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Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file viewer functionality for file systems (such as local files, files on a remote FTP server and files in a disk image). It forms a core part of the KDE Software Compilation. Developed by volunteers, Konqueror can run on most Unix-like . The KDE community licenses and distributes Konqueror under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later.
The name "Konqueror" references the two primary competitors at the time of the browser's first release: "first comes the Navigator, then Explorer, and then the Konqueror".
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Konqueror first appeared with version 2 of KDE on October 23, 2000. K Desktop Environment - KDE 2.0 Release Announcement It replaced its predecessor, KFM (KDE file manager). With the release of KDE 4 in 2008, the functionalities of web browser and file manager were separated: Dolphin replaced Konqueror as the default KDE file manager, while the KDE community continues to maintain Konqueror as the default KDE web browser.
A complete list is available in the KDE Info Center's Protocols section.
Konqueror's user interface is somewhat reminiscent of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, though it is more customizable. It works extensively with "panels", which can be rearranged or added. For example, one could have an Internet bookmarks panel on the left side of the browser window, and by clicking a bookmark, the respective web page would be viewed in the larger panel to the right. Alternatively, one could display a hierarchical list of folders in one panel and the content of the selected folder in another. Panels are quite flexible and can even include, among other KParts (components), a console window, a text editor, and a media player. Panel configurations can be saved, and there are some default configurations. (For example, "Midnight Commander" displays a screen split into two panels, where each one contains a folder, Web site, or file view.)
Navigation functions (back, forward, history, etc.) are available during all operations. Most keyboard shortcuts can be remapped using a graphical configuration, and navigation can be conducted through an assignment of letters to nodes on the active file by pressing the control key. The address bar has extensive autocompletion support for local directories, past URLs, and past search terms.
While KHTML is the default web-rendering engine, Konqueror is a modular application and other rendering engines are available. In particular, the WebKitPart component using the KHTML-derived WebKit engine has seen a lot of support in the KDE 4 series. However, the KHTML rendering backend contains unique features, such as the ability to save a full archive of any given webpage into a single file with the ".war" extension.
Konqueror integrates several customizable search services which can be accessed by entering the service's abbreviation code (for example, gg: for Google, or wp: for Wikipedia) followed by the search terms. One can add their own search service; for instance, to retrieve English Wikipedia articles, a shortcut may be added with the URL <nowiki></nowiki>.
KHTML's rendering speed is on par with that of competing browsers, but sites with customized JavaScript are often problematic due to KHTML's much smaller Mind share and market-share, resulting in fewer JavaScript features built into the JS engine.
KJS is Konqueror's JavaScript engine that was originally developed by Harri Porten in 2000. On June 13, 2002, Maciej Stachowiak announced on a mailing list that Apple was releasing JavaScriptCore, a framework for Mac OS X that was based on KJS.
Kubuntu's 10.10 Maverick Meerkat release switched the default browser from Konqueror to rekonq, as well as a Firefox installer being added. Kubuntu subsequently switched from rekonq to Firefox, with the release of 14.04 Trusty Tahr.
The user can also open an embedded version of Konsole, via KDE's KParts technology, in which they can directly execute shell commands. In addition to the Konsole KPart, Konqueror can also use a Filelight KPart, to view a radial diagram of the user's filesystem.
Although this functionality has not been removed from Konqueror, as of KDE 4, Dolphin has replaced Konqueror as the default file manager. Dolphin can – like Konqueror – divide each window or tab into multiple panes. Konqueror makes more powerful use of this feature, allowing as many vertically and horizontally divided panes as desired. Each can link to different content or even remote locations, so that Konqueror becomes a powerful graphical tool to manage content on multiple servers all in one window, "dragging and dropping" files between locations.
KParts can also be used to embed certain types of multimedia content into HTML pages; for example, the KMPlayer KPart enables Konqueror to show embedded video on web pages.
Similarly, Konqueror can use KIO plugins (called IOslaves) to access ZIP files and other archives, to process ed2k links (edonkey/emule), or even to browse audio CDs, ("audiocd:/") and ripping them via drag-and-drop. Likewise, the "man:" and "info:" IOslaves can be used to fetch man page and info formatted documentation.
As of June 2019, this project's page on the KDE website has been taken down.
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