Firefox extension: Open With Konqueror

Update 2010-03-29: This plugin is deprecated. I’ll leave it here for download, but you should use Open With instead.

I am fed up with the increasing obsolescence of Konqueror. It simply fails to deal with much of the Ajax bling and javascript doodads that are all over the web now. Facebook is nearly unusable, Slashdot has unusual formatting errors, and banking sites fail in odd ways. Compatibility changes daily as web developers tweak their javascript and CSS. Last month I switched back to Firefox.

Still there are times when I’m viewing a site in Firefox and want to switch to Konqueror. Konqueror has an easy “Open With” submenu, but no such thing exists for Firefox. Instead, everybody has written their own Firefox extension to support their personal choice of browser. Often with platform-specific requirements. And now I have too!

Behold, Open With Konqueror!

You’ll have to approve installations from my site to proceed. If you are the type of person that uses KDE, chances are you already know how to do that. I have also submitted it to addons.mozilla.org.

Credits: I copied this extension from IE View Lite by Grayson Mixon. I modified it in the following ways:

  • Replace all references to IE with Konqueror in dialogs, variable, and extension names
  • Include Konqueror icons from the Crystal SVG set in resolutions of 16×16 and 32×32
  • Change the path of the browser to use to “/usr/bin/konqueror”, the default in Kubuntu

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  1. Mark’s avatar

    Hi, I am using your extension and it is something I really missed. I have some suggestions: Make it optional to install this in the right-click-menue, for me this would be the best. I had to manually add the button in the menu bar. This should either be offered as a standard or also be part of the settings menu. For KDE4 (which starts to become usable) the new Konqueror Icon should be used. It would be really great to see this extension become a standard of Kubuntu, meaning if some installs Firefox in Kubuntu, this extensions should be installed automatically.

    Reply

  2. tyler’s avatar

    Mark,

    Thanks for the feedback. I’m not really developing this extension; I just gutted IE View and made it load Konqueror. I have no intention of diverging the source base, as that would mean I’d have to handle real debugging and development. My personal itch – to load Konq from a right-click – has been scratched. However, I plan to move to KDE 4 with Kubuntu 9.04, so I’ll probably use the latest IE View and use updated Crystal icons at that time. So if you want the optional context menu, I suggest you ask the IE View developer for it.

    Reply

  3. tyler’s avatar

    Also Mark, thanks for the review on addons.mozilla.org!

    Reply

  4. Mark’s avatar

    BTW: May be an improvement which can be done here:

    use: /usr/bin/kfmclient
    and
    parameter: newTab

    This will let open the link in a new tab in konqueror instead of opening a new window

    Reply

  5. tyler’s avatar

    That is indeed a handy setting. Thanks, Mark!

    Reply

  6. Dread Knight’s avatar

    Fed up with the shitty konqueror as well.
    No place for konqueror in kde4/kubuntu anymore by default since we’re using Dolphin as well to get the file management done, now we need a proper qt/kde browser as well to get the job done.
    Kill it with fire already! Go Arora and webkit! (and even rekonq…)

    Reply

  7. Peter’s avatar

    Hi, thanks for the (adaption of the) plugin! I’d love to use Konqueror only, but working sites with it have become the rare exception, unfortunately. So I need this plugin.

    I think it is sad how useless Konqueror has become obviously. My wife and I have switched to Firefox too since now it’s just too many websites that simply don’t work with Konqi. But they work with Firefox.

    I recall the good times when I was happy with Konqueror back in 2004, when the only thing that bothered me a little was that the default font was a lot smaller than in other browser (especially compared to Windows). I loved the integrated nature, Konqueror just did *everything*: browsing directories, archives, well also web sites, opening files, sftp URLs, etc. Also, I could configure Konqueror as a two-panel file manager, just a good old Norton Commander. Dolphin has never convinced me since it came along. And it probably helped Konqi start dying.

    Still hoping Konqueror won’t die! ***** I’m keeping my fingers crossed!! ******

    Reply

  8. tyler’s avatar

    Peter,

    I share your feelings. I miss the perfect KDE integration of Konqueror, but it seems like development of KHTML just evaporated. I have hopes that Webkit will replace it, but I think I’d prefer to see Firefox with KDE integration. Let those that do things well, do them. There is enough work to be done on KDE without reinventing this particular wheel.

    Reply

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