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Galeon
open-in-new
<h2 id="features">Features</h2> <p>Galeon made use of Gecko's features including configuration options and standards support. Apart from that, Galeon had several features that were uncommon in browsers at that time:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>mouse <a href="/facts/Gesture_recognition/jly3YdnY">gestures</a></li> <li>configurable <a href="/facts/User_agent/dFEyg2Xj">user agent</a> string</li> <li>configurable display of <a href="/facts/Favicon/8jWalGsa">favicons</a></li> <li>customizable <a href="/facts/Toolbar/s0DWMF3U">toolbars</a></li> <li>configurable position of <a href="/facts/Tab_(GUI)/YswKP5Mg">tab bar</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Smart_Bookmarks/0noCAot5">smart bookmarks</a> with search history</li> <li>ability to specify own fonts and colors for web content</li> <li>configurable <a href="/facts/MIME/P8PDYuts">MIME</a> types handler</li> <li>configurable history expiry</li> <li><a href="/facts/Page_zooming/djwGFS71">page zooming</a></li></ul> <h2 id="development-history">Development history</h2> <p>The project was started by Marco Pesenti Gritti with the goal of creating a web browser that would be fast and consistent with the <a href="/facts/GNOME/EFMNBmpR">GNOME</a> desktop environment. The first public version (Galeon 0.6) was released in June 2000.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p> <h3>On the rise</h3> <p>The first releases of Galeon were criticised for lack of such basic features as <a href="/facts/HTTP_cookie/o1laXyng">cookie</a> and <a href="/facts/HTTP_proxy/ArhwQE74">proxy</a> support,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> though the browser added some features with every release. Version 1.2 of Galeon introduced many new features that drew attention of the general public.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p><p>At the time of Galeon's creation, the most popular <a href="/facts/Linux/9FvCKSTq">Linux</a> browsers, including <a href="/facts/Netscape_(web_browser)/xlwyWFWS">Netscape</a> and <a href="/facts/Mozilla_Application_Suite/XbBP7wRE">Mozilla</a>, were large multi-functional programs. This made them slow to start and often impractical due to their high memory usage and processor requirements.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Opera_(web_browser)/2NYCcTj1">Opera</a> was somewhat faster, but it was <a href="/facts/Proprietary_software/9zcskxYL">proprietary software</a> distributed in <a href="/facts/Trialware/TAhIvJXt">trialware</a> and <a href="/facts/Adware/wbS8pyAQ">adware</a> versions, both of which lacked some of the functionality of the <a href="/facts/Microsoft_Windows/bwhAhuSL">Microsoft Windows</a> version.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p><p>Galeon was widely seen as one of the best Linux browsers available.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> The polls revealed the substantial usage share of Galeon,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> though its popularity was regarded as owing to lack of stability evident in <a href="/facts/Mozilla/FevL9Itn">Mozilla</a>'s browsers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <h3>Split of the development team</h3> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/GNOME_Web/0hIb10Th">GNOME Web</a></p> <p>With the release of new version of the <a href="/facts/GTK%252B/oLpVm9pp">GTK+</a> widget toolkit, which was used to construct the user interface of Galeon, the team decided to write a new version of Galeon from scratch. At the same time the GNOME project has adopted its new <a href="/facts/Human_interface_guidelines/U9WBXEQo">human interface guidelines</a>, which promoted simplicity and uniform design.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> The Galeon team had differing opinions on the new guidelines. The author and lead developer, Marco Pesenti Gritti, endorsed them and saw the rewrite as an opportunity to make Galeon simpler. Many other developers believed that reducing the number of preferences and simplifying the user interface would harm the project.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p><p>In November 2002,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> as the result of several discussions on the topic Gritti made the decision to cease his work in Galeon and <a href="/facts/Fork_(software_development)/D6khxhpr">fork</a> the project and started development of a HIG-compliant web browser he called <i>Epiphany</i> (now known as <a href="/facts/GNOME_Web/0hIb10Th">Web</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> </p> <h3>After the split</h3> <p>As Gritti no longer controlled the development of Galeon, the previous functionality was restored in subsequent releases and some new features were added,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> though development got slow after the split.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a> At the same time the rising popularity of Firefox, its status of the default browser in major distribution and the overwhelming number of <a href="/facts/List_of_Firefox_extensions/MmdJyrT8">its extensions</a> led to decline of Galeon's user base.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a> </p><p>Eventually the Galeon developers announced plans to halt development of Galeon, saying "the current approach is unsustainable" regarding the resources required to maintain it. Instead, they planned to develop a set of extensions for Epiphany to provide similar functionality.