The latest offline browsing package for Konqueror software includes numerous enhancements specifically for offline web browsing, providing users with a superior browsing experience.
This software review is for an improved offline web browsing package that contains several enhancements and bug fixes. One of the improvements is better offline browsing for Konqueror and other applications that use kde http io slaves. The package also includes improved web browsing for low-bandwidth connections and better detection of cross-domain requests. Additionally, referer-URLs are not sent cross-domain and can be configured to users' preferences.
For the software to work, sources for kdelibs, kdebase, and kdeaddons version 3.5.5 are required. If the user needs German localization, they will need sources for kde-i18n-de as well. However, web pages with enabled javascript may not work 100% when browsing offline completely.
The software has some limitations, but none that are not already present in the original http slave. For instance, web pages with javascript enabled may not work offline. On the other hand, the software is easy to install with a patch command, and the GUI includes tooltips for all four http cache strategies.
One thing to note is that if users use KDE packages from their distribution, the patches may not work. This is because many distributions make their own changes to KDE, which could introduce subtle incompatibilities. In this case, compiling and installing KDE from unmodified sources is advised, and users should contact the developers and report any bugs.
To install the software, users can add the --dry-run option to the patch command to check whether the patches apply cleanly to their source tree. Additionally, they can apply httpslave-kdelibs-$KDEVERSION.diff to the kdelibs sources, compile, and install kdelibs to ensure a faster browsing experience. They can also do similar steps for httpslave-r2-kdebase-$KDEVERSION, httpslave-r2-kde-i18n-de-$KDEVERSION, httpslave-r2-kdeaddons-$KDEVERSION.
Finally, to finish the installation process, users can restart KDE, visit their favourite website with Konqueror, go offline, switch on offline browsing, and visit the website again to see the improvements. For small bandwidth connections, reducing the number of parallel http requests may give better browsing performance, and users can edit $KDEDIR/share/services/http.protocol and add/change maxInstances=1. As usual, YMMV. Overall, this offline web browsing package is a convenient solution for those experiencing internet connectivity issues.
For the software to work, sources for kdelibs, kdebase, and kdeaddons version 3.5.5 are required. If the user needs German localization, they will need sources for kde-i18n-de as well. However, web pages with enabled javascript may not work 100% when browsing offline completely.
The software has some limitations, but none that are not already present in the original http slave. For instance, web pages with javascript enabled may not work offline. On the other hand, the software is easy to install with a patch command, and the GUI includes tooltips for all four http cache strategies.
One thing to note is that if users use KDE packages from their distribution, the patches may not work. This is because many distributions make their own changes to KDE, which could introduce subtle incompatibilities. In this case, compiling and installing KDE from unmodified sources is advised, and users should contact the developers and report any bugs.
To install the software, users can add the --dry-run option to the patch command to check whether the patches apply cleanly to their source tree. Additionally, they can apply httpslave-kdelibs-$KDEVERSION.diff to the kdelibs sources, compile, and install kdelibs to ensure a faster browsing experience. They can also do similar steps for httpslave-r2-kdebase-$KDEVERSION, httpslave-r2-kde-i18n-de-$KDEVERSION, httpslave-r2-kdeaddons-$KDEVERSION.
Finally, to finish the installation process, users can restart KDE, visit their favourite website with Konqueror, go offline, switch on offline browsing, and visit the website again to see the improvements. For small bandwidth connections, reducing the number of parallel http requests may give better browsing performance, and users can edit $KDEDIR/share/services/http.protocol and add/change maxInstances=1. As usual, YMMV. Overall, this offline web browsing package is a convenient solution for those experiencing internet connectivity issues.
What's New
Version 3.5.9-r4: N/A