Browsersphere

We’re covering everything from the difference between Yahoo! Answers and Stack Overflow, to Firefox sabotage against IE8 add-ons, to Taco Bell marketing campaigns in this trip around the browsersphere.  Are you ready?

General

• This one is pretty funny, but maybe wouldn’t be as funny if it was true:  someone filed a Firefox bug claiming installing Firefox disabled his or her IE8 add-ons.
• WebKit received one of InfoWorld’s 2010 Technology of the Year awards for being a “tool for creating cross-platform smartphone development,” whatever that means.
• Yahoo! Answers, which is one of the most useless sites on the Internet, in my opinion, runs the gamut in attempting to answer the question “which language should I use to create a web browser?“
• Harry Parsonage went to great lengths to write a “forensics” paper on how privacy can be put at risk by various web browsers’ session restore feature.
• If you’re planning on attending MIX10 in March, Paul Scarpa of Spry Hive Industries is hoping to talk about the past, present and future of web browsers.  You’ll need to vote, though, to make that happen.

Chrome

• An article at Beet.TV claims that Google Chrome has reached 40 million active users worldwide since it’s initial beta release in September of 2008.
• Jim Lynch of ExtremeTech talks about why he switched from Firefox to Chrome on Mac.
• Dwight Silverman is using Chrome on Mac, too, and got pretty excited when a bookmark manager showed up in his build.
• If you’re a Chrome fan and an Ubuntu fan, you may like some of these Ubuntu themes for Google Chrome.
• Chrome’s Dev Channel was updated to version 4.0.288.1 yesterday across all platforms.  TechCrunch points out that the key features are those that showed up for the Mac platform:  bookmark syncing, the new “pin tab” feature, and most importantly, extensions.
• Unlike Yahoo! Answers, Stack Overflow provides a platform at which smart people can provide smart answers, such as this explanation of the difference between the browser process, the render processes and plug-ins in Chrome.

Fennec

• In a blog post that announces his transition from working on Fennec back to the desktop version of Firefox, Gavin Sharp also reveals how developing for Fennec was different than developing for Firefox, and introduces us to a few of the other major contributors to the new mobile browser.

Firefox

• John Lilly tweets about a theme/add-on combination that gives “glimpses of [Firefox] 4.0.”
• John Slater, Mozilla’s Creative Director, vows that Firefox marketing won’t go the Taco Bell route.
• Download Squad reports that Firefox 3.7 is showing some progress with its Windows 7 shell integration.
• Initial tests show that forthcoming multi-processor support in Firefox leads to a 3x speedup in JavaScript performance, but even that is still 50% slower than Google Chrome’s performance using the same test.

Internet Explorer

• Microsoft’s announcement that it had submitted a request to join the SVG Working Group sparked commentary from SitePoint and The Industry Standard.

Opera

• As you probably heard, Opera announced a new CEO this week.
• Opera is planning on releasing a browser beta for Windows CE and looking to find other niches after suffering losses of around $2 million during the last quarter.

The Minor Players

• “Digia @Web is a modern, fully finger touch controllable, web browser for mobile. @Web is currently available for S60 5th Edition and Maemo mobile devices free of charge.”  Techie Buzz has a review, which includes a screenshot.
• SRWare Iron Browser, which was mentioned here last month, has been reviewed, along with screenshots, over at GadgetMix.
• China is making some big investments in free software which could end up benefiting Maxthon.
• Flock 2.5.6 was released this week, fixing some integration issues with Flickr and Twitter.
• Reports from CES say that Ford has developed its own Web browser, which can be operated only while the car is parked (there’s more on the safety implications of related innovations in The New York Times today).  Left Lane reports that Ford’s browser is WebKit-based.
• This review of the Orca browser has plenty of screenshots for anyone who’s curious about the browser.
• Honza Pokorny, who you can follow on Twitter, has created his own browser, appropriately named Honza’s Browser, which you can try out on Linux or Windows.  He has also made the source code available.

Tags: Add-ons, Awards, Bookmarks, Bugs, CEO, China, Chrome, Digia @Web, Fennec, Firefox, Firefox 3.7, Firefox 4, Flickr, Flock, Ford, Gavin Sharp, Google Chrome, Harry Parsonage, Honza's Browser, IE8, Internet Explorer, JavaScript, John Lilly, John Slater, Mac, Marketing, Maxthon, Microsoft, MIX10, Multi-processor, Opera, Orca, Performance, Releases, Safety, Session Restore, SRWare Iron, Stack Overflow, Statistics, SVG Working Group, The New York Times, Themes, Twitter, Ubuntu, WebKit, Windows 7, Windows CE

I debated whether or not I should skip ahead to #14, but I’m not really that superstitious.

