Editing Dillo

{{short description|Minimal, lightweight web browser}}
{{otheruses}}
{{Update|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox Software
| logo                       = Dillo-icon.png
| screenshot                 = Dillo-wiki.png
| caption                    = Dillo 3.1 displaying this Wikipedia article
| collapsible                =
| author                     = Jorge Arellano Cid
| developer                  =
| released                   = {{Start date and age|1999|12}}
| latest release version     = {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q754064|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
| latest release date        = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|Q754064|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}}}
| latest preview version     = {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q754064|P348|P548=Q51930650}}
| latest preview date        = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|Q754064|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}}}
| programming language       = [[C (programming language)|C]] and [[C++]]
| operating system           = {{nowrap|[[Linux]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], [[macOS|OS X]], [[FreeDOS]]}}
| platform                   =
| language                   = English
| genre                      = [[Web browser]]
| license                    = [[GNU General Public License|GPL-3.0-or-later]]
| website                    = https://dillo-browser.github.io/
}}
'''Dillo''' is a minimalistic [[web browser]] particularly intended for older or slower computers and [[embedded system]]s.<ref name="infoworld" /> It supports only plain [[HTML]]/[[XHTML]] (with [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]] rendering) and images over [[HTTP]] and [[HTTPS]]; scripting is ignored entirely.<ref name="infoworld">{{cite web|last=Wayner|first=Peter|title=Top 10 specialty Web browsers you may have missed|url=http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/top-10-specialty-web-browsers-you-may-have-missed-026?page=0,3#dillo|publisher=[[InfoWorld]]|access-date=28 October 2010|page=3|date=19 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7153264029.html|title=Introducing Dillo, a lightweight embeddable browser|author=Arellano Cid, Jorge|publisher=LinuxDevices.com|date=1 July 2002|access-date=14 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309064233/http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7153264029.html|archive-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> Current versions of Dillo can run on [[Linux]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], [[macOS|OS X]], [[IRIX]] and [[Cygwin]].<ref name="compatibility">{{cite web|url=http://www.dillo.org/Compatibility.html|title=Dillo Web Browser :: Compatibility|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]|date=16 November 2008|access-date=13 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824073658/http://www.dillo.org/Compatibility.html|archive-date=24 August 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Due to its small size, it was the browser of choice in several space-conscious [[Linux distribution]]s. Dillo is [[free software]], released under the [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL-3.0-or-later]].<ref name="Home Page">{{cite web|url=http://www.dillo.org/|title=Dillo Web Browser :: Home Page|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]|date=7 December 2008|access-date=12 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070528175406/http://www.dillo.org/|archive-date=28 May 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Chilean software engineer Jorge Arellano Cid conceived the Dillo project in late 1999,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dillo.org/jcid/|title=Personal info for Jorge Arellano Cid|author=Arellano Cid, Jorge|access-date=12 February 2009|archive-date=24 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124224150/http://www.dillo.org/jcid/|url-status=dead}}</ref> publishing the first version of Dillo in December of that year.<ref name="changelog">{{cite web|url=http://hg.dillo.org/dillo/file/tip/ChangeLog|title=dillo:ChangeLog|last=Nieradzik|first=Tim|publisher=Mercurial|date=19 April 2009|access-date=21 April 2009|archive-date=6 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106190905/https://hg.dillo.org/dillo/file/tip/ChangeLog|url-status=dead}}</ref> His primary goal in creating Dillo was to democratize access to information. Arellano Cid believed that no one should have to buy a new computer or pay for broadband in order to enjoy the [[World Wide Web]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.tux.cl/ver_entrevista.php?id=06#s2
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030413045914/http://www.tux.cl/ver_entrevista.php?id=06#s2
|title=Cuál sería el principal uso de Dillo?
|author=Arellano Cid, Jorge
|publisher=tux.cl
|language=es
|date=December 2002
|archive-date=13 April 2003
|access-date=13 February 2009
}} [http://www.dillo.org/interview.html English translation] available.</ref> To this end, he designed Dillo to be small, fast, and efficient, capable of performing well even on an [[Intel 80486]] CPU with a [[dial-up Internet access]].<ref name="infoworld" /><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.tux.cl/ver_entrevista.php?id=06#s1
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030413045914/http://www.tux.cl/ver_entrevista.php?id=06#s1
|title=Básicamente, de que se trata el proyecto Dillo?
|author=Arellano Cid, Jorge
|publisher=tux.cl
|language=es
|date=December 2002
|archive-date=13 April 2003
|access-date=13 February 2009
}} [http://www.dillo.org/interview.html English translation] available.</ref>

