It has been a long time since IBrowse got its last update, and many have been looking forward to its arrival. The web in present times has evolved into a true multimedia world with flashing lights and obscure effects. On the big computer platforms, the major web-browsers have pushed the HTML markup language and the plugin world to incredible heights while their users have taken accessability for granted. On the Amiga it has been a completely different story. IBrowse has been a favourite browser for many Amiga users, but the lack of Javascipt, Java Virtual Machine and Flash, amoungst other essential features, made it outdated, but things are changing. IBrowse 2 is here and it is being updated as we speak.

The initial review on .AmiUpdate - the mini review - was based on the IBrowse DEMO version 2.1. The DEMO was arguable alot worse than the full version and was for many a disappointment. But the keyfile changed alot. In addition to the bugs, which the author, Stefan Burström, is wiping out as you read this, many was disappointed because of the lack of Java VM and Shockwave Flash support. But these issues aside, IBrowse users finally get HTML 4 and Javascript, which is a must these days. With the obvious reasons for needing Javascript, why would we need HTML 4? Well, you may have noticed loading web-pages which shows alot of font codes on top of the page. These are gone, and because of HMTL 4 support, they are also supported in IBrowse, all you need to do is to configure which fonts you'd like to use in your FONTS: directory, as seen in the picture to the left. Now, you can use different fonts in your web-pages! Ofcource HTML 4 also has alot of other abilities, and for the whole overview, look at the bottom of this page.

I will talk more about the bugs and solving some of the IBrowse problems later. It is the new features you want to read about! Well, let us talk about Javascipt. As I mentioned above, one of the big features of IBrowse is the new Javascipt support. AWeb users may look upon this as old news, but finally, with the release of IBrowse, Javascipt has become an Amiga standard. So now, no Amiga web-master can give an excuse for not creating more fancy web-sites, and for the user, you can now browse almost any web-site out there without problems. Javascript is a C/++ inspired web-site language you can use to add cool visual and audio effects to your websites. But you can also write big cgi-like scripts that creates everything from curves and diagrams to extensive database interfaces. Many web-sites use Javascript instead of cgi-scripts either because their server lacks cgi-support or because Javascript is better incorporated in web-pages. Do not confuse Java VM with Javascript though, and keep in mind that it was called Livescript before version 1.1.

In addition to Javascipt, you can also access most new secure-server sites. IBrowse has now got support for the SSL secure server technology ranging from v1 to v3. You can even get more serious with having the option to cache or not cache secure documents. Well, now even the paranoid people amoungst us get a reason for getting IBrowse.

A great new feature in IBrowse is the "New Browser" option - you can now open many "browsers" in the IBrowse main window, as shown in the image to the left. The useful thing about this feature is that you can have .AmiUpdate or a similar site in one browser, and browse the web in the others, always having your news-page available so that you can press reload to get the latest news, browsing the web in the other "browsers" while the page loads. The "New Browser" feature is real multitasking in a web-browser!

IBrowse 2 introduces a new Plugin API. This is in my honest opinion the best feature after Javascript. The Plugin feature enables external developers to add features to IBrowse themselves. The plugins can take form as RealAudio or Flash, but also, Amiga users can now develop Amiga specific plugins. This is a good thing, as PC and Mac plugins often needs strong CPUs to operate, while Amiga developers can create Amiga plugins that originates from the Amiga standards.

Now, it is time to discuss the bugs and problems. As you might be aware of, the mini-review of IBrowse reflected a small disappointment over the state IBrowse was released in. There are bugs, and even though many are launched because of AmigaOS hacks and patches, there should be less of them. Sudden crashes occures and some bugs distorts the GUI and the HTML parser sometimes renders web-sites in strange ways. Most instances of wrong web-site renders occures when IBrowse is treating complex tables. Often the reason for such errors is obscure HTML tags in use, which the author never knew existed and which is not listed in the HTML documentation. There has been debates between major internet developers about these obscureties, and alot of them comes from the Internet Explorer development team, who seems to have a passion for evolving the HTML language themselves, without getting their additions aknowleged by the HTML society around them. Because of these odd HTML tags, the author of IBrowse obviously needs more time to track them down before he can add them to the IBrowse HTML parser, and news has it the IBrowse 2.2 will implement alot of them.

Bugs are always present in the first version of big programs like IBrowse, but there are also some problems with patches and hacks. Since this is the first public release of IBrowse 2, these types of problems are obviously present and will be sorted out as users respond with their experiences. To solve one of the crash problems, turn off Magic Menu and the Cyber Magic screen blanker. This will help you alot!

As a conclusion, IBrowse v2.1 deserves to be called a modern Amiga web-browser. It is much faster than the previous version, it has alot more features and feels more professional, even though it still has alot of bugs. Version 2.2 will be available as a free upgrade in some weeks, and it will straighten out many of the problems. Wether IBrowse v2.1 deserves to be called the best Amiga browser or not, is up to the users to define. Both Voyager 3 and the upcoming AWeb 3.4 has their strengths, but IBrowse must be respected as the most configurable one available on Amiga, and yes, one of the most configurable browsers on any platform. Then one question remains. Why is there still no Java VM support on Amiga. The answer is simple. The license for Java is so expensive that Amiga developers just can't afford to buy it.

Overview over HTML 4

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