General

• SitePoint mentions Firefox, IE and Chrome as “three important browsers to watch” heading into 2010.
• The Windows Club lists 25 (or 26?) web browsers for Windows, many of which have been covered here to some extent.
• Someone important in the history of web browsers, rendering engines, etc., has retired.
• Apparently IE and Firefox users are more likely to click on ads than Safari and Chrome users.

Chrome

• The stable version of Chrome was recently updated to address some crashes.
• As previously mentioned on Twitter, Chrome has overtaken Safari in browser market share, moving into 3rd place overall.
• Though not surprising at all, Chrome extensions are popular with users and developers.
• Google wants you to give Chrome for Christmas.

Firefox

• Apparently envious of Firefox’s use of national park names as codenames, the Thunderbird team has started using the names of beaches as codenames.  No telling if they’ll take their codenames as seriously as Firefox does, though.
• Firefox 3.5.6 was released this week.
• You can take a look at some of Firefox’s top startup bugs, which, once fixed, could improve startup time by 10% in some cases, and up to 25% in at least one case.
• Someone at Mozilla Links has a conspiracy theory about the Red Panda that recently showed up on Bing.
• There’s a Firefox Mobile video on YouTube that needs a little less talk and a little more action, but it’s interesting nonetheless (via Web Browser News and Reviews).

Internet Explorer

• Giorgio Sardo offers up a look at HTML 5 support in IE8.

Opera

• Opera’s CEO has some thoughts on the way things played out with Microsoft’s antitrust case in Europe.
• Opera Mini 5 beta 2 is now available in 26 languages.

The Minor Players

• Avant Browser 11.7 Build 42 was released on Friday.
• AOL Explorer, Maxthon, K-Meleon, Flock, Avant, Sleipnir, and Slim Browser are among the IE alternatives listed in Browsing the browsers: Internet Explorer’s rivals (most likely based on this news).
• TheWorld Browser features a “multi-threaded frame” and “web page mute,” which allows you to disable all sound on a web page via one button.
• Someone made a Korean “translation” for Maxthon.
• This thread clears up why you might see multiple processes running when you use Maxthon (though you can probably guess).
• A YouTube video brought my attention to CometBird, which appears to be a close cousin of Firefox that not many people know about.
• Sunrise, a “web browser for web developers,” has reached version 2.0.2.
• A browser named Vinageer is claimed to be the “third most used web browser in Australia,” and yet the only articles I can find on it appear to be written in French.
• As one might expect, the Flock folks are excited to be included in Microsoft’s coming “browser ballot.”
• Maxthon reached the 300 million download milestone on November 28th.
• Skyfire Mobile Browser 1.5 was released last week with improvements made to their video support.  You can see a short video explaining the new improvements on Vimeo.

Tags: Add-ons, AOL Explorer, Avant, Bing, Christmas, Chrome, Codenames, CometBird, Crashes, Extensions, Features, Firefox, Firefox Mobile, Flock, HTML5, IE, IE8, Jon von Tetzchner, K-Meleon, Korean, Localization, Market Share, Maxthon, Microsoft, Multi-process, Opera, Opera Mini, Performance, Red Panda, Releases, Retirement, Skyfire, Sleipnir, Slim Browser, Sunrise, TheWorld Browser, Thunderbird, Users, Vinageer

The big news in the browsersphere today is that European regulators have dropped their antitrust case against Microsoft after the company agreed to offer European users of Windows a “ballot screen” allowing them to choose from 11 alternate web browsers.  Internet Explorer will continue to be an option, of course, but the following browsers will also be available as choices for the users:  Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, AOL Explorer, Maxthon, K-Meleon, Flock, Avant Browser, Sleipnir and Slim Browser.

For more on the stipulations of the deal, be sure to read the coverage from The New York Times (via @MaxthonNews).

