View source for Galeon

{{Short description|Discontinued web browser}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{CS1 config|mode=cs2}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2023}}
{{Other uses|Galeon (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = Galeon
| logo                   = Galeon logo.png
| logo size              = 48px
| screenshot             = Galeon screenshot ubuntu.png
| screenshot_alt         = Screenshot of Galeon
| caption                = Galeon 2.0.4
| author                 = Marco Pesenti Gritti
| developer              = Philip Langdale<br />Tommi Komulainen<br />Ricardo Fernández Pascual<br />Yanko Kaneti<br />Crispin Flowerday{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}}
| released               = {{start date and age|2000|6}}
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system       = [[Unix-like]] operating systems
| language               =
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q174613|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
| latest release date    = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|Q174613|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}}}
| discontinued           = yes
| genre                  = [[Web browser]]
| license                = [[GNU General Public License]]
| website                = {{URL|https://galeon.sourceforge.net/}}
}}

'''Galeon''' is a discontinued [[Gecko (software)|Gecko]]-based [[web browser]] that was created by Marco Pesenti Gritti with the goal of delivering a consistent browsing experience to [[GNOME]] desktop environment. It gained some popularity in the early 2000s due to its speed, flexibility in configuration and features.

The disagreement over the future of Galeon split the development team in 2002, which resulted in the departure of the browser's initial author and several other developers. This event marked the beginning of the browser's popularity decline, which led to its discontinuation in September 2008. Some of Galeon's features were subsequently ported to Epiphany (now called [[GNOME Web|Web]]) – the descendant of Galeon.

== Features ==
Galeon made use of Gecko's features including configuration options and standards support. Apart from that, Galeon had several features that were uncommon in browsers at that time:<ref name="galeon-glance" /><ref name="galeon-history" /><ref name="extraprefs-file" />
*mouse [[Gesture recognition|gestures]]
*configurable [[user agent]] string
*configurable display of [[favicon]]s
*customizable [[toolbar]]s
*configurable position of [[tab (GUI)|tab bar]]
*[[Smart Bookmarks|smart bookmarks]] with search history
*ability to specify own fonts and colors for web content
*configurable [[MIME]] types handler
*configurable history expiry
*[[page zooming]]

== Development history ==
The project was started by Marco Pesenti Gritti with the goal of creating a web browser that would be fast and consistent with the [[GNOME]] desktop environment. The first public version (Galeon 0.6) was released in June 2000.<ref name="galeon-history" />

=== On the rise ===
The first releases of Galeon were criticised for lack of such basic features as [[HTTP cookie|cookie]] and [[HTTP proxy|proxy]] support,<ref name="looking-at-the-galeon" /> though the browser added some features with every release.{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}} Version 1.2 of Galeon introduced many new features that drew attention of the general public.<ref name="galeon-history" />{{Failed verification|date=September 2014}}

At the time of Galeon's creation, the most popular [[Linux]] browsers, including [[Netscape (web browser)|Netscape]] and [[Mozilla Application Suite|Mozilla]], were large multi-functional programs. This made them slow to start and often impractical due to their high memory usage and processor requirements.<ref name="lt-valliere-review" /> [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] was somewhat faster, but it was [[proprietary software]] distributed in [[trialware]] and [[adware]] versions, both of which lacked some of the functionality of the [[Microsoft Windows]] version.<ref name="opera-linux-ml" /><ref name="re-opera-linux-ml" />

Galeon was widely seen as one of the best Linux browsers available.<ref name="lt-valliere-review" /><ref name="browser-comparison" /> The polls revealed the substantial usage share of Galeon,<ref name="osnews-gecko-poll" /> though its popularity was regarded as owing to lack of stability evident in [[Mozilla]]'s browsers.<ref name="firefox-won-me" />{{Failed verification|date=September 2014}}

=== Split of the development team ===
{{Main|GNOME Web}}
With the release of new version of the [[GTK+]] widget toolkit, which was used to construct the user interface of Galeon, the team decided to write a new version of Galeon from scratch. At the same time the GNOME project has adopted its new [[human interface guidelines]], which promoted simplicity and uniform design.<ref name="ghig" /> The Galeon team had differing opinions on the new guidelines. The author and lead developer, Marco Pesenti Gritti, endorsed them and saw the rewrite as an opportunity to make Galeon simpler. Many other developers believed that reducing the number of preferences and simplifying the user interface would harm the project.<ref name="galeon-history" /><ref name="FSM" />

