# The &privacybrowser; Handbook

## Introduction

&privacybrowser; is currently in an early alpha state. Most of the features are not yet implemented, but I thought it would be useful to publish it so that users can track the progress and submit feedback.

To distinguish between the Android and the PC version, the website, issue tracker, and code base refer to this version as Privacy Browser PC.

The best place to discuss the development of Privacy Browser is on the forum. I also frequently post on my Mastodon account regarding the development status.

### Qt WebEngine

Privacy Browser uses Qt WebEngine to render websites. Qt WebEngine is based on the Chromium Blink source code. Because Privacy Browser is built on the KDE Framework, it currently uses the Qt 5 packages.

The current Qt 5 packages are in long-term support mode. From a feature perspective, Qt WebEngine 5.15.x is based on Chromium 87.0.4280.144. Security fixes are backported every few months with each release.

### Bugs and Missing Features

There is a list of feature requests and known bugs at redmine.stoutner.com. Users should anticipate that all the current features of Privacy Browser Android will also be implemented in Privacy Browser PC. There is no need at this point to create features requests for these as they will be added as I start working on each feature and have a better idea of how they will be implemented. However, each feature that has already been implemented should be bug free. If you discover a bug that is not already documented at redmine.stoutner.com please add it.

Below is a list of known prominent bugs or missing features in this alpha release.

- The page zoom is momentarily reset every time a new URL is loaded.

- If domain settings change the user agent, loading of the new URL is interrupted and the previous site is reloaded.

- Browser error messages are not displayed unless JavaScript is enabled.

- Bookmarks are not yet implemented.

- Blocklists are not yet implemented.

## Using &privacybrowser;

Screenshot

### JavaScript

JavaScript allows web pages to run scripts (programs) on your device. It allows web pages to function more like apps, but it also allows web pages to spy on you. Most of the tracking on the internet does not work when JavaScript is disabled. JavaScript can be toggled by clicking on the privacy shield, which is blue if JavaScript is disabled and red when it is enabled. JavaScript

### Local Storage

Local storage in Privacy Browser encompasses cookies, DOM storage, IndexedDB, service workers, and the filesystem API. Local storage can be toggled through an action on the toolbar.

#### Cookies

Cookies allow websites to store small pieces of information for a specific host that are sent in the HTTP header every time the browser connects to that host. Privacy Browser allows a maximum of 180 cookies with a maximum size of 4096 bytes per cookie to be set per domain. Cookies are often used to track users across the web, particularly third-party cookies (which are completely blocked in Privacy Browser). They are also used as a security mechanism on websites where you log in to identify it is you as you browse from page to page on a site.

Cookies

The cookies dialog is opened from settings-cookies. Durable cookies are shared with all tabs that are opened after they are made durable and are preserved even when Privacy Browser is restarted. This allows users to stay logged in to sites of their choosing. No cookies are durable by default. Making a cookie durable requires specific user interaction.

All other cookies are specific to the tab where they are created and are destroyed when the tab is closed.

#### DOM storage

DOM (Document Object Model) storage, also knows as web storage, allows web pages to store information on a client device. The storage capacity is larger than for cookies and the data is not automatically sent in the headers with every HTTP request. In Privacy Browser, each website is allowed to store a 5 MB of data in DOM storage. DOM storage requires JavaScript to function, and, in addition, requires an extra toggle to be enabled. In Privacy Browser, DOM storage is limited to the tab where it is created and is destroyed when the tab is closed.

#### IndexedDB

IndexedDB provides web pages with a local database where they can store “significant amounts of structured data”. There is disagreement on the internet about the maximum size of an IndexedDB database, probably because the various rendering engines keep changing their mind. But it is usually listed at somewhere between 20% and 80% of your entire hard drive with each individual domain limited to some segment of that. IndexedDB requires JavaScript to function. In Privacy Browser, this database is limited to the tab where it is created and is destroyed when the tab is closed.

#### Service Workers

Service workers are offline JavaScript proxies of a website. They have their own cache that is usually hidden and hard to clear. They were designed by people who want the web browser to become the operating system and run full “apps”. In Privacy Browser, service workers are limited to the tab where they are created and are destroyed when the tab is closed.

#### Filesystem API

The filesystem API grants the browser direct access to the files on your system. Like service workers, the filesystem API is a summarily bad idea thought up by those who want the browser to become an operating system. Even when JavaScript and local storage are enabled, the filesystem API does not work in Privacy Browser.

### User Agent

The user agent is a text string that is sent as part of every HTTP header that identifies the browser to the web server. Privacy Browser's default user agent is `PrivacyBrowser/1.0`. Qt WebEngine 5.15.12’s default user agent is `Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) QtWebEngine/5.15.12 Chrome/87.0.4280.144 Safari/537.36`.

Over the years user agents have become quite lengthy, partially because they tend to include a brief history of the internet. In the modern world they serve almost no good purpose, but some web developers still think they need them so they can send different version of their website to different browsers. Some servers refuse to function correctly if they don't like the user agent that is sent.

At some point in the future Privacy Browser will send no user agent by default. Not only is that currently impossible because the Qt WebEngine doesn't allow you to not send a user agent (I will probably have to fork it to enable that functionality), but even web servers that don't care what the user agent is often refuse to send an answer if there is no user agent at all. Getting rid of this relic of the internet is going to take some time and a retraining of common expectations.

