Omni Group Considering Switching OmniWeb to Web Kit

From a post to the OmniWeb users mailing list, from OmniWeb product manager Scott Maier:

Beyond 5.1.1 one of the most immediate concerns is updating the engine to make use of the latest updates that Apple has released. At this time we’re investigating two possible avenues:

  1. Sticking with our customized versions of WebCore and JavaScriptCore
  2. Moving OmniWeb on top of WebKit.

Our customized versions of Apple’s frameworks are A Good Thing™ for many reasons, but it means that we’re constantly having to play catch- up as Apple releases new versions of the frameworks. It also means that a lot of work is involved when it comes to supporting new technologies like the scriptability extensions recently added to the Netscape Plug-In API — something we would practically get for free from WebKit.

I think in the long run, switching to Web Kit would be best. As of today, with Safari 1.3 (for 10.3) and 2.0 (for 10.4), OmniWeb’s rendering engine is way behind again. Whereas a Web Kit-based browser like Shiira has the exact same renderer as Safari.

★ Saturday, 30 April 2005