In November 2002,<ref name="galeon-history" /> as the result of several discussions on the topic Gritti made the decision to cease his work in Galeon and [[Fork (software development)|fork]] the project and started development of a HIG-compliant web browser he called ''Epiphany'' (now known as [[GNOME Web|Web]]).<ref name="FSM" /><ref name="mozillazine-epiphany-fork" />

=== After the split ===
As Gritti no longer controlled the development of Galeon, the previous functionality was restored in subsequent releases and some new features were added,<ref name="interview" /> though development got slow after the split.<ref name="galeon-history" /> At the same time the rising popularity of Firefox, its status of the default browser in major distribution and the overwhelming number of [[List of Firefox extensions|its extensions]] led to decline of Galeon's user base.<ref name="firefox-won-me" /><ref name="FSM" />

Eventually the Galeon developers announced plans to halt development of Galeon, saying "the current approach is unsustainable" regarding the resources required to maintain it. Instead, they planned to develop a set of extensions for Epiphany to provide similar functionality.<ref name="FSM" /><ref name="future-of-galeon" />

===Persistence===
Even after development ceased in September 2008, the browser remained popular and in December 2011 was still available in some [[Linux distribution]]'s repositories, such as [[Debian version history|Debian 6 Squeeze]],<ref name="Debian6packages" /> although it was not part of [[Debian version history|Debian 7 Wheezy]].<ref name="Debian7packages" />

== Reception ==
Galeon was praised for its customizability and speed, as compared to [[Netscape Navigator]] and [[Firefox]], though [[Konqueror]] and [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] were still faster on older hardware.<ref name="galeon-glance" /><ref name="looking-at-the-galeon" /><ref name="lt-valliere-review" /><ref name="geeky-fun" /> Galeon was noted for its session handling and crash recovery.<ref name="lt-valliere-review" />

In November 2002, [[OSNews]] conducted a poll to determine the most popular [[Gecko (layout engine)|Gecko]]-based browser, which included several browsers for [[Microsoft Windows]], [[Mac OS X]] and [[Linux]], but didn't include [[Netscape Navigator]] and [[Mozilla Suite]]. The Linux-only Galeon was the second most popular, after cross-platform Firefox, at that time known as [[History of Firefox#Naming|Phoenix]].<ref name="osnews-gecko-poll" />