==Development==
Dillo was originally written in the [[C (programming language)|C programming language]] with the [[GTK+]] [[Widget toolkit|GUI toolkit]]. The first versions were based on an earlier browser called ''Armadillo'', hence the name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/p/dillo/mailman/message/4410836/|title=Home page (ASCII version)|author=Arellano Cid, Jorge|publisher=[[SourceForge.net]]|date=31 December 1999|access-date=21 April 2009}}</ref>

Dillo 2 was written with both C and [[C++]] components and the [[FLTK|Fast Light Toolkit]] (FLTK),<ref name="changelog"/> and was released on October 14, 2008.<ref name="Home Page"/> Text [[Spatial anti-aliasing|antialiasing]], support for [[Character encoding|character sets]] other than [[ISO/IEC 8859-1|Latin-1]], [[HTTP compression]] capability, and improved page rendering were all added.<ref name="changelog"/> The move to FLTK from GTK+ also removed many of the project's dependencies and reduced Dillo's [[memory footprint]] by 50%.<ref name="Home Page"/>

In 2011, Dillo-3.x was released, now using FLTK-1.3. According to the Changelog, this change was partly driven by the absence of an official FLTK-2 release, which had previously prevented Dillo-2 from being included in lightweight distributions where it would have otherwise been suitable.

Jorge Arellano Cid is still Dillo's lead developer today.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/D_authors.html
|title=Dillo Web Browser :: Project team
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref> Dillo is funded by private donations;<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/donations.html
|title=Dillo Web Browser :: Donations
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|date=14 October 2008
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref> efforts to obtain public grants and corporate sponsors have been unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6109819427.html
 |title       = Embeddable browser project hits milestone release, seeks funding
 |publisher   = LinuxDevices.org
 |date        = 19 February 2004
 |access-date  = 13 February 2009
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090216082242/http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6109819427.html
 |archive-date = 16 February 2009
}}</ref> Lack of funding led to a slowdown in development in 2006, and a complete stop in 2007.<ref name="Home Page"/><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/8years.html
|title=Dillo is eight years old!
|author=Arellano Cid, Jorge
|date=August 2008
|access-date=12 February 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220002512/http://www.dillo.org/8years.html
|archive-date=2012-02-20
}}</ref> The project restarted again in 2008 and two months later received a €115  donation from [[DistroWatch]].<ref name="Home Page"/><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20081201#donation
|title=DistroWatch.com News
|last=Martin
|first=Caitlyn
|work=DistroWatch Weekly
|date=1 December 2008
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref>

==Features==
Features of Dillo include [[Bookmark (World Wide Web)|bookmarks]], [[Tab (GUI)|tabbed browsing]], and support for [[JPEG]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] (including [[Alpha compositing|alpha transparency]]<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/pngapbr.html
|title=PNG-supporting Browsers
|last=Roelofs
|first=Greg
|publisher=[[SourceForge]]
|date=17 May 2008
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref>), and [[GIF]] images.<ref name="Arndt">{{cite web
 |url         = http://linuxgazette.net/issue79/arndt.html
 |title       = Dillo--a Web Browser as Fast as Lightning
 |last        = Arndt
 |first       = Matthias
 |date        = June 2002
 |access-date  = 13 February 2009
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090215090123/http://linuxgazette.net/issue79/arndt.html
 |archive-date = 15 February 2009
}}</ref> Partial support for [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]] was introduced in release 2.1. Settings such as the default fonts, background color, downloads folder, and home page are customizable through configuration files.<ref name="Byfield">{{cite web
|url=http://www.linux.com/feature/151983
|title=Dillo 2.0 is fast, but limited
|last=Byfield
|first=Bruce
|publisher=[[Linux.com]]
|date=5 November 2008
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/dillorc
|title=Sample dillo initialization file
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|access-date=13 February 2009
|archive-date=26 December 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226160220/https://www.dillo.org/dillorc
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> [[HTTP cookie|Cookies]] are supported but disabled by default due to privacy concerns.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/FAQ.html#q8
|title=Q: How do I enable cookies?
|work=Dillo Web Browser :: Frequently Asked Questions
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|date=15 January 2009
|access-date=11 February 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509062517/http://www.dillo.org/FAQ.html#q8
|archive-date=9 May 2008
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> While most web browsers retain the [[web cache]] and history after the program is closed, Dillo automatically clears them to improve both privacy and performance.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/funding/advantages.html
|title=Dillo Web Browser :: Funding Presentation :: Advantages
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref>

[[Image:Dillo's bug meter on www.nasa.gov.png|thumb|right|Dillo's bug meter reports errors Dillo encountered in the web page being viewed]]

