Alhena Changes

This page documents all changes to Alhena. Check the "About" menu to determine which version you're currently running.

Version 5.5.7 20260430

• Update BouncyCastle to 1.84
• Scroll to header from feeds page broken with link icons
• Add feed refresh timestamp to details page
• Improve rendering of HTML tables with multiline cells
• URL schemes like tel: would throw an exception
• Prevent exception if feed fetch error is null
• Allow bold, italic and underline when styling Gopher and Nex links
• Use page style of URL and not current page in Titan editor
• Prevent multiple Titan editor windows when using shortcut
• Hot button menu for header feeds would not scroll to header
• Add shift+ctrl+2 (shift+command+2 on Mac) to refresh feeds
• Fix connection leak in some database operations
• Permit merge/replace for subscription and feed tables
• Suspend background feed refresh on sleep (if supported)

Version 5.5.6 20260416

• Subscription feeds from Gemlogs, atom.xml and Gemtext headers
• Support markdown over Gemini, Spartan and file URLs
• Update theme when restoring tabs
• Word wrap on Nex and Gopher type 0 docs based on line length
• Fix blank page when opening image links in new tab/window (regression)
• Fix exception when restoring page containing audio data url
• Fix exception when toggling socks5 state
• Add unread feeds to hot button configuration options
• Cycle hot button config options with shift+ctrl+space/shift+cmd+space
• Remove redundant ctrl+alt+e/cmd+alt+e for Titan editor

See notes on GitHub release page for addional information.

Version 5.5.5 20260404

• Split View support for both tabs and frames
• Ability to restore last closed tab (with full history)
• Outline popup menu button for fast gemtext header access
• Hot Button configuration screen
• G key display right-click link shortcuts
• Honor font color when styling alhena:art (new tab) page
• Use pre-formatted font for gopher and nex link shortcuts
• Move all proxy menu items to networking menu
• Restore scrollbar position when changing themes
• Remove CTRL+SHIFT "hold to peek" for link shortcuts
• CTRL+ALT shortcuts moved to CTRL+SHIFT

See notes on GitHub release page for addional information.

Version 5.5.4 20260321

• Option to save tab and window state at launch
• The 'f' key now displays link shortcuts
• Add retrieved timestamp to the right side of the status bar
• Added 'pagecache' command to set the page cache size for save tab state functionality
• Updated jemoji and twelve monkeys webp libraries
• Convert file paths passed in as launch arguments to file URL
• Changed .deb installer filenames to match external links

There are additional notes on the release page on GitHub.

Version 5.5.3 20260313

• Support for gophers:// (Gopher over TLS)
• Option to use native file choosers on Linux GTK, Windows and MacOS
• Use Desktop API to define "windowless" menu instead of hidden window on MacOS
• Only open one external media player at a time
• Ctrl+U added as alternate shortcut for Ctrl+I which is reserved on Haiku
• Use authority instead of just host for "go to root" shortcut
• Upgrade flatLaF to 3.7.1
• Workarounds for Haiku OpenJDK limitations (alt-key, modality)
• Gopher type 0 and type h could leave busy spinner active when opened in new tab

Version 5.5.2 20260302

• Pressing tab in search drop-down copies url to address bar without submitting
• Improvements to smooth scrolling behavior
• New Bookmark shortcut changed to ctrl-m/cmd-m to avoid conflict with link shortcuts
• Drag and drop wasn't working for opus files
• Include forward slash in Gopher type 7 request for strict servers
• HTML to GemText improvements for relative links and local files

Version 5.5.1 20260207

• Prevent bookmarked media from opening inline after esc
• Support passing in url as an argument from the command line
• Menu quit handler wasn't running shutdown code on MacOS
• Closing last open window on MacOS no longer exits (expected on MacOS)
• Open app with saved window location and screen/monitor
• ctrl+w (command+w on MacOS) closes current tab (or window if no tabs)
• 'New Bookmark' shortcut changed to shift+ctrl+b (shift+cmd+b on MacOS)
• Support OS file associations
• Windows/Linux/Mac installers updated to Java 25.0.2
• Debian packages available for Linux AMD64/ARM64

