My head always comes up with this picture when people talk about #KHTML

It's funny and kinda frustrating how almost no one acknowledges the role #KDE played in forming the Web we see today.

It's KDE who created #KHTML, which was then in 2001 forked by Apple to create their #WebKit engine, and which was then used in #Chromium until version 28, when Google replaced WebKit with their own fork of it called #Blink.

And the only reason Apple forked KHTML and not #Gecko was because of Netscape's extensive and, as later admitted by Mozilla themselves,[1] often unnecessary usage of XUL/XPCOM, which Apple thought resulted in software bloat.[2]

So yes, almost every browser currenty existing uses an engine which is a direct or indirect descendant of KDE's KHTML.

And I'd bet my house that if there was no KHTML, and Apple were unhappy with Gecko, they'd probably create their own proprietary engine, and Google would follow.

So I'm kinda glad things ended up how they did, and there are no proprietary browser engines around.

Thanks KDE!

[1] - https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2004/06/collins-interview/#page-2
[2] - https://web.archive.org/web/20121025015655/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-980492.html

Some #history, like #Android with #GNU+#Linux...
«#Microsoft's new, #Chromium-based #Edge, was remade with the Blink #engine. #Google originally used #WebKit for its #Chrome browser but eventually forked it to create the #Blink engine. #Apple created the WebKit engine for its #Safari #browser by #forking the #KHTML engine of the #KDE project.»
«#Mozilla develops the #Gecko engine for its #Firefox browser and the #Thunderbird #email #client.»
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_engine
#FLOSS #MPL #GPL #FreeSoftware

@canleaf @Juice8767@mastodon.social @LilahTovMoon webkit hasn't been the Chrome engine since who knows how long ago. Probably close to 20 years now'

Went like this: #KDE' #Konqueror web and file browser had a quite clean but basic HTML engine #KHTML. Apple wanted an engine for their new #Safari browser and picked KHTML. Mozilla's gecko (not positive was gecko then) was a mess so wasn't used. KHTML was #GPL hurray! Became AppleWebkit. Google picked it for new Chrome. Soon forked wk to #Blink. Power of GPL.

If you really think about it, 98% of browsers nowadays are actually reskinned Konquerer with enhancements, the other 2% is Firefox.

Three days ago, the 4th of November, would've been #KHTML 25 year anniversary.

Hoorrray!

WTF is KHTML?

Chances are you are kind of using it, because #WebKit and #Blink rendering engines are all forked from this open-source project originally intented for the browser of the KDE window environment.

That basically makes #Opera, #Safari, #Chrome, #Chromium and #Brave (and possibly others) all *siblings*.

KHTML is *literally* the mother of all browsers.

"KHTML is dead - long live KHTML!"

All major browsers rely on a dark secret: the quirks where native code or the UA stylesheet is varied based on which site you're on.

They're a hell to debug if you're ever caught in one, but they make for interesting stories!

Example:
https://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2009/08/mediawiki-workaround.html

Fix for SVN deadlink:
https://static-codereview.wikimedia.org/MediaWiki/53141.html

Source code of doom:
https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/blob/main/Source/WebCore/page/Quirks.cpp

History:
https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commits/main/Source/WebCore/page/Quirks.cpp

@funbaker@chaos.social @digitalcourage@digitalcourage.social @mozilla@mozilla.social @PuschyMTB@federation.network @michfrankenpt@tube.tchncs.de

In aller Kürze: #KHTML -> #WebKit -> #Blink.

WebKit wurde als Fork von KHTML gestartet.

Blink wurde von WebCore "geforked", einen Bestandteil von WebKit.

Und Blink ist Bestandteil des #Chromium-Projekts.

On the occasion of #WorldWideWebDay, it's worth a mention that #Oslo, #Norway has been instrumental in giving birth to two most influential browser engines - #KHTML and #Presto. And browsers such as #Opera and #Vivaldi.
A building in #Oslo has a great history: an incubator of the #KHTML & #Presto engines. Presto had a massive influence on web standards & KHTML went on to form the basis of #Webkit and #Blink, on which most web browsers are now based, including Vivaldi.
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