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