I like using KDE, however, the browser (Konqueror) has serious problems on those few, most important sites which I must visit daily. I have JAVA and Flash installed, which work fine, but many sites appear with odd artifacts.

Is there some way to fix the browser so that it can load these sites correctly? Can I install an alternative HTML layout engine? Is this only a problem on Debian's KDE? Should I try another distribution?

KDE 3.5.9
Konqueror 3.5.9
Debian 5.0

That's a pretty stable (read old) version of kde.

I suggest you install firefox or opera for your web-browsing needs.

Regards Glenn

1 members found this post helpful.

First update everything. As root aptitude update; aptitude dist-upgrade

Second add the backports.org repo and update or install Iceweasel.
http://www.backports.org/dokuwiki/do...d=instructions


You might even consider upgrading to Testing/Squeeze with kde4, there you can add the webkit backend to Konqueror.

Debian... then you need iceweasel or Iceape. Or firefox. Seamonkey won't compile.

Firefox, Chromium, Midori, etc.

Opera is another choice if you don't care about the fact that it's proprietary.

But won't that leave him with KDE4.x ? He might NOT like that, especially if he has older hardware, or values stability.

My KDE is 3.5.10, it is very stable, and does everything I need.

General, just install firefox is my advice.

No, not if he only has Stable/Lenny in his sources.list

The only way he would upgrade to kde4 would be if he had testing in his sources.list.

Firefox would be my first choice as well. But iceweasel is in the Debian repos, so when trying to help I try to stick with whats in the repos.

Good, thanks for the clarification.
Looks like iceweasel should be his first choice of "other browser".

1 members found this post helpful.

Of course to really address the OP, problems with websites rendering is generally the fault of the web designers, rather than the browser. Many of them will only test their pages with a few of the most common browsers. And of course they all just love the flashy javascript gimmicks and .css doo-dads and complex layouts that make the rendering engine work as hard as it can to process.

So changing browsers (or more accurately rendering engines), might fix a few sites, but it might also break others. There's no single browser that can handle all the bad web coding out there. No matter what you use, there will be pages that don't render properly. It's just the nature of the net.

If you can, you might consider contacting the webmasters of the sites in question and inform them of your problems. If they're smart, they should appreciate the input and work to make things work better.

1 members found this post helpful.

I've contacted the site's owner, so we'll see.

Yes, I have rather old hardware and stability is very important. I can't have things crashing while I'm working. I'm willing to use KDE 4, but I don't know if it is suitable for old hardware or if it is stable.

I found QT-based applications run much faster on my computer. OpenOffice.org-KDE has great improvements over OpenOffice.org-GNOME. I think I'll use Opera.

I just find it odd that KDE is such a widely adopted desktop, yet I can't get such a basic thing as a KDE-integrated browser that works on common Web sites. KDE 3.5.9 was released in 2008, that doesn't seem so old to me as to lack this functionality.

Konqueror has never been the best browser, even with the webkit addition in kde4 it is still slower than other browsers and has rendering issues.

2008 is ancient in terms of Open Source software development. Debian Lenny is over 2 yrs old, Squeeze the current testing will be frozen in August and hopefully released as the new stable by the end of the year. After Squeeze is release Lenny will be supported for 1 yr.

If you choose to use Opera make sure you say yes when it asks if you want to get updates, that way it adds the Opera repo to your sources.list.

You might also try midori or arora both are QT webkit browsers.

Midori2.6 is easy to compile see http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=53084

Konqueror has a very valuable feature: a cloaking device (vielleicht ein Tarn Helm). Konqueror can be set to reply at any site as any othe browser. For some site you just NEED to report back that you are an Internet Exploder...

Example: http://www.bertlanser.nl/ This is a guy that (tries to) sells motorcycles, but locks out most Linux users... The Konqueror can be programned to penetrate his crashwall... Also some online PCB CAD sites ave similar options.

2 members found this post helpful.

Great tip fruttenboel!

That example was true.

Regards Glenn

1 members found this post helpful.

Yeah, he had a nice Beemer for sale. He still got it...

For minimal change and maximum effect, I'd upgrade to kde3.5.10. It's also stable.

You may find a debian repo for the kde system only.

From source....
ftp://kde.c3sl.ufpr.br/kde/stable/3.5.10/src/

Cheers Glenn