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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/7/24 12:32, Scott Buchanan wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:2938448.e9J7NaK4W3@scott-desktop">Even
setting aside the monumental task of actual implementing whatever
change is needed, first a consensus needs to be reached which
approach we take. In my opinion, the best option would be to use a
stripped down, not even necessarily HTML-based, renderer in place
of both webkitgtk and gtkhtml which is cross platform and well
supported. Feel free to challenge me if that seems like a bad
idea.</blockquote>
<br>
<font face="FreeSerif">I wanted to let this sit and stew a few days,
in hopes that some other folks might have something to say about
it. OK, well, perhaps not.<br>
<br>
Up to this point, differences between the Windows' build's
restriction to GTK2¹ (with older webkit) have been handled
entirely by #ifdef'ing to distinguish the variances between older
and newer forms.<br>
<br>
I suppose my initial wondering is how this is not sufficient going
forward in a world where the modern toolkit is webkit2gtk-4.1 (as
seen in recent commits to cmake/XiphosDependencies.cmake) versus
where we remain for Windows.<br>
<br>
Aside from that, I have to wonder what alternative renderer might
be possible. Bear in mind that there have been 5 display engines
in Xiphos over the years (gtkhtml, seamonkey, gtkmozembed,
xulrunner, webkit) and every time it has changed it has
represented an awful effort that I have referred to as "treadmill
work" because the result hasn't actually gone anywhere but it's
work that has been needed in order to move the base for display
forward as older toolkits fell out of favor.<br>
<br>
I have no idea what other toolkits would be available if we wanted
to do this yet again. I will say that moving away from an HTML
renderer would be an especially difficult choice because HTMLisms
are deeply, deeply embedded in the code. Aside from general
display, the fact that the editor remains as libgtkhtml is a
source of pain -- we know that it is deeply outdated and in need
of being replaced.<br>
<br>
Opinion or further information is most welcome.<br>
<br>
The other Windows-specific matter needing thought is that the
version of Sword used for Xiphos is a Xiphos-specific hacked
version employing glib as a means of insulating Xiphos' code from
(notably) NTFS peculiarities. This became a necessity long ago,
right after first Windows 3.0 release because of the need to
handle (again, notably) accented characters in such fundamental
places as users' login names. Sword itself is built and attached
to the overall Windows build and the patch needed to support this
almost certainly needs to be updated to handled today's Sword.
Greg used to handle this but it has sat dormant a long time.<br>
<br>
--karl<br>
<br>
--<br>
¹ For anyone who isn't aware, the Windows build is effectively
stuck with GTK2 and older WebKit 1.0 because there were never
produced functional builds of more recent versions of these
libraries, and thus that's where the Windows side sits. It means a
slightly different and slightly less featureful display,
especially in multi-column display, where more recent WK balances
vertically but in Windows it fills vertically leaving a fractional
last column.<br>
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