Version 5.5.0 20260116

• Add support for Gemini proxies
• Fix cancel connection handling for simultaneous busy pages
• Print inline images and backgrounds (including gradients)
• Allow smaller than default pre-formatted font sizes when printing
• Add 'forcewhite' command to ignore background color when printing
• Fix printing page type for gopher, spartan and nex pages
• Update vert.x to 4.5.24

Version 5.4.9 20260103

• Add link icons for nex and file urls
• Fix stuck busy spinner when opening a new gopher, nex or spartan tab
• Increase elapsed time width on embedded media player
• Properly close HTTP streaming connections
• Improve embedded VLC buffering
• New layout option for small screens
• Assume gemini:// when no scheme entered and search URL is not set

Version 5.4.8 20251220

• Closing a window would dispose media players in other windows
• Support playlist based streaming over HTTP (pls, m3u, etc)
• Configurable external media players like ffplay, mpv and vlc
• Embedded media player displays metadata on mouse hover
• Add a media config dialog instead of menu items
• Separate link icons for audio and video

Version 5.4.7 20251206

• Option to stream inline media on all protocols if VLC is configured
• Audio player visualizations
• Improved formatting of "bytes downloaded" message

Version 5.4.6 20251121

• Option to scroll tabs with mouse wheel
• Inline image positioning issue with MacOS fullscreen and resize
• Inline image positioning when link is last line in document
• Gopher type 9 should open save dialog when not a media file
• Ignore anchor links in HTML table conversion
• Support for video and audio tags in HTML to Gemtext conversion
• Do not delete backup file after restore (introduced in 5.4.5)
• Load BouncyCastleProvider once in static block
• Remove unused encryption class and method

Version 5.4.5 20251107

• Word wrap type 0 Gopher documents
• Busy spinner stuck when switching tabs after file download
• Inline image setting always on with Gopher
• Better organize right-click popup menu items
• Delete sync download file immediately instead of deferring

Version 5.4.4 20251029

• Update vert.x/Netty, FlatLaF and JSoup libraries
• Fix page state when opening Gopher after HTTP
• Convert HTML over Spartan to Gemtext
• Improvements to HTML to Gemtext converter
• Reset interrupt flag when using ESC key to end connectivity

Version 5.4.3 20251025

• Native gopher support
• Closing tab waiting on in-progress media download could cause crash
• Support HTML via Gemtext converter for gopher and gemini protocols
• Small fixes and optimizations

Version 5.4.2 20251018

• Option to use SOCKS5 only for .onion, .i2p and selected domains
• Fix non-ssl HTTP handling when fetching web links in converter
• ANSI default foreground determined by background "brightness"
• Open In Browser option when right-clicking an HTTP link
• Dracula theme was overriding gradient backgrounds
• Updated h2 and jemoji libraries

Version 5.4.1 20251010

• SOCKS5 proxy server support
• Startup optimizations
• Improved emoji variation selector detection
• Make media controls transparent on gradient backgrounds
• Fix optional pf block shading when using dark background
• Exit app cleanly on startup if database locked

Version 5.4.0 20251007

• Added option for background color gradients
• Updated HTTP request headers for improved compatibility
• Additional HTML tags added to Gemtext converter
• Improved layout in HTML to Gemtext converter
• Fixed spacing issue for detected emoji without sprite

Version 5.3.9 20251003

• Added Style Manager to View menu
• Resolve relative links on link copy
• Reorganized settings menu
• Added protocol scope to page styles
• Updated Apple, Google and Twitter emoji sets
• Updated Noto Emoji font to the latest
• Added "Convert Web Pages" setting

Version 5.3.8 20250929

• Support for animated GIFs
• Add busy spinner color to page styles
• Fixed emoji issue in links with link icons
• Option to turn off inline images
• Center title bar text vertically on MacOS
• Fixed potential file close issue on downloads
• Use page style font color for non-emoji favicon.txt

