NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

Submit portable freeware that you find here. It helps if you include information like description, extraction instruction, Unicode support, whether it writes to the registry, and so on.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
lintalist
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:52 am
Contact:

NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#1 Post by lintalist »

NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform
Windows version only 16MB. For a browser :shock:

Website: http://www.netsurf-browser.org/
Small as a mouse, fast as a cheetah and available for free. NetSurf is a multi-platform web browser for RISC OS, UNIX-like platforms (including Linux), Mac OS X, and more.

Whether you want to check your webmail, read the news or post to discussion forums, NetSurf is your lightweight gateway to the world wide web. Actively developed, NetSurf is continually evolving and improving.
...

Lean requirements
From a modern monster PC to a humble 30MHz ARM 6 computer with 16MB of RAM, the web browser will keep you surfing the web whatever your system. Originally written for computer hardware normally found in PDAs, cable TV boxes, mobile phones and other hand-held gadgets, NetSurf is compact and low maintenance by design.

Portable
NetSurf can be built for a number of modern computer platforms 'out of the box'. Written in C, with portability in mind, NetSurf is developed by programmers from a wide range of computing backgrounds, ensuring it remains available for as many users as possible.

... features
  • Web standards: HTML 4.01 and CSS 2.1
  • Image formats including: PNG, GIF, JPEG, SVG, and BMP
  • HTTPS for secure online transactions
  • Unicode text
  • Web page thumbnailing
  • Local history trees
  • Global history
  • Hotlist manager (bookmarks)
  • Cookie manager
  • URL completion
  • Text selection
  • Scale view
  • Search-as-you-type text search highlighting
  • Save pages complete with images
  • Fast, lightweight layout and rendering engine
Stealth?

No - leaves history (urls and cookies) in c:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\NetSurf\

Download (Windows)

The Windows downloads NetSurf 3.6 and NetSurf 3.7 have a bug which stop it working, but if you download a "Test Build" of a newer version via https://ci.netsurf-browser.org/builds/ (the most recent NetSurf-gcc-4425.exe[1] worked for me) it will run.

Install

Uniextract the exe, copy all files including the "UserInfo.dll" file in $PLUGINSDIR to a folder and start the program.

[1] https://ci.netsurf-browser.org/builds/w ... c-4425.exe
Attachments
windows-netsurf.png

User avatar
webfork
Posts: 10818
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: US, Texas
Contact:

Re: NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#2 Post by webfork »

Very interesting. What does the RAM usage look like?
lintalist wrote: Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:43 am NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine

User avatar
JohnTHaller
Posts: 715
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:44 pm
Location: New York, NY
Contact:

Re: NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#3 Post by JohnTHaller »

It should be noted that: "Currently very basic, the Windows port is really just a demonstration at the moment."
PortableApps.com - The open standard for portable software | Support Net Neutrality

User avatar
lintalist
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#4 Post by lintalist »

No doubt it will depend somewhat on the website, but when you have one website open its around 30-32mb, if you open a few more, a few MB per site is added.
I now have 4 websites open for example and its around 42-45 mb. I get the impression you're often presented with the mobile version of a website, and granted not everything works but I can browse this website and news sites just fine. Pleasantly surprised actually. I hope they will continue and add more html/css support.

Think of it as "Lynx with images".

Netsurf has a built-in adblocker as well - via a CSS blocklist that comes with the program, you can turn it on/off - which is nice.

I couldn't sign in to the forum here so that might be one those "demonstration" kinks they need to fix for example.

User avatar
Midas
Posts: 6710
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:09 am
Location: Sol3

Re: NetSurf... (also suckless.org Surf)

#5 Post by Midas »

Netsurf v3.8 released (changelog at download.netsurf-browser.org/netsurf/releases/ChangeLog.txt).

EDIT: tested. Nearly non-functional on Windows 7, loaded web content extremely slow, settings at '%APPDATA%\Netsurf\'. :|

NOTE: Netsurf is completely unrelated to Linux-only web browser surf.

surf is a simple web browser based on WebKit2/GTK+. It is able to display websites and follow links. It supports the XEmbed protocol which makes it possible to embed it in another application.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surf_(web_browser).

User avatar
Midas
Posts: 6710
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:09 am
Location: Sol3

Re: NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#6 Post by Midas »

Netsurf v3.9 released 2019-07-18 (changelog at download.netsurf-browser.org/netsurf/releases/ChangeLog.txt)

User avatar
Midas
Posts: 6710
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:09 am
Location: Sol3

Re: NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#7 Post by Midas »

FYI, there's a v3.10 NetSurf release dated 2020-05-24 available from the (unstable! "continuous integration") builds repo at:

https://ci.netsurf-browser.org/builds/windows/release/

User avatar
Midas
Posts: 6710
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:09 am
Location: Sol3

Re: NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#8 Post by Midas »

NetSurf v3.11 released 2023-12-28 (changes at https://download.netsurf-browser.org/netsurf/releases/ChangeLog.txt).
The Windows build is a technology demonstrator and is not ready for general use.

Image

User avatar
lintalist
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:52 am
Contact:

Re: NetSurf very lightweight browser with its own engine - Cross platform

#9 Post by lintalist »

I can login now and am posting this from 3.11 :)

Post Reply