Web Browser


timewarp78

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Oct 4, 2008
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Im currenty studying a cisco network course, and a big excuse for buying Pandora is to be able to access the online courses and view them on Pandoras webbrowser whilst on lunch breaks at work etc.
Is there any chance of seeing the pandora web browser in action in a blog video, so I can get an idea of how well it displays a complete web page (size etc) ?

I have tried viewing it on a psp but it runs out of memory and cant display (old psp with 32 mb)
 
There is no unique webbrowser for the pandora. What you get is a port of Firefox to Ångström which you can run.
 
yeah i know it firefox, but it would be good to see how the 4.3 screen displays a full web page, cos on the psp you could only view part of the page and would have to move the joypad round to view it all..
 
You could try to use a desktop browser and reduce the size to approx 800x480 and see how the web pages turn out. Then move back some distance, to emulate the smaller (character) size. The size is the most important difference from a desktop browser. I own a Nokia tablet and the test just described would be quite relevant. In addition (for my Nokia tablet) I would have to check if the web page uses Java (not supported in the Nokia tablet browsers), and if it uses flash (supported, but a bit slow). Javascript, Ajax works fine on my Nokia tablet and should work fine on the Pandora as well. I don't know if Java will be supported right away, and Flash may come a bit later.

If your course pages display OK in 800x480, use no Java or flash, then you can expect them to work perfectly fine on a Pandora as well.
 
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Yeah, there's probably a big chance the next video of the Pandora will show wifi and firefox running. I'm not an expert but I don't think there will be any problems accessing the online courses from the Pandora if they are 'standard' webpages. Might be problems with javascripts or applets. But I don't know :blink:
 
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Here's the advanced testing method I used:

1. Install Firefox [or any other open-source browser like Dillo, since those will probably be available]

2. Use a screen ruler or, in my case, the Compiz window size measurements, to scale the window to 800 by 480.

3. View some web pages.

4. Adjust the font depending on how well you think you'll be able to see if the window were 4.3 inches diagonal.

Firefox will shrink most well-designed pages to fit within the screen pretty well, and the upcoming Fennec mobile GUI will improve it even more. I wouldn't worry too much about compatibility unless the website uses Flash [Which will work to some extent, but not very reliably] or massive amounts of Javascript, like the Chrome Experiments. [Which is really the only website that uses inappropriate amounts of Javascript]

Edit: I don't know if there will be Java out of the box, but since there's IcedTea and OpenJDK and whatnot, it probably will be.
 
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You could use the Web Developer Firefox plugin to help scale any Firefox window you are using exactly to 800x480.

CODE

http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60
 
I study cisco online myself, and I've noticed a lot of the stuff is in flash. So you might be stuck even if the size and resolution is usable.
 
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If it's the Cisco Certified Network Associate (C.C.N.A) course you should be fine.

I did the course a couple of years ago and tried to use my Ubuntu Linux laptop to access the course material, sometimes it worked but not right often. I asked the tutor what the problem was and he said it should have worked fine.

I started to use my Nokia Internet tablet for browsing it instead and can't remember having any problems. The screen size was a bit on the small side but quite usable once I got used to it.

Good luck with the course, it can be a bitch :)

EDIT: Yeah a lot of the exams etc. are in flash, but all the study notes can be downloaded or viewed anyway (if I'm remembering correctly?).
 
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Almost every page I've seen while browsing on my Archos 605 displays perfectly, with no horizontal scroll bar. 800x480 is large enough to see the 'full' internet.
 
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Fennec

52385d1225493697-mozilla-fennec-first-test-fennec-1.jpg


I don't know what you're planning on using, but I already know what I'm using :D.
 
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I do a lot of web browsing on my G1, and even at 480x320 I don't have to do too much side-to-side scrolling. 800x480 won't be a problem at all.

On a related note, I've found the Android browser to be both capable and unobtrusive. I really hope somebody brings it over to the Pandora.
 
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'cb88' said:
@Chip what is the android browser? webkit? a build of midori would be nice
Midori is alerady available for Beagleboard on Angstrom
 
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'cb88' said:
@Chip what is the android browser? webkit? a build of midori would be nice
It is webkit-based, but it is tweaked for the G1. The fullscreen browsing is nice, and it has excellent pan and zoom control. Browsing is equally easy with the trackball or touchscreen. I'm a fan of Firefox and use it on all my full-size computers, but if the Android browser were available for the Pandora, I'd use that instead.
'Yod4z' said:
Midori is alerady available for Beagleboard on Angstrom
Midori and Android browser may both be webkit based, but the UI is completely different.
 
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Firefox on Pandora

CODE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKKMj37Psd8
 
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