[Updated Oct. 2] — A project to create an ultra-lightweight web browser for use in embedded devices and other resource-constrained hardware has issued a plea for financial help. The Dillo Project says it needs to find a corporate sponsor in order to add anti-aliased text, CSS, Javascript, and… internationalization/localization support.

(Click for larger screenshot of Dillo)

Dillo is a very lightweight (about 350 KB) browser supporting a subset of HTML, CGI, SSL, and cookies. Dillo is not really practical for browsing the modern Internet, due to missing support for frames, CSS, Javascript, and other commonly used standards and protocols. It also appears to have only basic HTML error handling capabilities, and to lack robust support for anti-aliased text, something even Linux desktop users have long taken for granted.

Nonetheless, Dillo is extremely fast and lightweight, using less memory in some cases than popular text-based browsers such as lynx. And, since it supports CGI, it could be useful as a framework for simple device interfaces based on Web standards, such as survey kiosks and other closed, “walled garden” applications. Additionally, Dillo is popular with web developers due to excellent HTML error reporting.

Currently, patches appear to be available that add quick-and-dirty anti-aliasing support, as well as some internationalization capabilities. Dillo is expected to gain more robust support for these features after its development team completes a port to FLTK2 (fast light toolkit, aka “fulltick”), a more modern graphics toolkit that supports UTF-8. Currently, dillo is written against GTK1, with GTK2 ruled out due to relatively large system resource requirements.

Founder Jorge Arellano Cid appears adamant that funding be located prior to release of his nearly-complete FLTK port, according to a “save Dillo” campaign page hosted here.

FLTK2-based Dillo (Click to enlarge)

Cid says he was “caught by surprise” by the campaign, but pleased that users wish to save the project. He sent the screenshot at right, which shows an FLTK2 version of Dillo with anti-aliasing. When linked statically to FLTK2, Dillo weighs in at 820KB, he said.

Cid said he will release his nearly completed FLTK2 port if enough interested, qualified developers step forward to take over the project — about six should do it, he says. “I asked in dillo-dev, and there was only one answer from a developer that could put four hours/week, and that had no FLTK2 knowledge nor knowledge of Dillo internals,” he said.

Alternatively, Cid says he will release the FLTK2 port if he finds funding. However, he said, “Given the current situation, the best option seems to be to remain closed until funding happens.”

Other ongoing Dillo development efforts reportedly include CSS support (said to be “70 percent complete” in the FLTK2 version) and JavaScript support, as well as additional internationalization (I18n) and localization (l10n) features.

Additional details about Dillo can be found on Dillo's official funding presentations page. For additional background, be sure to read Cid's 2002 introduction to the browser, here.

The Dillo project previously sought funding in February of 2004, and was successful in obtaining a one-time grant through the Linux Fund.

 
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