Version 5.3.7 20250924

• Fix when rendering a run of consecutive emojis
• Overhaul pf text to image converter

Version 5.3.6 20250922

• Added SVG image support
• Position favicon based on page style margins
• Use link font attributes from page style for link shortcuts

Version 5.3.5 20250920

• Autocomplete from history when typing in address bar
• Use attributes from page style when opening text editor
• Improve title bar appearance on MacOS

Version 5.3.4 20250915

• Attempt to sanitize links with invalid characters
• Show error page if URL can't be parsed
• Middle mouse button opens page in new tab
• Ability to set "Big Scrollbar" size via command
• Add page style attribute for the list line type
• Add page style for content width
• Fix font sizes when printing

Version 5.3.3 20250913

• Ability to reset individual style attributes
• Shortcut keys added for Page Styles and Layout
• Use algorithm to determine light/dark background for ANSI colors
• Exception when opening command screen
• ANSI color fix when not using scrollable pre-formatted text
• Ability to merge styles from a backup
• Miscellaneous fixes and enhancements

Version 5.3.2 20250911

• Drag to scroll option for touchscreen devices
• Custom page styles via the "Styles" menu
• Display redirects in status bar
• Small fixes and optimizations

Version 5.3.1 20250903

• User configurable tab location (top, bottom, left, right)
• Option for larger scrollbar
• Multiple busy spinner fixes when opening media in a new tab
• Exception when favicon.txt is an empty string
• Fix url resolution issue with ".."
• Do not refresh bookmark page when edit canceled

Version 5.3.0 20250824

• First press of ESC key would only interrupt favicon.txt retrieval (if enabled)
• PF Text to Image exception on block with only newlines
• Open local markdown files
• Reduce DB requests for smooth scrolling and scroll speed
• Media in data URLs set to "Open" would attempt to play even if VLC disabled
• Support embedded VLC media in NEX protocol
• Add link icon for spartan links
• Added TIF as supported image (although not all types will open)
• Small bug fixes and verbiage changes

Version 5.2.9 20250819

• Add link icons for images, media and gopher
• Data urls support embedded audio and video
• Support additional ANSI codes
• F5 shortcut for page refresh
• Adding the "first" tab when page is busy could lead to invalid UI state
• Fix possible recursion in text search
• Removed async favicon.txt fetch

Version 5.2.8 20250815

• Pre-formatted text to image rendering fixes and enhancements
• Fixed issue with opening file urls from History.
• Manually entered file urls would fail when search engine url was defined
• Significant performance boost to both font and sprite emoji rendering
• Update favicon emoji when user switches to another emoji set
• Link icon for titan urls
• Support non-emoji characters in favicons
• Fixed broken query resolve
• Normalize behavior of search engine queries containing url characters
• Moved all ui strings to a message bundle to enable future translations

Version 5.2.7 20250811

• Link icons could break Bookmark and History pages

Version 5.2.6 20250811

• Update jemoji, vert.x and netty libraries to the latest versions
• Support embedded images and text via data urls
• Optionally enable link icons
• Fix sprite emoji rendering size and line spacing
• Force scrollable pf text to the left on page load
• Handshake failure when server cert expired and client cert offered
• Not all preferences applied immediately on db replace
• Previous/Next buttons might not refresh when closing all tabs
• Fix error when attempting to display server cert on notification page

Version 5.2.5 20250804

• Printing
• Optional favicon.txt support
• Fix pre-formatted line spacing in "legacy" mode
• Fix exception when drawing empty pf text image

Version 5.2.4 20250730

• Set Windows monospaced font to "Source Code Pro" (see GitHub release notes)

Version 5.2.3 20250730

• Added four new themes
• Layout option to render pre-formatted text blocks as images
• Minor database optimization

Version 5.2.2 20250726

• New gemtext aware Titan text editor with search, undo and resize.
• Open Titan editor with ctrl-e or from popup menu on page
• Update flatLaF to 3.6.1
• Find text highlights all occurances on page
• Fix for busy spinner on empty Nex requests

