v0.1.7

Axis Browser v0.1.7

Major Changes

• New Themed URL Bar

  • Completely redesigned URL bar that only appears when a website is open.
  • Uses the page’s own colors (from meta theme-color, headers/nav, or body/html) to tint the bar so it visually blends with each site.
  • Automatically switches between light/dark text for readability while matching the site’s header/background as closely as possible.
  • Modern, compact layout with left navigation controls, a centered URL display, and right-side actions (security, copy, AI chat).

• Native macOS Downloads Experience 📥

  • Replaced the old custom downloads popup with a native macOS-style popup.
  • Popup is positioned correctly relative to the downloads button and tracks window changes.
  • Shows the most recent items from the system Downloads folder with proper ordering.
  • Added a macOS-style arrow pointer so the popup visually “anchors” to the downloads button.

• Native Picture‑in‑Picture (PIP) 📺

  • Removed the custom, canvas-based PIP implementation and all manual drag/resize/timer logic.
  • Switched to the browser’s native Picture‑in‑Picture API for smooth, hardware‑accelerated PIP.
  • Automatically finds playing videos inside webviews and enters/exits native PIP reliably.

• Native macOS Context Menus Everywhere 🖱️

  • Replaced previous custom-styled context menus with native macOS menus across the app (webview, tabs, sidebar, downloads, and more).
  • Menus now use the system look-and-feel, animations, and keyboard shortcuts users expect on macOS.
  • Improved positioning and behavior so menus track the cursor and window correctly, and feel consistent with other Mac apps.

New Features

• URL Bar Actions & Behavior 🔐

  • Security button shows connection state (lock/unlock) and opens a dedicated security panel.
  • Copy button reuses the old URL bar’s copy icon and copies the current URL with visual feedback.
  • Security and copy actions live together on the right side and appear on hover, keeping the center of the bar clean.
  • Center URL text is fully selectable and can be clicked to enter an editable input mode.
  • Pressing Enter in the input navigates to the typed URL or search, Escape cancels cleanly.

• AI Chat Integration in URL Bar 🤖

  • Added a compact AI chat button inside the URL bar for quick access.
  • Rewired AI chat toggle logic to work with the new bar layout and state.

User Interface Improvements

• URL Bar Look & Feel 🎨

  • Bar made more compact: reduced height, button sizes, paddings, and gaps without losing clarity.
  • Refined typography and spacing for the URL text, security/copy actions, and chat button.
  • Ensured the bar hides on special/empty pages and appears only when a real website is loaded.
  • Polished hover states, focus styles, and transitions so the bar feels native to macOS.

• Tabs Layout & Active State 📑

  • Removed the legacy URL bar and old back/forward buttons to reduce clutter.
  • Repositioned the tab strip to better use the vertical space above/below, then nudged it again for the cleanest alignment.
  • Simplified active tab styling so active tabs don’t “expand” in size, but remain clearly highlighted.
  • Made the active tab indicator more visible while keeping the overall look minimal.

• Sidebar & Content Spacing 🧭

  • Reduced excess space between the sidebar contents and the main webview so the layout feels tighter and more integrated.
  • Tweaked the sidebar/webview boundary styling to better align with the rest of the UI.

• Sidebar Resize Handle Refinements ↔️

  • Made the sidebar resize handle thinner and visually lighter.
  • Limited its vertical span so it doesn’t run the full height of the webview, matching modern macOS design.
  • Smoothed out drag behavior and animations for resizing.
  • Fixed cursor glitches so the resize cursor appears only when actually hovering the handle.

Bug Fixes

• Downloads Popup Issues 🔧

  • Fixed crashes/errors when clicking the downloads popup in certain states.
  • Corrected popup positioning edge cases (multiple displays, window resizes, etc.).
  • Ensured the popup opens reliably even after long sessions.

• URL Bar Stability 🛠️

  • Fixed cases where the new URL bar would randomly disappear when switching tabs or navigating.
  • Ensured the bar state stays in sync with the active tab and webview events (did-stop-loading, navigation, etc.).
  • Removed old URL bar event listeners and update functions to prevent conflicts and ghost updates.
  • Cleaned up navigation/indicator update paths so all logic flows through the new updateUrlBar pipeline.

• Startup & General Stability ⚙️

  • Fixed cases where the app could fail to open or throw errors after recent UI and native feature changes.
  • Hardened main/renderer communication and error handling around window creation and webview setup.
  • Reduced edge‑case crashes related to context menus, downloads, and navigation timing.

Security & Dependencies

• node‑tar Vulnerability Fix 🛡️
  • Added an override to force a safe version of node-tar and resolve the arbitrary file overwrite / symlink poisoning issue.
  • Verified dependency tree so transitive consumers pick up the patched version.
  • Documented the security fix and ensured future installs stay on a non‑vulnerable release.

Technical & Internal

• Renderer Logic Cleanup 🧹
  • Removed large amounts of legacy URL bar, audio indicator, favicon, and notification code that is no longer used.
  • Centralized URL bar updates (title, security, navigation state, copy behavior) into a single updateUrlBar() path.
  • Introduced extractUrlBarTheme() to query theme colors from within webviews and apply them to the bar.
  • Ensured event listeners on webviews are set up once per instance and cleaned up properly.

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Full Changelog: v0.1.6...v0.1.7

Screen.Recording.2026-01-24.at.12.43.48.PM.mp4