Tags: Alternatives, Antitrust, AOL Explorer, Avant Browser, Chrome, Europe, Firefox, Flock, IE, Internet Explorer, K-Meleon, Legal, Maxthon, Microsoft, Opera, Safari, Sleipnir, Slim Browser, The New York Times

Whoa.  Has it really been like eight months since the last time we went around the browsersphere?  Not good.  I guess we should do something about it…

General

• Lifehacker recently put the major players through some browser speed tests after some boasting by the Safari 4 folks.
• In Mobile Browser Wars, Ed Hansberry takes a look at the browser alternatives available for mobile devices (via Web Browsers News and Reviews).
• Ten Web Browsers that You May Have Never Heard of covers iRider, Lunascape, Ultrabrowser and Shiira, among others.

Avant Browser

• Avant Browser 11.7 Build 22, which appears to be a minor release, was released back on the 26th.

Camino

• Camino 2.0 Beta 2 was released back on the 27th.
• If you’re interested in the Camino schedule, get updated.

Chrome

• Read about improvements in the spellchecker used in Chrome.
• It is believed that extension support is coming to Chrome this May (via Web Browsers News and Reviews).
• See the first screenshots of Chrome running on Mac.
• Full-screen browsing has come to Chrome, but apparently doesn’t live up to the way the feature is supported in Firefox and IE7.

Firefox

• Daniel Glazman takes an in-depth look at monetizing Firefox extensions.
• A new mascot, Foxmosa, was recently added to the Mozilla family.
• Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog discusses the Firefox 3.1/3.5 release schedule and how advancements in other web browsers’ JavaScript engines have impacted the schedule.
• Some interesting file uploading ideas came up at a recent Firefox design lunch.
• Jesse Ruderman sheds some insight into the issues surrounding “continuous integration,” which from what I can tell involves how and when code is checked in and how build machines and tinderbox displays are impacted.
• John Slater, Creative Director at Mozilla, is looking for an intern.
• Take a look at the Mozilla Community Calendar.
• Firefox 3.0.7 was recently released.
• At first it was under consideration, and then the decision was made to version the Shiretoko release of Firefox, formally versioned as 3.1, as version 3.5.
• Here’s a granular look at the type of minor performance improvements that eventually make a web browser faster overall.
• Gotta love bugs that are simply titled things like “Make location bar autocomplete faster” and “Make location bar autocomplete even faster.”
• There is a call “for new Web apps that can help people make a difference while browsing the Web.”
• Is Firefox faster on Windows or Linux?
• Firefox is dominating in Antarctica.

Flock

• Apparently the Flock folks thought Flock would make a good Valentine’s Day gift?  Personally, I’m glad I didn’t heed their advice for my wife’s gift this year.   Though, it looks like the Flock folks weren’t the only ones with this bright idea.
• “People using Flock’s Eco-Edition conducted 80% more searches per user as compared to Flock’s overall population of users.”

Internet Explorer

• The Cost of Internet Explorer attempts to track all the “wasted time and effort” on the part of web developers trying to make websites compatible with IE.
• IE8’s Compatibility View explained (and a recap).
• IE8 Beta testers are making a difference.
• It’s not every day anymore that you see browsers like Internet Explorer 4 and 5.5 mentioned.
• An IE8 Reliability Update has been made available for Windows 7 users (like myself) who are using IE8 (unlike myself).
• It looks like the IE team will be pretty busy at MIX09.
• Check out a video that goes into detail about IE8’s new rendering engine (via Robert O’Callahan).
• Here’s a comparison between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of IE7.
• Is the codename for IE9 “Triton?”
• Sarah Dutkiewicz wonders why Microsoft is held to a different standard when it comes to bundling IE with its operating system, Windows.

Maxthon

• Check out a chromed-out Maxthon icon.
• I think MaxthonGuy and I may have reached some kind of virtual truce.  That is, until the next time the madness reappears over at his blog.
• Learn how to use the custom search feature in Maxthon (via Maxthon Resources).
• A new version of Maxthon 2.5 was released recently.
• At least one Maxthon user is frustrated that his favorite browser isn’t included in the browser reviews found in PC magazines, etc.

Opera

• Avencius’ coverage of the Opera 9.64 release uncovers some details about some platform-specific code that should make Windows users’ browsing experiences more secure.
• Opera unveiled Opera Turbo last month at Mobile World Congress 2009 and it was later discussed at Opera Watch.
• Take a look at a speed comparison between the browsers developed for the Nintendo DS and the DSi.
• Similar to my recent post about various web browser vendors claiming ‘First!’, Choose Opera touches on the topic of whether it matters who developed a feature first or not.  Then, the very next day, they answered their own question.
• Opera Fingertouch is “a technology designed to make interacting with the Web easier and simpler on touch-based devices.”
• Apparently there is a demand out there for making Opera look like IE7 (via Daniel Glazman).
• Check out the Carakan FAQ for more information on Opera’s new JavaScript engine (via Opera Watch).
• Combining Opera with a touch UI.