Version 5.2.1 20250723

• Improve ANSI color support
• Resize scrollable text blocks when expanded
• Color ANSI art on about dialog and new tab pages
• Windows will prioritize Courier New and Consolas monospaced fonts

Version 5.2.0 20250722

• Fix ansi detection is scrollable pre-formatted text blocks
• Fix text search is scrollable pre-formatted text
• Fix for Windows \r\n issue when searching scrollable pf text
• Fixed issues with "Top 20" popup button when using keyboard
• Change verbiage in Layout dialog

Version 5.1.9 20250721

• Horizontally scrollable pre-formatted text
• Long urls in gemtext links can now line wrap
• New layout options to control scrollable pf text appearance and behavior
• Top 20 popup button can be keyboard activated with spacebar (esc to close)
• "Find Again" search rolls over to beginning of document

Version 5.1.8 20250718

• End connection on close_notify
• Support for search urls
• Top 20 bookmark button added to address bar

Version 5.1.7 20250714

• Sprite emoji improperly sized in preformatted text
• Support unencrypted HTTP and redirects in html to gemtext browser
• Support HTTP downloads with response-content-disposition header
• Play embedded vlc media types in html to gemtext browser
• "Add Bookmark" added to "Bookmarks" menu
• URL now editable in bookmark dialogs
• Support tables in html to gemtext converter

Version 5.1.6 20250630

• Normalize scheme to lowercase
• Update vert.x and netty libraries
• Attempt mime from extension when missing or application/octet-stream
• Enable gif and bmp image support
• Display bytes downloaded for vlc media
• Update bytes downloaded for Spartan images

Version 5.1.5 20250615

• Removed touch autoscroll (see GitHub release for more information)
• Incomplete UTF-8 characters could be sent to renderer
• Increased SSL connection timeout
• Fixed several UI/EDT rule violations

Version 5.1.4 20250605

• CTRL+L to select address bar
• F3 to Find Again
• Home and End not working on some platforms
• Play MP4 and MOV files based on extension if wrong mime type
• Remove 'View as GemText" popup menu item for NEX pages

Version 5.1.3 20250527

• Nex Protocol support
• Handle status 10 and 11 without prompt message
• Use url for tab title if no heading or bookmark
• Html to gemtext improvements including inline images

Version 5.1.2 20250518

• Support flac with embedded VLC
• Display TLS protocol and cipher suite
• Fix server cert expiration test
• Additional detail in server cert expiration dialog
• Disable open in new window/tab options for http browser links
• Minor fixes and cleanup

Version 5.1.1 20250512

• Set focus to content when using prev/next buttons
• Set popup menu to mouse location when using ctrl+i
• Limit link shortcuts to 1-9 and A-Z when using shift+ctrl
• Show detailed message in event of certificate parse error

Version 5.1.0 20250507

• Change sprite emoji baseline to closely match font emoji
• Prevent duplicate address bar submissions
• Do not load emoji.json when using font emoji

Version 5.0.9 20250504

• Display SHA-256 for server certificates
• Warn when TLS1.2 server requests client certificate
• Support webp images
• Traverse address bar drop down with arrow keys

Version 5.0.8 20250502

• Correctly resolve standalone query link
• Added "Import PEM" button to new certificate dialog
• Display server and client certs in monospaced text

Version 5.0.7 20250428

• Add null check in tab listener
• Reset busy spinner when opening tab requesting a certificate

Version 5.0.6 20250424

• Address bar not updating when closing all tabs
• Fix type 10 error with existing query
• Shortcut to domain root: ctrl+shift+up (command+shift_up on MacOS)
• Bump default font size to 20
• Request document focus on page load
• Address bar selects all text on focus
• Remove up and down arrow delay for page scrolling
• Monofont env variable changed to all caps: ALHENA_MONOFONT

Version 5.0.5 20250422

• Changed 'Adaptive Scrolling' label to 'Smooth Scrolling'
• Updated license to GPL-3.0

Version 5.0.4 20250420

• Allow embedded media for file system docs
• Added checkbox to control preformatted line wrap
• Fixed file as home page issue
• Prevent inline media from altering layout

Version 5.0.3 20250419

• Added dialog to control content width
• Preformatted text no longer wraps
• Preformatted text defaults to theme text color
• Removed elapsed time messages from custom pages

Version 5.0.2 20250415

• Inline audio and video player (VLC required)
• Miscellaneous fixes and enhancements.

