guideXOS Navigator Browser
Purpose: describe what the current browser stack can do today, and where it is still intentionally limited.
Navigator is real, not just a placeholder
The repo contains a substantial navigator.cpp implementation plus HTTP and HTML parsing helpers. Built-in app metadata marks
guideXOS Navigator as available in both hosted and bare-metal paths, and hosted smoke diagnostics in server.cpp
exercise Navigator behavior in detail.
Current status: functional browser work with clear hosted validation. Known gaps: HTTPS, JavaScript, and full parity across environments remain outside the current milestone. Back to /Wiki/Server
guideXOS Navigator in the current hosted desktop environment.
Capabilities visible in current source
| Capability | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| HTTP text document fetching | Implemented | guide_web_http.h exposes plain http:// GET/POST support for text documents. |
| URL parsing and relative link resolution | Implemented | HTTP URL parsing and forgiving relative-link resolution are explicit in the code. |
| HTML subset parsing | Implemented | Parser supports headings, paragraphs, links, lists, pre/code, forms-lite controls, images, and embedded style blocks. |
| Forms-lite | Partial | Hosted smoke diagnostics explicitly mention GET forms and hosted POST behavior, while also documenting bare-metal POST as unsupported. |
| Bookmarks and find-in-page | Implemented | Hosted smoke diagnostics call both out as active capabilities. |
| Remote images and local PNG support | Partial | Navigator source and hosted smoke diagnostics show image handling work, but with explicit limits and safety caps. |
| TLS / HTTPS | Planned | The HTTP module explicitly says it only supports plain HTTP in the current milestone. |
| JavaScript, cookies, compression, caching | Planned / Out of scope | These are explicitly outside the current milestone in the HTTP layer comments. |
Hosted path
Best-evidenced mode today. Hosted diagnostics in server.cpp explicitly test Navigator window creation, toolbar widgets, HTTP, file pages, CSS-lite, forms-lite, and link behavior.
Bare-metal path
Navigator is registered as available in bare-metal metadata and kernel app registration, but detailed parity with hosted behavior should still be treated carefully.
Partial