News

NetSurf 3.0 released 20 Apr 2013
NetSurf 3.0 contains many changes over the 2.x release series. The biggest difference is the use of our new Document Object Model library, LibDOM. This new library is a foundation that paves the way for us to implement a fully dynamic layout engine in the future. Other improvements in NetSurf 3.0 include completely new textarea support, ability to fetch and parse CSS in parallel with HTML documents, extensive behind-the-scenes refactoring, and a host of smaller changes and fixes. A more complete listing is available in the Change Log.
NetSurf at the Wakefield Show 23 Mar 2013
The NetSurf developers will be exhibiting at the Wakefield RISC OS trade show on Saturday 20th April. Please visit our stand to discuss issues, future plans, or just to meet the developers.
New textarea handling 11 Feb 2013
We've rewritten NetSurf's textarea support, so composing webmail, forum posting, and form filling should be more reliable now. Support for text selection and other behaviour is improved.
Early JavaScript builds available 13 Dec 2012
While there is a very long way to go before NetSurf becomes a fully JavaScript-capable browser, brave users may like to try the JavaScript enabled test builds from our autobuilder.
Development progress 05 Nov 2012
The NetSurf Developers held another workshop over the weekend. During the event we were able to consolidate several aspects of the browser after the previous LibDOM integration. LibDOM's performance was optimised, and the remaining usage of LibXML was removed from NetSurf. Thanks to Collabora who kindly hosted the workshop.
Moved from SVN to Git 15 Jul 2012
We have migrated from Subversion to Git for our source version control. See the Getting started and Git cheat sheet documents on the Wiki. Please let us know if you find anything amiss.
NetSurf 2.9 released 28 Apr 2012
NetSurf 2.9 contains many improvements over the previous release. The most significant changes are new multi-tasking behaviour, optimised URL handling, fetcher optimisations, cache optimisations, and faster CSS selection. Full details in the change log. We recommend all users upgrade.
LibDOM progress 26 Mar 2012
The NetSurf Developers held a developer workshop over the weekend, during which much progress was made on LibDOM which sits at the heart of our NetSurf 3.0 plans. NetSurf trunk is now using the LibDOM library in place of LibXML2, and we hope to extract several benefits from this change over the coming months. Thanks to Collabora who kindly hosted the workshop.
New home for TTF2f 07 Dec 2011
The RISC OS font conversion utility TTF2f has a new web page here, on the NetSurf site. It is capable of converting TrueType, OpenType and other formats to the native RISC OS format. It supports conversion of large fonts with wide Unicode coverage. Anyone wishing to develop TTF2f further should get in touch!
NetSurf 2.8 released 21 Sep 2011
NetSurf 2.8 adds support for frames and iframes on all platforms, MIME type sniffing, and a new image cache. Image decoding can now be deferred until images are required for more optimal resource use and faster page load times. The release also incorporates many other new features, optimisations, improvements and bug fixes. Full details in the change log. We recommend all users upgrade.
NetSurf 2.7 released 16 Apr 2011
NetSurf 2.7 contains many improvements over the previous release. The most significant change is the addition of core global history, bookmarks and cookie management features. Full details in the change log. We recommend all users upgrade.
Mac OS X port and other frontend news 20 Jan 2011
A new Mac OS X port has been created. It can be built from source, following the instructions in the source tree. An Atari port has also been created, and the Windows, AmigaOS, GTK and RISC OS ports all continue to be developed.
NetSurf 2.6 released 21 Sep 2010
NetSurf 2.6 is primarily a bug fix release. It contains some improvements to page rendering, fetching & caching, memory usage, as well as some front-end specific fixes. Full details in the change log. We recommend all users upgrade.
NetSurf 2.5 released 24 Apr 2010
NetSurf 2.5 contains many improvements over the previous release. The major changes are the use of our brand new CSS parser and selection engine (LibCSS), and a newly designed cache for fetched content. Full details in the change log. We recommend all users upgrade.
NetSurf at Wakefield Show 2010 14 Jan 2010
NetSurf 2.5 is expected to be released at the Wakefield RISC OS Show. The release will focus on the CSS engine, memory usage and speed, as well as fixing bugs. NetSurf 2.5 is likely to be the last release for RISC OS.
NetSurf in The Icon Bar Awards 2009 01 Jan 2010
NetSurf won in the category of "Best non-commercial product" in The Icon Bar's 2009 RISC OS awards. Thanks to everyone who voted for us!
Google Summer of Code Roundup 15 Sep 2009
As many of you know, NetSurf has participated in Google Summer of Code for a second consecutive year. This year we ran three projects which have all been of great benefit to the project.
New developers sought 06 Aug 2009
A maintainer is required for the RISC OS front end. Also anyone with Perl scripting ability could help overhaul the autobuilder.