### Domain Settings

Domain setting make it easy to automatically change JavaScript, local storage, user agent, and other settings when the domain changes. Domain settings for the current domain can be accessed through the domain settings button at the far right of the URL line edit. Domain settings for all domains can be accessed through settings-domain-settings. When domain settings are active, the URL line edit will have a green background.

### Spell Checking

Privacy Browser uses the binary `.bdic` Hunspell dictionary format utilized by Qt WebEngine which was created by Google for Chromium. Debian’s Hunspell dictionary language packages are slowly adding support for the `.bdic` format. Those which have are listed by Privacy Browser as suggested packages.

Once a `.bdic` dictionary is installed, it can be enabled in Privacy Browser’s settings.

## Command Reference

### Main Window

#### File

&Ctrl;T File New Tab

- Create a new tab.

&Ctrl;N File New Window

- Create a new window.

&Ctrl;P File Print

- Print the document.

&Ctrl;&Shift;P File Print Preview

- Display the print preview dialog.

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

- Quit &privacybrowser;.

#### Edit

&Ctrl;F Edit Find

- Display the find toolbar and focus the find text line edit. If the toolbar is already displayed, the find text line edit is refocused and the text it contains is selected.

F3 Edit Find Next

- Find the next entry on the page that matches the specified text. This action is only displayed if the find toolbar is visible.

&Shift;F3 Edit Find Previous

- Find the previous entry on the page that matches the specified text. This action is only displayed if the find toolbar is visible.

#### View

F5 View Refresh

- Reload the website in the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Shift;F View Full Screen Mode

- Toggle full screen mode. This performs the same action as f11.

#### Go

&Alt;Left Go Back

- Navigate back one step in the current tab’s history. The action is disabled if it is not possible to go back.

&Alt;Right Go Forward

- Navigate forward one step in the current tab’s history. The action is disabled if it is not possible to go forward.

&Alt;Home Go Home

- Load the home page in the current tab.

#### On-The-Fly Settings

##### User Agent

&Ctrl;&Alt;P On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Privacy Browser

- Use the Privacy Browser user agent for the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Alt;W On-The-Fly Settings User Agent WebEngine Default

- Use the WebEngine Default user agent for the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Alt;F On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Firefox on Linux

- Use the Firefox on Linux user agent for the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Alt;C On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Chromium on Linux

- Use the Chromium on Linux user agent for the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Alt;&Shift;F On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Firefox on Windows

- Use the Firefox on Windows user agent for the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Alt;&Shift;C On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Chrome on Windows

- Use the Chrome on Windows user agent for the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Alt;E On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Edge on Windows

- Use the Edge on Windows user agent for the current tab.

&Ctrl;&Alt;S On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Safari on macOS

- Use the Safari on macOS user agent for the current tab.

&Alt;&Shift;C On-The-Fly Settings User Agent Custom

- Use the custom user agent for the current tab. This action is only active if a custom user agent is set in the settings.

##### Zoom

&Ctrl;&Alt;Z On-The-Fly Settings Zoom Factor

- Display the zoom factor dialog.

##### Search Engine

&Ctrl;&Shift;M On-The-Fly Settings Search Engine Mojeek

- Use Mojeek as the search engine.

&Ctrl;&Shift;O On-The-Fly Settings Search Engine Monocles

- Use Mojeek as the search engine.

&Ctrl;&Shift;E On-The-Fly Settings Search Engine MetaGer

- Use MetaGer as the search engine.

&Ctrl;&Shift;G On-The-Fly Settings Search Engine Google

- Use Google as the search engine.

&Ctrl;&Shift;B On-The-Fly Settings Search Engine Bing

- Use Bing as the search engine.

&Ctrl;&Shift;Y On-The-Fly Settings Search Engine Yahoo

- Use Yahoo as the search engine.

&Ctrl;&Shift;C On-The-Fly Settings Search Engine Custom

- Use the custom search engine. This action is only active if a custom search engine is set in the settings.

#### Settings

&Ctrl;D Settings Domain Settings

- Display the domain settings dialog.

&Ctrl;; Settings Cookies

- Display the cookies dialog.

#### Common Settings and Help Entries

&privacybrowser; has many common &kde; Settings and Help menu items. For more information read the sections about the Settings Menu and Help Menu.

#### Other Commands

`F11`

- Toggle full screen mode. This performs the same action as view-full-screen-mode.

`&Esc;`

- Escape runs the first command that applies from the following list.

  - Exit full screen browsing.

  - Clear the find text line edit and the find text highlights.

  - Hide the find text toolbar.

### Cookies Dialog

The cookies dialog is accessed through settings-cookies (see cookies).

#### Commands

`A`

- Open the add cookie dialog.

`E`

- Open the edit cookie dialog. This command is only valid if a cookie is currently selected.

`D or ∇`

- Delete the currently selected cookies. A dialog will confirm the deletion before it is processed.

`L`

- Delete all the cookies. A dialog will confirm the deletion before it is processed.

`C or &Ctrl;Q`

- Close the cookies dialog.

### Save Dialog

The save dialog pops up when a download is initiated.

#### Commands

`S`

- Save the file.

`C or &Ctrl;Q`

- Close the save dialog without saving the file.

## Questions and Answers

Why are there no questions?

Because Privacy Browser is so perfectly designed that none have ever been asked. Also, because this is the first release and nobody has had a chance to ask them yet. ;)

## Credits and License

Program copyright 2016-2017,2021-2023 Soren Stoutner soren@stoutner.com.

Translators:

- Translations will be added in a future release.

&underGPL;

Documentation copyright 2023 Soren Stoutner soren@stoutner.com.

&underFDL;