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Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

cobalt.dev

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Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#31

Post by The_Colonel »

c-smile wrote: post #9
hungryforcodes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would understand your argument if you were talking about more constrained systems, but RPIs have GOBS of storage and memory. A 45mb executable vs 7mb executable is totally negligible.

It is not about binary size per se, but of features/binary ratio. Can Cobalt run, say, ChartJS as it is ( https://sciter.com/chartjs-in-sciter/ )? Seems like not as I do not see in the list of its supported elements.

Well, does Sciter support CSS Flexbox? It doesn't ...

Features which the project actually needs will be decisive.

Does the project need Canvas? Sciter is the better choice.

Does the project need CSS Flexbox? Cobalt will be a better fit.

The binary size may play a role if all else is equal ...

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#32

Post by c-smile »

The_Colonel wrote: post #31
c-smile wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not about binary size per se, but of features/binary ratio. Can Cobalt run, say, ChartJS as it is ( https://sciter.com/chartjs-in-sciter/ )? Seems like not as I do not see in the list of its supported elements.

Well, does Sciter support CSS Flexbox? It doesn't ... Features which the project actually needs will be decisive. Does the project need Canvas? Sciter is the better choice. Does the project need CSS Flexbox? Cobalt will be a better fit. The binary size may play a role if all else is equal ...

Sciter supports flex units but not flexbox. Flex units (and grid layouts) are in Sciter since 2007, ~10 years before browsers got them. Flexibility is the must for desktop UIs so it was in the engine from the very beginning.

Sciter's flex units + CSS flow property is a superset of flexbox and grid features. For example paddings, margins, border widths, left|right|top|bottom can be expressed in flex units.

Everything that can be defined by flexbox can be expressed by flex units / flow:

https://terrainformatica.com/w3/flex-layout/flex-vs-flexbox....

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#34

Post by The_Colonel »

c-smile wrote: post #32
The_Colonel wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, does Sciter support CSS Flexbox? It doesn't ... Features which the project actually needs will be decisive. Does the project need Canvas? Sciter is the better choice. Does the project need CSS Flexbox? Cobalt will be a better fit. The binary size may play a role if all else is equal ...

Sciter supports flex units but not flexbox. Flex units (and grid layouts) are in Sciter since 2007, ~10 years before browsers got them. Flexibility is the must for desktop UIs so it was in the engine from the very beginning. Sciter's flex units + CSS flow property is a superset of flexbox and grid features. For example paddings, margins, border widths, left|right|top|bottom can be expressed in flex units. Everything…

Sciter does not support CSS Flexbox. It supports a more or less equivalent, but incompatible feature.

That's a critical distinction when you want to run the same codebase as you have on the web.

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#35

Post by kaveet »

sandGorgon wrote: post #29
zackees wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I worked on this project for three years. This is exactly what it is. It’s also much more stable than chrome.

strange question...but if you were to create a new mobile browser for android (with some custom features), would you recommend Chromium or Cobalt ?

Cobalt isn't a great fit for general-purpose web browsing because it only supports a subset of HTML--lots of websites would appear broken. It's really meant for webapps you've designed with Cobalt in mind.

Check out the supported features:

https://cobalt.dev/development/reference/supported-features....

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#36

Post by [deleted] »

The_Colonel wrote: post #34
c-smile wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sciter supports flex units but not flexbox. Flex units (and grid layouts) are in Sciter since 2007, ~10 years before browsers got them. Flexibility is the must for desktop UIs so it was in the engine from the very beginning. Sciter's flex units + CSS flow property is a superset of flexbox and grid features. For example paddings, margins, border widths, left|right|top|bottom can be expressed in flex units. Everything…

Sciter does not support CSS Flexbox. It supports a more or less equivalent, but incompatible feature. That's a critical distinction when you want to run the same codebase as you have on the web.

[deleted]

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#37

Post by scrollaway »

kaveet wrote: post #35
sandGorgon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

strange question...but if you were to create a new mobile browser for android (with some custom features), would you recommend Chromium or Cobalt ?

Cobalt isn't a great fit for general-purpose web browsing because it only supports a subset of HTML--lots of websites would appear broken. It's really meant for webapps you've designed with Cobalt in mind. Check out the supported features: https://cobalt.dev/development/reference/supported-features....

That… sounds absolutely amazing. Very specific purpose yes but wow, the amount of times I've needed a stripped down HTML engine that doesn't suck.

I suspect this could make an excellent renderer for an app doing markdown previews, CHM files, ebooks and such for example.

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#38

Post by zackees »

sandGorgon wrote: post #29
zackees wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I worked on this project for three years. This is exactly what it is. It’s also much more stable than chrome.

strange question...but if you were to create a new mobile browser for android (with some custom features), would you recommend Chromium or Cobalt ?

Chromium. Cobalt doesn't work for the majority of websites.

Websites kind of have to be built specifically for Cobalt to work well.

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#39

Post by esprehn »

I think cobalt has about as much in common with chromium as chromium does with khtml these days. There's some vague shared lineage but it's entirely its own project now with different algorithms and approaches to implementing web standards.

It's a pretty cool project, and the source is a fun way to learn about web standards (same with reading Ladybird browser code). The major browsers are so complex they're not as approachable.

Re: Cobalt – a stripped down Chromium for apps, Linux and embedded systems

#40

Post by jeffbee »

unwiredben wrote: post #15

Cobalt is the primary engine that's used for running YouTube and YouTube TV on set-top boxes and smart TVs. If you notice that it looks the same on a Roku device or a Fire TV stick or a Samsung TV, that's because all of those are running a port of Cobalt and a special version of the YouTube website.

Interesting! I wonder if this is why the YouTube webOS app is 55MB while something like Hulu is 220KB. I believe the latter is just HTML that targets the webOS browser.

The YouTube app is the only one, along with Netflix, that is smooth and usable on this platform. Amazon Prime video is a jankfest (and their app is 100MB) and Apple TV+ is a slideshow.

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