It was the simplest of all windows. Just a white background, but it was something I was so terrified of, since I've been a web developer primarily for the last five years. Even as a concept I had no idea, how I could get the OS to open a window for me. To be honest the raylib binding for Zig did most of the work, but it was still quite satisfying.
The next thing I need to understand is how to actually draw stuff on this window. Then get the input the user provides in the rectangle that I would have drawn by that point. The input is the URL the user wants the browser to fetch. Exciting stuff. I have been excited about this bit for quite some time now, and it was well worth it.
Having to overcome these trivial to some but exciting to me challenges helps me stay motivated towards the project. Turns out there is a lot to browsers. Although mine can fetch data over the terminal, without the UI it will always be incomplete. My plan is to keep it as simple as possible, focus on text only. Then venture out if I still want to. It's been a great project to get comfy with Zig.
Why build a crappy browser?
Out of curiosity mainly. I've wanted to understand how to draw stuff on a screen always. Games don't really interest me, I haven't played a game for a long while now. So I picked the browser. The only reason I thought I could even attempt to undertake this is because of the browser book. It's free, but I liked the book so much that I've pre-ordered a copy. Hopefully it can be my Christmas present to myself.