Opera Mini

• Armenia, a country with around three million people, saw its Opera Mini usage grow by 2800% last year.  See this and other interesting statistics in the State of the Mobile Web report (via Choose Opera).
• “Yahoo! is expected to begin distributing Opera Mini via Yahoo! Mobile and also as a standalone download from Yahoo!’s mobile Web sites in the near future.”

Orca Browser

• The first build of Orca Browser 1.1, Build 1, was released back on the 25th.

Safari

• Avencius’ review of Safari 4 Beta is a very positive one, and some details regarding branding of the new JavaScript engine are ironed out in the comments.

SeaMonkey

• Read a draft of the new SeaMonkey vision (via Mozilla Developer News).
• SeaMonkey 2.0 Alpha 3 was released this past week.

Skyfire

• Skyfire 0.9 Beta was released back on the 12th.

There was a lot to cover this time around, and there’s much more I haven’t yet covered.  Hopefully that means we’ll see the 13th installment of “Around the Browsersphere” sooner than November.

Tags: Add-ons, Avant, Avencius, Beta, Bugs, Camino, Carakan, Chrome, Compatibility, Compatibility View, Daniel Glazman, Design, Extensions, Features, Firefox, Flock, IE7, IE8, IE9, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 4, Internet Explorer 5.5, iRider, Jesse Ruderman, John Slater, Linux, Lunascape, Mac, Market Share, Mascots, Maxthon, Maxthon 2.5, MaxthonGuy, Minor Players, MIX09, Mobile, Monetizing, Mozilla, Nintendo, Opera, Opera 9.64, Opera Fingertouch, Opera Mini, Opera Turbo, Orca, Performance, Releases, Rendering Engines, Safari 4 Beta, Schedules, Screenshots, SeaMonkey, SeaMonkey 2.0, Security, Shiira, Shiretoko, Skins, Skyfire, State of the Mobile Web, Themes, Touch, Triton, Ultrabrowser, Windows 7

Since my last installment of Around the Browsersphere was posted back toward the beginning of May, there’s simply way too much going on to get all caught up without breaking things up a bit.  Therefore, this eleventh edition will focus solely on the “minor players,” or the web browsers not named Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari.

Avant

• There’ve been about four builds (builds 17-20) of Avant Browser 11.6 released in the past month.
• The Download Blog recommends Avant Browser for “XP users who want a Microsoft-based engine but think that Internet Explorer 7 is a pain.”
• A commenter at Lifehacker points out that Firefox 3’s new fullscreen mode is old news to Avant users.

Flock

• A Mac OS X user moving away from Firefox was pleasantly surprised by and subsequently switched to Flock.
• The Flock blog has announced support for a “deeply localized” version of Flock for German users.

Konqueror

• Linux Hater’s Blog, which I was referred to via Ben Goodger’s blog, rips into some of the usability shortcomings in Konqueror.
• Ruben Schade wonders why the evolt browser archive doesn’t include past versions of Konqueror.
• An Ubuntu user is trying to figure out how to clear Konqueror’s find file history.
• Tork allows you to browse anonymously in Konqueror (and other browsers?).
• Someone thinks that the folks who are triaging Konqueror bugs are contributing to more bugs being fixed than opened in KDE recently.
• Karpion is a Konqueror add-on that “utili[z]es the Open Phishing Database to provide the user with information and tools that help protect against phishing.”
• Someone thinks IE gets something right that Konqueror doesn’t…but that’s about all said person has to say.
• A site called Echoes explains how to add new web shortcuts in Konqueror.
• In a review of Konqueror 3.5.9, the same site calls Konqueror “the great Swiss knife.”
• Over a month ago, Konqueror got support for crash session recovery and session management.