Please see the README.md file on Alhena's GitHub page for information regarding VLC.

Version 5.0.1 20250410

• Update font chooser library to latest
• Adjustable preformatted text size
• Honor proportional font styles (in addition to family/size)
• Show bytes downloaded for inline images
• Change MacOS monospaced font to Courier New
• Miscellaneous fixes and formatting improvements

Version 5.0 20250408

• Add token field to titan text/file dialog
• Show error dialog when sync upload fails
• http url entered in address bar didn't use saved method

Version 4.9 20250406

• Shortcuts changed from shift+control to ctrl+alt (Linux/Windows)
• Shortcuts changed from shift+command to command+option (Mac)

See github release notes for explanation and information.

Version 4.8 20250406

• control+shift displays link shortcuts
• Works with non-RSA private keys
• Import PKCS#1 and EC pem files
• Menu shortcuts on non-Mac
• ctrl+[ and ] for navigation (command on Mac)
• ctrl+r refresh shortcut (command on Mac)

Version 4.7 20250403

• Allow and warn when server cert doesn't match domain
• Status 61 and 62 responses not displayed
• shift+control+E (command on Mac) to attempt Titan edit
• control+C (command on Mac) to copy document text
• New "About" dialog
• Titan editor no longer scrolls to bottom on open

Version 4.6 20250329

• titan upload ui for editing text or selecting file
• titan ;edit support
• Use flatLaF tab close mechanism
• New tab opens random Alhena ascii art
• Remove scheme auto-complete from address bar

Version 4.5 20250326

• New themes added
• Detect Spartan text when incorrect mime type
• Add timestamp to default export file name
• Display theme names instead of class names
• Minor cleanup, tweaks and optimizations

Version 4.4 20250324

• Support for spartan://
• html to gemtext improvements
• Streaming uploads for titan and spartan
• Streaming download fixes
• Mac users can try monochrome noto emojis

Version 4.3 20250320

• Support for http and gopher proxies
• Server cert export broken since 4.2
• Replace blue diamond list emoji

Version 4.2 20250317

• Domain and Page client certs now supported
• Windows menu renamed to Settings
• Minor optimization with theme changes

Version 4.1 20250314

• Map connections for hosts requiring client certs
• Command ansialert=true|false to disable ansi alert
• Fix inline image after refresh bug

Version 4.0 20250313

• Fix ansi color regression and alignment bug
• Inline image could open in wrong location
• Font not applying after database restore

Version 3.9 20250311

• Busy spinner fix on new tab with redirection
• Issue opening/closing multiple inline images

Version 3.8 20250310

• Emoji detection improved with jemoji library
• Update windows menu on database restore
• Fix stuck spinner on "Open In New Tab"
• Default file chooser directory set to user's home
• File extension filter set to .gmi for "Save Page"

Version 3.7 20250307

• Titan protocol upload support
• Adaptive mouse wheel option for smooth scrolling

Version 3.6 20250305

• Removed alhena:pngemoji command for Emoji menu option
• Apple, Facebook and Twitter sprites downloaded on first use
• Theme and Emoji menus display checkmark for current selection
• Fix load time issues (theme change and type 10 responses)

Version 3.5 20250303

• Fix for pngemoji=false

Version 3.4 20250303

• Revamped png emoji engine
• Multiple png styles: 'google', 'facebook', 'twitter' and 'apple'
• Load time added to status bar

