Shiira
Encyclopedia
Shiira is an open source
web browser
for the Mac OS X
operating system
. According to its website, the goal of Shiira was "to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari
". Shiira uses WebKit
for rendering
and scripting
.
Shiira Project was led by Makoto Kinoshita. The latest release of Shiira was in August, 2009 (version 2.3). The project has been dormant for more than a year since 2.3, but Kinoshita has announced on November 29, 2010 that development of a new version has restarted.
options so that history and cookies are not recorded when activated. However, the search engines
search field on the toolbar includes many search engines. Shiira also uses Cocoa programming
to provide users with a customizable drawer extending from the left or right of the window. The drawer includes bookmarks, history, downloads, and an RSS
reader. In version 2.0, the sidebar was replaced by a series of palettes opened and closed from the main window toolbar. Shiira natively supports in-browser PDF viewing.
or Metal styles in addition to changing the buttons' appearances. However, in the current 2.0 release, changes in themes are, as yet, not available. Tabs are also customizable. Another option is "Tab Exposé", which acts much like the Exposé
feature of Mac OS X; each tab is visible in its totality, enabling users to select the tab to which they wish to navigate. The 1.x releases of Shiira also have a page-turning effect for transitions between any two webpages; however, this was dropped from 2.x releases. The new interface in Shiira 2.0 can be set to display tabs as thumbnails along the bottom or sides of the window.
on OS X 10.5 and 10.6. The final release for OS X 10.3 was 1.2.2.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
for the Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. According to its website, the goal of Shiira was "to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari
Safari (web browser)
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...
". Shiira uses WebKit
WebKit
WebKit is a layout engine designed to allow web browsers to render web pages. WebKit powers Google Chrome and Apple Safari and by October 2011 held over 33% of the browser market share between them. It is also used as the basis for the experimental browser included with the Amazon Kindle ebook...
for rendering
Rendering (computer graphics)
Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...
and scripting
Scripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
.
Shiira Project was led by Makoto Kinoshita. The latest release of Shiira was in August, 2009 (version 2.3). The project has been dormant for more than a year since 2.3, but Kinoshita has announced on November 29, 2010 that development of a new version has restarted.
Features and performance
Since the browser is being developed with Safari in mind, the main characteristics of the two browsers are similar. For example, Shiira employs private browsingPrivacy mode
Privacy mode, sometimes informally referred to as "porn mode", or "private browsing" is a term that refers to privacy features in some web browsers. Historically speaking, web browsers store information such as browsing history, images, videos and text within cache...
options so that history and cookies are not recorded when activated. However, the search engines
Web search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
search field on the toolbar includes many search engines. Shiira also uses Cocoa programming
Cocoa (API)
Cocoa is Apple's native object-oriented application programming interface for the Mac OS X operating system and—along with the Cocoa Touch extension for gesture recognition and animation—for applications for the iOS operating system, used on Apple devices such as the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and...
to provide users with a customizable drawer extending from the left or right of the window. The drawer includes bookmarks, history, downloads, and an RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
reader. In version 2.0, the sidebar was replaced by a series of palettes opened and closed from the main window toolbar. Shiira natively supports in-browser PDF viewing.
Style
The features of Shiira include appearance options. Users may switch between AquaAqua (user interface)
Aqua is the GUI and primary visual theme of Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. It is based around the theme of water, as its name suggests, with droplet-like elements and liberal use of translucency and reflection effects...
or Metal styles in addition to changing the buttons' appearances. However, in the current 2.0 release, changes in themes are, as yet, not available. Tabs are also customizable. Another option is "Tab Exposé", which acts much like the Exposé
Exposé (Mac OS X)
Exposé is a feature of the Mac OS X operating system. First previewed on 23 June 2003 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a feature of the then forthcoming Mac OS X v10.3, Exposé allows a user to quickly locate an open window, or to hide all windows and show the desktop without the need...
feature of Mac OS X; each tab is visible in its totality, enabling users to select the tab to which they wish to navigate. The 1.x releases of Shiira also have a page-turning effect for transitions between any two webpages; however, this was dropped from 2.x releases. The new interface in Shiira 2.0 can be set to display tabs as thumbnails along the bottom or sides of the window.
Versions
The latest release (version 2.3) requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Shiira 2.3 has not been tested on the latest versions of the OS, and has been reported to be buggySoftware bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
on OS X 10.5 and 10.6. The final release for OS X 10.3 was 1.2.2.
See also
- List of web browsers
- Comparison of web browsersComparison of web browsersThe following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.-Historical web browsers:...
- List of feed aggregators
- Comparison of feed aggregatorsComparison of feed aggregatorsThe following is a comparison of notable RSS feed aggregators. Often e-mail programs and web browsers have the ability to display RSS feeds. They are listed here, too.Many BitTorrent clients support RSS feeds for broadcatching ....