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25"><sup>25</sup></a> </p> <h3>Persistence</h3> <p>Even after development ceased in September 2008, the browser remained popular and in December 2011 was still available in some <a href="/facts/Linux_distribution/0vVl4N4f">Linux distribution</a>'s repositories, such as <a href="/facts/Debian_version_history/gVkBsMcv">Debian 6 Squeeze</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26"><sup>26</sup></a> although it was not part of <a href="/facts/Debian_version_history/gVkBsMcv">Debian 7 Wheezy</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27"><sup>27</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="reception">Reception</h2> <p>Galeon was praised for its customizability and speed, as compared to <a href="/facts/Netscape_Navigator/f9m231Wp">Netscape Navigator</a> and <a href="/facts/Firefox/xez2zv8H">Firefox</a>, though <a href="/facts/Konqueror/qWCwNfur">Konqueror</a> and <a href="/facts/Opera_(web_browser)/2NYCcTj1">Opera</a> were still faster on older hardware.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28"><sup>28</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29"><sup>29</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30"><sup>30</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31"><sup>31</sup></a> Galeon was noted for its session handling and crash recovery.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:32" href="#fn:32"><sup>32</sup></a> </p><p>In November 2002, <a href="/facts/OSNews/3unFthQ4">OSNews</a> conducted a poll to determine the most popular <a href="/facts/Gecko_(layout_engine)/HXINMkgW">Gecko</a>-based browser, which included several browsers for <a href="/facts/Microsoft_Windows/bwhAhuSL">Microsoft Windows</a>, <a href="/facts/Mac_OS_X/Y93vVpTm">Mac OS X</a> and <a href="/facts/Linux/9FvCKSTq">Linux</a>, but didn't include <a href="/facts/Netscape_Navigator/f9m231Wp">Netscape Navigator</a> and <a href="/facts/Mozilla_Suite/XbBP7wRE">Mozilla Suite</a>. The Linux-only Galeon was the second most popular, after cross-platform Firefox, at that time known as <a href="/facts/History_of_Firefox/NDTN6qpu">Phoenix</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:33" href="#fn:33"><sup>33</sup></a> </p><p>Critics noted Galeon's tricky plugin installation.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:34" href="#fn:34"><sup>34</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li> Free and open-source software portal</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <p> Media related to Galeon at Wikimedia Commons </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Galeon at a glance, FreeOS.com, 15 June 2001, retrieved 16 November 2011 <a href="http://www.freeos.com/articles/4163/" target="_blank">http://www.freeos.com/articles/4163/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>DeRosia, Chris (29 July 2003), Galeon History, archived from the original on 13 October 2011, retrieved 15 November 2011 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>README.ExtraPrefs file, The GNOME git repository, archived from the original on 3 May 2013, retrieved 16 November 2011 <a href="https://archive.today/20130503040009/http://git.gnome.org/browse/galeon/tree/README.ExtraPrefs" target="_blank">https://archive.today/20130503040009/http://git.gnome.org/browse/galeon/tree/README.ExtraPrefs</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>DeRosia, Chris (29 July 2003), Galeon History, archived from the original on 13 October 2011, retrieved 15 November 2011 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Hall, Michael (18 July 2000), Looking at the Galeon, Linux Planet, archived from the original on 4 April 2012, retrieved 16 November 2011 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120404071827/http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/previews/2080/2" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120404071827/http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/previews/2080/2</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>DeRosia, Chris (29 July 2003), Galeon History, archived from the original on 13 October 2011, retrieved 15 November 2011 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php</a> <a href="#fnref:6" 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"[Opera-linux] The road ahead: features in linux vs. ms win client", opera-linux mailing list, archived from the original on April 15, 2012 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120415045500/http://list.opera.com/pipermail/opera-linux/2001-May/000637.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120415045500/http://list.opera.com/pipermail/opera-linux/2001-May/000637.html</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Valliere, Rob (9 May 2002), Valliere: 2002 Linux Browser Review, Linux Today, archived from the original on 11 February 2005 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050211150219/http://linuxtoday.com/developer/2002050900226RVDTSW" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20050211150219/http://linuxtoday.com/developer/2002050900226RVDTSW</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Krause, Ralph (March 2000), "Browser Comparison", Linux Journal (95), retrieved 17 November 2011 <a 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(2002), GNOME Human Interface Guidelines (PDF) (1.0 ed.), The GNOME Usability Project, retrieved 3 April 2012 <a href="http://interface.free.fr/Archives/hig-gnome-1.0.pdf" target="_blank">http://interface.free.fr/Archives/hig-gnome-1.0.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>DeRosia, Chris (29 July 2003), Galeon History, archived from the original on 13 October 2011, retrieved 15 November 2011 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Min, Andrew, "Epiphany, the ultimate Gnome browser", The Ubuntu Applications book (under construction), Free Software Magazine, archived from the original on October 31, 2008, retrieved November 7, 2008 <a 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Mozilla/Gecko-based Browser, OSNews, retrieved 16 November 2011 <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story/2054" target="_blank">http://www.osnews.com/story/2054</a> <a href="#fnref:33" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:34"><p>Galeon at a glance, FreeOS.com, 15 June 2001, retrieved 16 November 2011 <a href="http://www.freeos.com/articles/4163/" target="_blank">http://www.freeos.com/articles/4163/</a> <a href="#fnref:34" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>