A developer tool called the "bug meter" is provided in the lower-right corner. When clicked, it displays information about validation problems, such as unclosed [[HTML element|tags]], that Dillo found in the web page.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/help/bug_meter.html
|title=Dillo Web Browser :: About Dillo's Bug Meter
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref> Unlike most browsers, Dillo does not have a [[quirks mode]] to improve compatibility with web pages that use invalid HTML. Instead, Dillo processes all web pages according to the published [[web standards]].<ref name="strange">{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/FAQ.html#q7
|title=Why do some pages look strange?
|work=Dillo Web Browser :: Frequently Asked Questions
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|date=15 January 2009
|access-date=11 February 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509062517/http://www.dillo.org/FAQ.html#q7
|archive-date=9 May 2008
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

In 2003, two Linux enthusiasts successfully ran Dillo on an [[Intel 80486|Intel 486]] processor and demonstrated that even with such meager hardware, Dillo could render [http://news.bbc.co.uk/ Home - BBC News] in 10–15 seconds.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/486.html
|title=Dam(sic) Small Linux on retro hardware -- 486SX and 486DX2
|publisher=John Andrews
|date=19 October 2003
|access-date=24 May 2009
}}</ref> Furthermore, Dillo can run on a variety of [[Computing platform|software platforms]], including [[Linux]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], [[macOS|Mac OS X]], [[DOS]],<ref>[https://code.google.com/p/nanox-microwindows-nxlib-fltk-for-dos/downloads/list Downloads - nanox-microwindows-nxlib-fltk-for-dos - This project ports the Nano-X, Microwindows, NXlib and FLTK 1.3.0 libraries to the DOS operating system using DJGPP - Google Project Hosting]. Code.google.com. Retrieved on 2013-12-09.</ref> and some [[Mobile device|handheld devices]].<ref name="compatibility" /> However, Dillo's developers have made little effort to make the browser work on [[Microsoft Windows]]. Arellano Cid stated that Windows goes against Dillo's goal of democratization by artificially increasing hardware requirements and software costs.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.tux.cl/ver_entrevista.php?id=06#s8
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030413045914/http://www.tux.cl/ver_entrevista.php?id=06#s8
|title=El hecho de que Dillo este programado en C hace que sea portable a otros sistemas operativos, debería Windows ser su objetivo principal, ya que la "democratización de internet" tendría más impacto debido a la cantidad de usuarios de este s.o.?
|author=Arellano Cid, Jorge
|publisher=tux.cl
|language=es
|date=December 2002
|archive-date=13 April 2003
|access-date=13 February 2009
}} [http://www.dillo.org/interview.html English translation] available.</ref> Nevertheless, Dillo has been reported to work on Windows via [[Cygwin]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.hyperborea.org/software/dillo/cygwin.html
|title=Installing Dillo on Cygwin
|last=Vibber
|first=Kelson
|date=13 October 2008
|access-date=13 February 2009
|archive-date=4 June 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604040758/http://www.hyperborea.org/software/dillo/cygwin.html
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>  Additionally, [http://dillo-win32.sourceforge.net/dillo/ Dillo-Win32] was a project to port Dillo to Windows which is now defunct.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://dillo-win32.sourceforge.net/dillo/status.php
 |title       = Project Status
 |publisher   = Dillo-Win32
 |date        = 5 December 2011
 |access-date  = 1 January 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120315210553/http://dillo-win32.sourceforge.net/dillo/status.php
 |archive-date = 15 March 2012
}}</ref>
D+ browser or Dplus continues where Dillo-Win32 left off, it's forked from the final Dillo-Win32 release (3.0p9) and does not attempt to maintain upstream compatibility with Dillo. Last version is 0.5b (Oct 15, 2013).
<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://dplus-browser.sourceforge.net/
|title=Official D+ Browser page
|access-date=5 December 2013
}}</ref>

Dillo does not support [[JavaScript]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[Adobe Flash|Flash]], [[right-to-left]] text, or [[complex text layout]].<ref name="Arndt"/><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dillo.org/FAQ.html#q1
|title=Q: Internationalization and Localization (i18n & l10n)
|work=Dillo Web Browser :: Frequently Asked Questions
|publisher=[[University of Bremen]]
|date=15 January 2009
|access-date=12 February 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509062517/http://www.dillo.org/FAQ.html#q1
|archive-date=9 May 2008
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> Support for [[Framing (World Wide Web)|frames]] is also very limited; Dillo presents a link to each frame to allow the user to view them one at a time.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/5847
|title=Dillo, the GTK Web Browser
|last=Krause
|first=Ralph
|publisher=[[Linux Journal]]
|date=26 February 2002
|access-date=13 February 2009
}}</ref>

=== Forks ===
The original<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dillo.org/ | title=Dillo Web Browser :: Home Page | archive-date=2022-05-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518060405/https://www.dillo.org/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> domain had expired in June 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dillo.org/|title=Dillo.org|archive-date=2022-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602023156/https://www.dillo.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Developers had lost access to it and a [[Domain drop catching|Wordpress zombie lookalike]] is operating without their oversight ever since.

