1 is not updated to the latest Sailfish version.

Also, since I mentioned Web Pirate above, and I know that you have helped Dax on some features like setting default browser, there is another unique feature in Web Pirate that is absolutely fantastic: the experimental Sailfish text input for text fields. It solves issues, basically. This long post could not be edited in Webcat because you cannot navigate through a web text field without arrow keys, nor can you resize it to show the whole text and click where you want. You cannot efficiently select editable text either while Sailfish input offers the Sailfish selection mechanism used in other applications, and this system also allows showing a lot more text, despute bigger default font size. You can circumvent all the text field issues with the Sailfish text input, like in Storeman or Web Pirate. Same issues occur with forum posts, blog posts, or e-mail in web clients, so this may be really important for people who use their mobile browser for writing and not only reading.

I know Webcat is not Web Pirate and I don't want to offend you by suggesting some of its features. Both have their pros and cons and I never could choose my favorite when they were both actively developped, but Web Pirate is now dead and not maintained anymore, so I'm just throwing comments in case you'll still be looking for stuff to add in your to-do list in 5 years. :>

llelectronics's picture

Note that it could also use the same mechanism as in Webpirate, i.e., an horizontally scrollable bar (is it tricky to mix features from Web Pirate source code in Webcat?)

It is a totally different codebase that also went through rewrites. Webcat on the other hand never had a major rewrite and the extra toolbar is very static and adding a scrolling element would break the quick navigation option totally.

(but could use a secondary action on long press)

I don't like to blow up the code with configurable toolbars as it would be another codepath to support with lots of potential stuff breaking. I am thinking about it though. Maybe long pressing here makes more sense and works better for the quick extra toolbar access instead of using the goto button. I will test several options here and will decide what to do then.

but the Tab page is a bit akward to use in that orientation because it just splits the view horizontally between bookmarks and tabs, which makes it significantly hard to use/read when you have more than four tabs.

This is mostly a problem on smartphones. On the tablet it does work very good. But I will test your suggestion though it needs a bit of restructuring as those (bookmarks and tabview) are in a column and that does not work with it.

By the way, I noticed that the Lock orientation does not work on Jolla C. I don't know about Jolla 1, I seem to remember it used to work correctly but that was a long time ago and I can't test properly now as my Jolla 1 is not updated to the latest Sailfish version.

Tested it here on the Jolla C and it works just like it should

About the text input never had and issue with this. Writing and reading text works just fine. Though I will take a look at potential improements

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