CometBird is based on the Mozilla engine just like Firefox. That would make it yet another Firefox clone. However, it loads up faster than Firefox, and has a couple of built in features that may be of interest.
The browser's Online Media Downloader allows you to save Flash, Audio and Video files straight from Web pages that display it, including YouTube. Other browsers require this as an additional plugin.
Another notible feature of CometBird is the Software Update Check that shows you a list of the lastet versions of software incase you like to be on top of things and always run the latest version of every program.
The similarities between K-Meleon and Firefox are numerous, and like Firefox, K-Meleon runs on the Gecko engine as well.
K-Meleon is marketed as a fast light-weight browser. I would have to agree with this. Even the installation is fast and didn't default me to make it my default browser or force any unwanted settings on me.
This is a tabbed browser, but instead of tabs, the terminology in K-Meleon is "layers".
I searched around for other similarities between K-Meleon and Firefox. To do this, the first site I opened was ABS. Even the display issues are the same, but I think it stretches broken images to the size of alt text instead. Also, K-Meleon is so light that it comes with Flash Player 3.0. Obviously, this plugin will need an upgrade to work on ABS.
I got bored of how simple, clean and efficient this browser is, and started looking for advanced features. I found the zoom ability pretty useful, and even though it had the ability to zoom images and text independently, this didn't always seem to work properly. There is no "return to normal size" feature that I can see, so I suggest not messing with the zoom.
K-Meleon didn't leave out any popular advanced features like Javacript console, mouse gestures, favourites importer, domain completion and others. Some of the more advanced features let you edit the source directly rather than a simple enable/disable.
This browser is fairly new, so I'm not sure about automatic updates and its security, but I can assure you that this browser, like all Gecko browsers, are safer than Windows browsers. At least for now.
(Formerly IEopera. Formerly Opera2.)
Avant Browser runs using the Internet Explorer engine, but with additional features. Originally, the main feature was tabbed window browsing inspired by Opera, so all Web pages could be switched from the same window. Now that Internet Explorer has this feature as well, Avant Browser has expanded its features such as bookmark system that can be shared online, custom toolbar buttons, and password/form wizards.
Flock prides itself as being the first social-media browser. Flock can give you updates from your accounts from various social media sites including MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and more, as well as some email services.
You will notice that the browser is very similar to Mozilla Firefox as Flock is build on their codebase.
I used to use Netscape 4.x. Netscape used to be my favourite browser up until about sometime in 2001.
This new version is heavy and bloated browser. It also installs other unwanted programs like the Weather Channel software, and I find it to be slower than other browsers based on the same engine like Mozilla.
The features are wonderful, and pages display properly or according to standards. You can quickly select between an IE view or a Netscape view. I think this browser is important for developers, but end users don't need this commercial browser which is owned by AOL, and updates to the Netscape browser have been officially discontinued.
Opera is the RC Cola to Coke and Pepsi. The L.A. Gear to Nike and Reebok. The one with the hairy hairy chest to the worst and best. Opera has always found itself as a third-place browser since the Netscape vs. Internet Exporer browser wars.
Originally, Opera was an ad-supported shareware browser, but became completely free in order to complete. The mobile version keeps the revenue flowing in for the company.
Opera markets itself as the fastest Web browser, and has supported tab-browsing before its competitors.
In 2005, I had learnt that some Mozilla engineers were hired by Google, and had other information that led me to believe Google was going to make their own Web browser. I announced the "Gbrowser" on June 3, 2005.
In 2008 Google announced Google Chrome through an online comic book showing the engineering superiorities of their browser.
To sum it up, Google Chrome is specifically developed for application Web sites - Web sites with memory-intensive JavaScript tools (like its own gMail). Google Chrome interprets the scripts faster and that if a script were to crash or lag, it would not crash the whole browser.
Interface and usability features include a built-in homepage that lists screenshots of your most visited Web pages, a privacy filter to browse secretly called "Incognito Mode" and rearrangable tabs.
The Chromium rendering engine for the browser is based on the opensource Apple Webkit that the Safari browser uses, and Google has subsequently released their Chromium engine as opensource. The browser will therefore be extended and improved by Google's community in the long term.
Google is promoting their Chrome browser heavily, and it will likely become one of the top three Web browsers.
Note: As of the current version, Google Chrome has a bug in displaying some alpha-transparent PNG images, including on albinoblacksheep.com, but should be fixed in an updated version.
Mozilla Firefox is a must-have browser. Either as a primary browser (as I highly recommend) or your first alternate browser. Due to its stability, scalability and support on all common platforms (unlike Internet Explorer which has stopped producing for Mac), Firefox is the standard for Web browsers. Firefox's recent high market share has forced Web developers to make certain their Web sites and programs work flawlessly on the browser.
If you are currently an Internet Explorer user know that Mozilla Firefox is a lightweight, high-speed open source Web Browser. Upgrading the browser is much easier. It's also reported to be faster and have better security.
Countless custom plugins and scripts called extensions are available for Firefox developed by the opensource community in an attempt to add every optional feature possible.
I have used Internet Explorer as my default browser from 2001 to 2008 when my computer was infected for good. I even stuck with version 6 by the end of it, even though version 8 beta was released. I was 5 years behind in browser technology! I fought for this browser, and even designed this site for Internet Explorer, dealing with the many quirks and workarounds for lack of alpha-transparent PNG image support.
Internet Explorer is still the most common default Web browser, but with competitors catching up very quickly. It is still necessary to design Web sites for IE, but just as important to make use of the open standards that only now IE8 finally supports.
The browser's strengths are its flaws. It is built right into the Windows operating system, using the system's own files, therefore making the browser load fast. This, however, makes the whole Windows operating system open and vulnerable to any security holes found in the browser. I thought I would be safe as long as I visited safe Web sites. That helped a lot, but it wasn't 100% protection.
The latest versions - 7 and 8 beta - have better security like built in anti-phishing tools, and updates are common to keep security holes patched. Version 8 has full support for 2.1, but some things must be coded specifically for the browser like opacity on alpha-transparent PNG images.
Incase you are a Web designer use this:
-ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=100)";
Internet Explorer 8 was released on April 1, 2009. There was a lot of criticism about the release because it has yet to support CSS3. Microsoft claims that it follows standards with the new version, and this includes the decision to not support codes until they are official standards. Though other modern browsers are already these CSS3 codes in advance of them becoming official and finalized.
This decision by Microsoft bothers me as well. Microsoft should include support for these soon-to-be official standards now rather than wait. People on Internet Explorer are very slow to upgrade their browsers, so when these standards become official, their users will be the last to take advantage of them.
Since version 7, the menu has been simplified and tab-based browsing has been added. Without some great hacking skills, Internet Explorer is a built-in requirement of Windows. It is probably a good idea to have an updated version, even if you don't wish to have it set as your default browser.