Simple Qt Browser

A lightweight, modern implementation of the Qt WebEngine browser.

Features

• Tabbed browsing with QTabWidget
• Navigation controls (Back, Forward, Reload, Home)
• URL bar with DuckDuckGo search integration
• Clean, minimalist homepage
• Error and settings pages
• Qt WebEngine backend

Build Instructions

Prerequisites

• CMake 3.16 or later
• Qt 6.x with WebEngine module
• C++17 compatible compiler

Windows-specific requirements:

• One of the following build tool chains:
  • Visual Studio 2019 or later (with C++ Desktop Development workload)
  • MinGW-w64
  • MSYS2 with mingw-w64 toolchain

Note for Windows users: The build script will automatically try to detect and use an available build toolchain. If you encounter errors, ensure one of the above is properly installed and in your PATH.

Quick Build (Recommended)

The easiest way to build the project is using the provided build scripts, which will automatically install missing dependencies:

Linux/macOS:

./build.sh

Windows:

build.bat

These scripts will:

1. Automatically detect and install missing dependencies (CMake, Qt6)
2. Create the build directory
3. Configure CMake
4. Compile the project

Note: The scripts will attempt to install dependencies automatically using your system's package manager:

• Linux: apt-get (Ubuntu/Debian), dnf (Fedora/RHEL), or pacman (Arch)
• macOS: Homebrew
• Windows: Chocolatey or Winget

If you want to skip automatic installation and install dependencies manually, use the --no-install flag:

./build.sh --no-install    # Linux/macOS
build.bat --no-install     # Windows

Manual Build

If you prefer to build manually:

Linux/macOS:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
./SimpleBrowser

Windows:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .
SimpleBrowser.exe

Dependencies

The project uses Qt6 WebEngine which will be imported during build time:

• Qt6::Core
• Qt6::Gui
• Qt6::Widgets
• Qt6::WebEngineWidgets

Project Structure

simple-qt/
├── src/
│   ├── main.cpp         # Application entry point
│   ├── browser.cpp/h    # Main browser window
│   └── webview.cpp/h    # Web view widget
├── html/
│   ├── home.html        # Homepage with search
│   ├── error.html       # Error page
│   └── settings.html    # Settings page
├── resources.qrc        # Qt resources file
└── CMakeLists.txt       # Build configuration

Usage

• Click '+' button or Ctrl+T to open new tabs
• Use navigation buttons for browsing
• Enter URLs in the address bar or search with DuckDuckGo
• Click Home button to return to the homepage