Dear Epiphany Developers,
I would like to see some Webkit enabled browser as the default in
Ubuntu, because it will inevitably be a faster browser and able to
integrate well with the Gnome mobile platform. The obvious candidate for
this browser is Epiphany with the Webkit back-end. Epiphany has a well
stated manifesto that it is going to keep things simple. With that said,
I think there are parts of the Epiphany design and interface that both
complicate it in some areas and leave out important features in other
areas all together. Here are some points of what I think Epiphany needs
to do to become the browser of choice for Linux desktops. I have ordered
these points in an order of what I think would be easiest to implement
(I'm not a programmer, so take my opinion with a grain of salt).
General Browser Stuff
* Migrate the back end to Webkit – I know this is already planned
and definitely not the easiest, but it doesn't hurt to keep it
in mind.
* Make the default look a little more compact – All of those
functions could easily fit onto one tool bar, thus removing
clutter. Some of the buttons could even be removed by default,
such as the zoom buttons and the history button. Set the font
sizes to a comfortably readable resolution (the default is a
little small, by the way), and if the reader wants access to
buttons to make the font larger/smaller, he/she can add them.
The “Go” button can also be removed, since most people use the
enter key.
* Set a much smaller maximum size for the icons for bookmarks
added to the tool bar.
* When a new tab is opened with CTRL+t, the default position of
the cursor should be in the URL space.
* Instead of letting users choose a maximum size for the cache
folder, temporary files should just be cleared when the browser
exits.
* Improve the bookmarking interface – The current bookmarking
interface leaves very little room to do anything outside of just
storing and tagging links, such as maintaining RSS feeds.
* Add native RSS support – Epiphany does not have any way by
default to use RSS feeds, a now very standard method of
syndication for web content. Not even clicking on a direct link
to RSS feeds will prompt any method of subscription. One way of
doing it might be making RSS feeds appear as topics in the
Bookmark Manager and having each RSS item appear as something in
the title menu, or allowing RSS feeds to appear as a tree view
in the title section (such as when you view directories in
Nautilus in list view). There should also be an icon somewhere
in the URL bar or the status bar to subscribe to the RSS feed.
* Make it easier for users to right click on an empty space on the
tool bar and add bookmarks. While it is nice to be able to drag
bookmarks from the Bookmark Manager directly onto the tool bar,
that is not the obvious thing to do. It can be as simple as
having a message in the Bookmark manager that says “To add
bookmarks to the browser tool bars, select a bookmark and drag
it onto the tool bar.” Right clicking on the tool bar and
selecting “Add Bookmark...” would just open the Bookmark
Manager.
* Extensions – While you can install the epiphany-extensions
package, one cannot install extensions directly in the browser.
Users shouldn't have to drop mysterious files into mysterious
folders; they should be able to click “Install new extension...”
and browse for the file (are there any Evolution and Rhythmbox
developers reading this?).
* Smart Bookmarks – although nice in theory, they are not very
well implemented, since it requires knowing how to use wild
cards in a URL. Most people I know use them to integrate search
engines in with the browser tool bar. Maybe a search engine
applet can be made.
* When typing something in the URL space, pages that are
bookmarked are not distinguishable from simple browser history.
Firefox accomplishes this by putting a star next to bookmarked
links. Perhaps we could use something like bold font, or
something that is still a little more obvious then a star?
Preferences Related Stuff
* Turn off by default “Automatically download and open files,” so
that people can know for sure where the file is being saved. It
was nice having the PDF I downloaded open right away, but not
nice not knowing where it was saved (it was not saved to the
desktop). It was also not nice having theme archives that I
downloaded from Gnome-Look.org be opened instead of just saved
(extracted theme archives and not that useful). The files should
just be downloaded to where the user chooses to save them, and
then be able to click “Open” in the download manager when it's
done.
* Similar to Firefox, disable pop-ups by default and prompt the
user when a pop-up has been blocked.
I hope that someone benefits from these comments and I look forward to
hearing your feedback.
Regards,
Alex Foss
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