Critics noted Galeon's tricky plugin installation.<ref name="galeon-glance" />

== See also ==
* {{Portal-inline|Free and open-source software}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="browser-comparison">{{citation |title=Browser Comparison |url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/5413 |journal=[[Linux Journal]] |issue=95 |date=March 2000 |first=Ralph |last=Krause |access-date=November 17, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="Debian6packages">{{citation |url=http://packages.debian.org/oldstable/galeon |title=Package: galeon (2.0.7-2.1 and others) |access-date=December 27, 2011 |last = [[Debian]]|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140916124457/https://packages.debian.org/oldstable/galeon |archive-date=September 16, 2014 }}</ref>
<ref name="Debian7packages">{{citation |url=http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/allpackages?format=txt.gz |title=All Debian Packages in "wheezy" |access-date=December 29, 2011 |last=[[Debian]] }}</ref>
<ref name="extraprefs-file">{{citation|title=''README.ExtraPrefs'' file |url=http://git.gnome.org/browse/galeon/tree/README.ExtraPrefs |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130503040009/http://git.gnome.org/browse/galeon/tree/README.ExtraPrefs |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 3, 2013 |publisher=The [[GNOME]] [[git (software)|git repository]] |access-date=November 16, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="firefox-won-me">{{citation |title=Firefox 0.8 is the release that won me over |url=http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/2000/index.html |first=Dave |last=Whitinger |publisher=LXer |date=February 9, 2004 |access-date=November 16, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="FSM">{{citation |title=Epiphany, the ultimate Gnome browser |url=http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/books/ubuntu_applications/epiphany |first=Andrew |last=Min |publisher=[[Free Software Magazine]] |work=The Ubuntu Applications book (under construction) |access-date=November 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031231829/http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/books/ubuntu_applications/epiphany |archive-date=October 31, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
<ref name="future-of-galeon">{{citation|title=The future of Galeon |url=http://gnomedesktop.org/node/2450 |first=Philip |last=Langdale |date=October 22, 2005 |access-date=November 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927012644/http://gnomedesktop.org/node/2450 |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="galeon-glance">{{citation |title=Galeon at a glance |url=http://www.freeos.com/articles/4163/ |publisher=FreeOS.com |date=June 15, 2001 |access-date=November 16, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="galeon-history">{{citation |title=Galeon History |url=https://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php |first=Chris |last=DeRosia |date=July 29, 2003 |access-date=November 15, 2011 |archive-date=October 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014019/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/history.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="geeky-fun">{{citation|title=GEEKY FUN: Galeon Web Browser |url=http://everyjoe.com/technology/geeky-fun-galeon-web-browser/ |author=Jon |date=October 16, 2005 |access-date=November 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308050013/http://everyjoe.com/technology/geeky-fun-galeon-web-browser/ |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |df=mdy }}</ref>
<ref name="ghig">{{citation |title=GNOME Human Interface Guidelines |url=http://interface.free.fr/Archives/hig-gnome-1.0.pdf |edition=1.0 |first1=Calum |last1=Benson |first2=Adam |last2=Elman |first3=Seth |last3=Nickell |first4=Colin Z. |last4=Robertson |name-list-style=amp |year=2002 |publisher=The GNOME Usability Project |access-date=April 3, 2012 }}</ref>
<ref name="interview">{{citation |title=Galeon Developer Interview |url=https://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/interview_2003-07.php |author=Topher The Web Guy |date=July 26, 2003 |access-date=November 16, 2011 |archive-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113011111/http://galeon.sourceforge.net/links/interview_2003-07.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="looking-at-the-galeon">{{citation |title=Looking at the Galeon |url=http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/previews/2080/2 |first=Michael |last=Hall |publisher=[[Linux Planet]] |date=July 18, 2000 |access-date=November 16, 2011 |archive-date=4 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404071827/http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/previews/2080/2 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="lt-valliere-review">{{citation |url=http://linuxtoday.com/developer/2002050900226RVDTSW |title=Valliere: 2002 Linux Browser Review |first=Rob |last=Valliere |publisher=Linux Today |date=May 9, 2002 |archive-date=February 11, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050211150219/http://linuxtoday.com/developer/2002050900226RVDTSW }}</ref>
<ref name="mozillazine-epiphany-fork">{{citation |title=Former Galeon Maintainer Starts New Epiphany Browser Project |url=http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=2916 |date=February 19, 2003 |access-date=November 16, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="opera-linux-ml">{{citation|url=http://list.opera.com/pipermail/opera-linux/2001-May/000625.html |title=&#91;Opera-linux&#93; The road ahead: features in linux vs. ms win client |first=Håvard |last=Dahle |work=opera-linux mailing list |date=May 29, 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415045451/http://list.opera.com/pipermail/opera-linux/2001-May/000625.html |archive-date=April 15, 2012 |df=mdy }}</ref>
<ref name="osnews-gecko-poll">{{citation |title=Poll: Vote for the Best Mozilla/Gecko-based Browser |url=http://www.osnews.com/story/2054 |first=Eugenia |last=Loli-Queru |publisher=[[OSNews]] |date=November 1, 2002 |access-date=November 16, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="re-opera-linux-ml">{{citation|url=http://list.opera.com/pipermail/opera-linux/2001-May/000637.html |title=&#91;Opera-linux&#93; The road ahead: features in linux vs. ms win client |author=aaron |work=opera-linux mailing list |date=May 29, 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415045500/http://list.opera.com/pipermail/opera-linux/2001-May/000637.html |archive-date=April 15, 2012 |df=mdy }}</ref>

<!-- Not in use
<ref name="sourceforge-releases">{{citation |title=Galeon Downloads |url=https://sourceforge.net/projects/galeon/files/galeon%202.x/ |publisher=[[SourceForge]] |access-date=November 15, 2011 }}</ref>
Not in use-->

}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Timeline of web browsers|2000s}}
{{Web browsers|desktop}}

[[Category:2000 software]]
[[Category:Discontinued web browsers]]
[[Category:Free web browsers]]
[[Category:Gecko-based software]]
[[Category:GNOME Applications]]
[[Category:Web browsers that use GTK]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C]]
[[Category:Gopher clients]]
[[Category:MacOS web browsers]]
[[Category:POSIX web browsers]]