Version 3.3 20250301

• Screen to view server certs with expiration dates
• Localize dates on History and Server pages
• Server certs weren't merging correctly
• Speed up temp db for merge
• New themes added
• Find field resets on Not Found
• New previous/next icons

Version 3.2 20250227

• Pre-formatted font size adjusts relative to proportional font
• New icons for forward, back and refresh buttons
• Shortcut keys for 'Add Bookmark' and 'Refresh'
• Added FAQ
• History links deletable by entering partial matching text
• Pre-formatted line spacing reduced on Mac/Linux
• PNG Emojis optimized with improved alignment

Version 3.1 20250225

• Fixed history lockup introduced in 2.9

Version 3.0 20250225

• Fixed page shift bug introduced in 2.9

Version 2.9 20250224

• Non-blocking busy spinner is no longer "global"
• Fixed issue with some PEM exports missing a linefeed
• Support for remote sync/merge - see GitHub release notes

Version 2.8 20250222

• Import/Export did not include server certs
• Merge support added (choose on Import Data)
• Popup and URL shortcuts stopped working on theme change
• Deleted/Edited bookmarks did not update all window menus
• Do not import PEM if same host/cert already exists

Version 2.7 20250221

• Improved theme colors for text and spinner
• Improved emoji support
• Fixed list rendering
• Changed tab close behavior
• Added import/export data - import overwrites existing config
• Added alhena:pngemoji=true/false to toggle font rendering

Version 2.6 20250218

• Option to use web browser to view http links (if allowed)
• Support for mailto: links (if allowed by OS)
• Added popup menu for window management to dock icon (if allowed)
• New themes
• Added alhena:scrollspeed command to adjust mouse wheel speed
• Added alhena:info ("Details" menu item) for application metrics
• References to pages in closed tabs were not being released
• Improved resolution of dock icon in Ubuntu

Version 2.5 20250217

• Menu shortcuts lost when page had focus
• Dialogs shouldn't block all windows
• ESC key can now close dialogs
• Mac OS uses class name for menu requiring class rename
• Themes and font changes did not apply correctly across windows
• New windows now open with home page

Version 2.4 20250216

• Windows ANSI color support
• Font chooser for proportional fonts
• Improved page layout

Version 2.3 20250215

• Adjust emoji size for better alignment
• Removed unused dependency
• Updated vert.x (netty) networking library

Version 2.2 20250214

• ANSI color in pre-formatted text blocks on Mac/Linux/FreeBSD
• Improve line spacing on pre-formatted text
• Change foreground color of pre-formatted text based on theme
• Updated bouncy castle encryption
• Deleting a cert now resets netclient

Version 2.1 20250212

• Fixed hover color issue on links with emojis
• Improve toolbar button icon appearance
• Added ability to view pages with ANSI styling

Version 2.0 20250211

• Image only pages didn't refresh correctly
• Fixed issue with single char emojis
• Touch autoscrolling added

Version 1.9 20250210

• Full color emoji support on all platforms

Version 1.8 20250210

• Drag and drop gemini, text and images
• Drag and drop PEM file to host page to import
• Open images from 'Open File' menu
• View server certs from right-click popup menu

Version 1.7 20250209

• Fixed connection negotiation with imported PEMs
• CTRL+I will activate popup menu
• Auto-complete for entering URLs

Version 1.6 20250208

• Removed newline in PEM cert export
• Reset NetClient on cert import - credit 'gritty'

Version 1.5 20250208

• Clicking a link on cert screen toggles activation state
• Miscellaneous code optimizations

Version 1.4 20250207

• Default folder now .alhena unless previously installed
• Escape key will end connection attempts
• UI no longer blocks during page load
• Non-blocking timer animation added

Version 1.3 20250205

• Detached pages after tab close could appear blank
• Input field did not line wrap
• Long urls are now truncated in title bar

Version 1.2 20250204

• Path to trustore broken for servers with client certs

Version 1.1 20250204

• 'Alhena Home' in 'About' menu pointed to user's home page
• Added 'Changes' to 'About' menu

Version 1.0 20250203

• Initial Release