Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I like Seamonkey. I admit it. I know it's not the latest style, prettiest, or even most versatile browser. It's in fact ancient, dating back to Netscape. There's nothing flashy about it. Nevertheless........

The first thing I do when trying out a new Puppy, and after getting connected, is to type in the search field in whatever browser is supplied, "Seamonkey download".

This brings up Seamonkey's Mozilla page. I click on the Seamonkey download button and get the latest version. This I unpack into the /opt folder. (btw. I usually relocate my /opt folder to /mnt/home and link it back to /root if I'm using a Puppy savefile).

I then make Seamonkey my default browser by going to Menu>Setup>Set default apps and click "All". Then I choose the "Web Browser" entry and type in /opt/seamonkey/seamonkey.

Next I make Seamonkey my default email client. I choose the "Mail" entry and type in /opt/seamonkey/seamonkey -mail

I close the default app chooser and test out the browse icon on the desktop. It opens seamonkey browser.

In Seamonkey I hit Edit>Preferences>Browser and select "Restore Previous Session" and "only restore tabs when I need them" and for the field under "clicking the home button" I type in "https://www.startpage.com".

Then I go to Browser>Internet Search and I make Startpage the default Search Engine. Then I close Preferences for now and do a web search for "Noscript download"

This opens NoScript's addon page and I drop down that page until I get to "Deprecated, obsolete and unsupported "Classic" versions" and download Noscipt Classic 5.1.9, which is highlighted in the first sentence there. I add that to seamonkey answering yes to its questions about the addon.

Then I breathe a sigh of relief. I have my favorite browser, mail program, html editor, and search engine, and I am now in control of what it does and does not do. Yes I make several more smaller changes to its privacy and security and appearance preferences, and I add email accounts, and set a master password, but this is the main installation I've accomplished.

re. Noscript, while browsing I usually allow specific scripts on specific websites only temporarily. You rather quickly learn the minimum number of scripts to allow to get what you want from any site. (Youtube for example, needs the youtube and googlevideo scripts only to run a video.)

Why do I like seamonkey so much? Well mainly because it is very plain, and very straightforward, and particularly so to work these settings and preferences. Settings are arranged in a simple straightforward tabbed list style with clear understandable labels. and they are very compact.

They are to me a big contrast to Firefox's settings which require lots of clicking and scrolling through multi-page long lists with functions that are arranged in no particular order.
Little is as it seems in Firefox, and navigating the settings is intentionally convoluted. That's because there is obfuscation about the actual results of user choices. Many default settings are couched in the language of "safety" and "privacy" that largely result in steering as much information about a user's browsing activity as possible to its servers and Google's. You really have to know where to go, how to read between the lines, and how to alter settings to reduce heavy levels of user surveillance in Firefox, and many other browsers these days.

I like the fact that Seamonkey presents granular options by contrast with Firefox's pre-digesting choices into a limited number of functional profiles. Seamonkey's settings are more visible, flexible, and controllable for my purposes.

Do I use Firefox? Yes. Is Seamonkey usable everywhere on the Net? NO. Unfortunately. I use Firefox when I have to, and that typically occurs with DRM content sites, and recent sites that now reject alternative browsers. Some of those tell me my browser is "unsupported or out of date" And advise getting one of the "supported" browsers. In those cases I look for alternatives elsewhere, effectively boycotting those sites. Who wants to visit a site that doesn't work? I like to make my own choices rather than be directed by others. I think of them as just functionally crippled sites, rather than advancements in the web that I want to participate in.

Some of those tell me my browser is "unsupported or out of date" And advise getting one of the "supported" browsers. In those cases I look for alternatives elsewhere, effectively boycotting those sites. Who wants to visit a site that doesn't work? I like to make my own choices rather than be directed by others. I think of them as just functionally crippled sites, rather than advancements in the web that I want to participate in.

I agree with not patronizing sites that only work exclusivily with some browsers. It used to be fairly common to be notified with the "unsupported browser" notice, but not so much any more. When this happens, one question that goes thru my mind is "Do the site Devs break things intentionally when they make upgrades?" Maybe the development tools they work with are very opaque about compatibility and are possibly supplied by the corporate interests that want to control rather than conform.

As an email client, I find Seamonkey one of the best.

seamonkey -edit is also a wonderful wysiwyg html editor.
I have used it for many years.

Seamonkey fills a couple gaps other browsers ignore (like its Composer editor, as @Trapster notes). There aren't many wysiwyg html editors around that are not specifically focused on html coders.

Also, it's really useful to have several different browsers installed. There are those cases where a browser doesn't work with a particular website, and to have another on tap to help diagnose the problem is very useful.

I sure hope Seamonkey remains available, but I have to wonder, given all the competition in the browser space these days. Long live the monkey!