NetSurf 2.1 released 23 May 2009
NetSurf 2.1 is a bug fix release. It contains some improvements to page rendering as well as some front-end specific fixes. Full details in the change log. We recommend all users upgrade.
NetSurf as an embedded web kiosk 12 May 2009
Media watch: LinuxDevices has put up a tutorial for setting up NetSurf's framebuffer front end on embedded linux devices and creating a web kiosk.
NetSurf 2.0 released 25 Apr 2009
NetSurf 2 is a major update over the 1.x release series, and represents almost two years of development. New features include a new HTML parser, SVG support, PDF export, improved page layout and a more complete GTK interface. This is also the first release for our new framebuffer target and the native ports to AmigaOS, BeOS and Haiku.
GSoC students selected 20 Apr 2009
This year we will have students working on a Document Object Model implementation, the usability and feature set of NetSurf's core multi-platform interface, and adding features to the GTK front end.
Google Summer of Code 18 Mar 2009
NetSurf has been accepted into Google Summer of Code 2009, as a mentoring organisation. Students interested in getting involved should check out our project ideas.
NetSurf 2.0 plan & summary of recent development 09 Mar 2009
NetSurf 2.0 to be released next month. Recent changes to page layout, form submission improved, upgraded AmigaOS port, framebuffer front end advanced and many other changes.
Another year, another accolade 07 Jan 2009
At the end of a busy year for NetSurf, with the release of NetSurf 1.2, the development of many new features, ports to new operating systems and participation in Google Summer of Code, NetSurf was voted for an award by Drobe's venerable readership. Thanks to everyone who voted for us!
Summary of recent developments 09 Nov 2008
New framebuffer port, better CSS support, improved page layout, tabbed browsing improvements, new features and functionality for BeOS and AmigaOS ports.
AmigaOS and BeOS ports 18 Aug 2008
New native port to AmigaOS and work on the BeOS port continues. Both ports are at an early stage, but usable.
Summary of recent developments 17 Aug 2008
Bumper development summary, including performance and page layout improvements, better text selection handling, vastly improved GTK front end, ports to new platforms and Google Summer of Code round-up.
Now using Hubbub 11 Aug 2008
NetSurf now uses Hubbub, our new HTML parser which is compliant with the HTML5 specification. This fixes many issues and ensures we handle broken HTML in the same way as the other mainstream browsers.
BeOS port started 03 Jun 2008
NetSurf is now running natively on the BeOS operating system. The early port is available from SVN.
GSoC projects selected 22 Apr 2008
The student projects that will be carried out this summer have been announced. See our GSoC page for details.
NetSurf 1.2 released 22 Mar 2008
The second update to NetSurf 1 has been released. It offers several bug fixes over the previous release and we recommend that users upgrade.
Google Summer of Code 17 Mar 2008
NetSurf is participating in Google Summer of Code 2008, as a mentoring organisation. Students interested in getting involved should apply to Google. More information on our GSoC page.
Summary of recent development 02 Mar 2008
Pages are now periodically reflowed as images are downloaded. Handling of presentational markup is improved. Better form element handling and many other fixes and improvements.
Summary of recent development 03 Feb 2008
NetSurf's cookie and HTTP redirect support have been enhanced. Layout upgrades, including better form element display and float positioning. SVG redraw is now faster on RISC OS.
NetSurf web site redesigned 02 Jan 2008
We've redesigned the web site to make it easier to navigate. Much of the content has been rewritten to make it clear that NetSurf is a multi-platform web browser.
Summary of recent development 02 Jan 2008
Recent work on the development branch of NetSurf has added SVG support to the GTK build and the beginnings of SVG Tiny support to the RISC OS version. Other changes have included refinements to the web page scaling facilities.
NetSurf 1.1 released 13 Aug 2007
The first update to NetSurf 1 has been released. It offers several bug fixes over the previous release and we recommend that users upgrade.
NetSurf in Debian testing 03 Jun 2007
NetSurf is now packaged in Debian linux. Currently it is in Debian testing.
NetSurf 1.0 released 19 May 2007
The first stable release of NetSurf is now available. The NetSurf project was first started in 2003 and development builds have been available from the project web site since then.
Media watch 04 Dec 2006
An article at The Iconbar reviews recent developments and discusses future plans for the project.
Moved to subversion 09 Apr 2006
We have migrated to Subversion, a more powerful and advanced versioning system than CVS.
The road to 1.0 25 Mar 2006
Our plans for version 1.0 for the RISC OS and GTK builds.
Experimental GTK port 22 Jun 2004
A new GTK front end has been checked in. It allows NetSurf to be tested on Uinx-like systems.
Sourceforge project registered 19 Apr 2002
After an online discussion about the deficiencies of existing web browser on the RISC OS plaform, the NetSurf web browser project has been started.