[https://github.com/w00fpack/dilloNG DilloNG] is a fork hosted on [[GitHub]] which moved the code from [[Mercurial]] while adding new features like a speed dial main page, support for opening videos in an external video player<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/w00fpack/dilloNG?tab=readme-ov-file#browser-features |title=README - w00fpack/dilloNG|website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref> and merged some previously published fixes. It was last updated in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/w00fpack/dilloNG/commits |title=Commits - w00fpack/dilloNG|website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref>

A fork called Dillo-browser<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/dillo-browser/dillo/ |title=Dillo, a multi-platform graphical web browser|website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref> appeared in 2019 forked from the then-current version of DilloNG. It stalled until 2023 when its development resumed and is ongoing as of 2024.

Dillo+ ([https://github.com/crossbowerbt/dillo-plus Dillo-Plus]) started in 2023 based on Dillo 3.0.5 source code found in the OpenBSD 6.8 package.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/crossbowerbt/dillo-plus/commit/b1cfeb1e36c24de76976341e4ed5cfe7634f9e00 |title=Working base from OpenBSD 6.8 pkg, switched from autotools to plain Makefiles|website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref> It had applied numerous patches from DilloNG and added support for rendering [[Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]], [[Gemini (protocol)|Gemini]] and markdown pages, reader mode and extended CSS support.<ref>See [https://github.com/crossbowerbt/dillo-plus/blob/main/src/cssparser.cc] for coverage</ref> A new Python scripting system was introduced with modules for rendering [[RSS]], [[EPUB]], public [[Telegram (software)|Telegram]] channel logs and zip file contents.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://github.com/crossbowerbt/dillo-plus#user-content-dls-scripts | title=Overview | website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref> It is still maintained as of 2024.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/crossbowerbt/dillo-plus/commits |title=Commits - crossbowerbt/dillo-plus|website=[[GitHub]] }}</ref>

==Reception==
Reviews of Dillo have praised its extraordinary speed, but noted that this speed comes at a price.<ref name="Arndt"/><ref name="Kingman">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6922044112.html
 |title       = Lightweight, Linux-compatible browser evolves
 |last        = Kingman
 |first       = Henry
 |publisher   = DesktopLinux.com
 |date        = 16 October 2008
 |access-date  = 13 February 2009
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090214230717/http://desktoplinux.com/news/NS6922044112.html
 |archive-date = 14 February 2009
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.mlug.ca/static/35.htm
|title=Linux Web Surfing - Get Armed with Dillo
|last=Tatham
|first=Paul
|date=15 September 2002
|access-date=13 February 2009
|archive-date=3 March 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171507/http://www.mlug.ca/static/35.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> The most visible cost is Dillo's inability to display complex web pages as they were meant to be. A 2008 review by [[Linux.com]] commented that Dillo's user interface may be "intimidating" for new users, and pointed out the scarcity of [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-ins]] for Dillo.<ref name="Byfield"/> In all, Dillo's global usage share is less than one hundredth of one percent.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0
|title=Browser Market Share
|publisher=Net Applications
|date=January 2009
|access-date=12 February 2009
}}</ref>

Dillo is, however, the browser of choice in several space-conscious [[Linux distribution]]s, such as [[Damn Small Linux]],<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/applications.html
|title=Damn Small Linux, Featured Desktop applications
|publisher=John Andrews
|access-date=11 February 2009
}}</ref> [[Feather Linux]],<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://featherlinux.berlios.de/about.htm
 |title       = Feather Linux - About
 |publisher   = [[BerliOS]]
 |access-date  = 11 February 2009
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090127052745/http://featherlinux.berlios.de/about.htm
 |archive-date = 27 January 2009
}}</ref> [[VectorLinux]],<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9866429696.html
 |title       = Lesser known "mini" Linux runs from RAM
 |publisher   = DesktopLinux.com
 |date        = 25 January 2007
 |access-date  = 13 February 2009
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090215050645/http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9866429696.html
 |archive-date = 15 February 2009
}}</ref> [[antiX]]<ref name="Kingman"/> and Mustang Linux.<ref name="Kingman"/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
* [[Comparison of lightweight web browsers]]
* [[Comparison of web browsers]]
* [[List of web browsers]]
* [[List of web browsers for Unix and Unix-like operating systems]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website}}
* {{Freecode|dillo-web-browser|Dillo}}

{{Lightweight web browsers}}
{{Web browsers|desktop}}

[[Category:POSIX web browsers]]
[[Category:MacOS web browsers]]
[[Category:Web browsers for DOS]]
[[Category:Free web browsers]]
[[Category:Embedded Linux]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C]]
[[Category:Cross-platform free software]]
[[Category:RISC OS web browsers]]
[[Category:Software that uses FLTK]]
[[Category:1999 software]]