Maxthon

• A sometimes-on-the-verge-of-incomprehensible blog (case in point) suggests that Maxthon is the mathmatical equivalent of IE added to Firefox.
• Maxthon’s CEO, Jeff Chen, has been quoted as saying that they are working on porting Maxthon to Linux (via Maxthon Blog).
• One user thinks Maxthon may be a good browser for translators.
• Another user thinks Maxthon and Firefox have different core goals.
• Someone created a Maxthon logo in “cool” colors.
• There’s a list of requested features from Maxthon 1.x that aren’t in Maxthon 2 in the Maxthon forum.
• Here’s some information on where you can go to chat with fellow Maxthon fans/users.
• Here are some interesting opinions stated as facts, if you’re into that sort of thing.
• Rod Trent was counting down the days ’til he could stop using Firefox 3, but he has enjoyed using Maxthon.
• This blog suggests that Maxthon is the best alternative to Internet Explorer.
• Here’s a friendly discussion on the differences between Maxthon Classic and Firefox 3 and Maxthon 2 and Firefox 2.

SeaMonkey

• The SeaMonkey team has started having semi-weekly status meetings.
• SeaMonkey 1.1.10 was released last week.

Others

• In a request for feedback on Avant, someone mentioned Deepnet Explorer, which claims to be “the world’s first browser with RSS news reader, P2P client integration and phishing alarm.”
• Orca Browser, which has been covered here previously, appears to have resurfaced a week ago as a form of Avant utilizing Gecko 1.9 – the same rendering engine used in Firefox 3 – as opposed to Avant’s use of the Trident rendering engine from Internet Explorer.
• Web Worker Daily points to the Off By One Browser, which has “a footprint of about a megabyte.”  I think I may have mentioned it here before because I recognize the website, but it doesn’t hurt to drop its name here again.

I’m hoping to catch up on the major players soon, so stay tuned.

Tags: Add-ons, Avant, Ben Goodger, Deepnet Explorer, Extensions, Features, Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Flock, Gecko, Gecko 1.9, IE7, Internet Explorer, Konqueror, Linux, Localization, Mac, Maxthon, Maxthon 2, Minor Players, Off By One, Opinion, OS X, Phishing, Releases, SeaMonkey, Trident, Ubuntu

Hot on the heels of Firefox 3 potentially being released, I noticed (via Twitter again) that the Flock team has made Flock 2.0 Beta 1, which is based off of the Firefox 3 codebase, available for download.  The key advancements being touted with the beta release are performance, security, the user interface, favorites management and general feature enhancements.

I’ve yet to give Flock a try myself, but this may be the time to do it.  Flock 2.0 Beta 1 is available for download for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Tags: Beta, Favorites, Features, Firefox, Firefox 3, Flock, Flock 2, Linux, Mac, Performance, Security, Twitter, User Interface, Windows

Sebastiaan de With (remember him?) pointed out via Twitter today an online teaser for a new browser called Mecca.

According to the teaser page, Mecca is meant to be a social browser for Mac OS X.  Keep in mind that Flock has been getting a lot of traction lately (if Twitter traffic is any indication) and it is already available for Mac OS X.

I’m going to see what else I can find out about Mecca.  It definitely looks pretty from what I can tell in the screenshot.  I’m interested in finding out what it is planned to support that Flock already doesn’t.

Tags: Features, Flock, Mac, Mecca, Screenshots, Sebastiaan de With, Social, Twitter

There are some rumblings in the browsersphere as of late with a Firefox 3 RC1 release right around the corner, news that the latest service pack for XP isn’t compatible with a pre-installed IE8 Beta 1, etc.  So let’s get caught up.

General

• Any web browser review that uses phrases like “donkey’s years,” “boffins” and “heebie-jeebies” is worth a read, isn’t it?
• Jeremy Keith has written a good summary of some of the more recent innovations in web browsers, including support for CSS3, HTML 5, ARIA, etc.
• TechRadar.com has compiled a list of the top eight alternative web browsers, which includes a few interesting minor players I hadn’t heard of before.
• The Washington Post reports that hackers are starting to focus their sights on Firefox and Safari rather than their usual victim, Internet Explorer (via Digg).

Avant

• One user thinks Avant is brilliant; another thinks it’s the worst browser.

Firefox

• Andy Atkinson demonstrates how CSS3 rounded corner rendering has improved from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3.
• Something for those who like mozzarrella on their Firefox…I guess?
• Be mindful of your warranty in Firefox 3.
• The Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog, which just celebrated its 2nd birthday, has some tips on how to remove stuff from the Firefox 3 UI.
• Michael Kaply shares his thoughts on Firefox branding.
• A Firefox screencast contest will kick off on May 19th (via Mozilla Developer News).
• The Firefox 3 themes now have names.
• Firefox had an encounter with Tron Guy at ROFLcon.
• The Firefox team is currently accepting last-minute changes to and suggestions for the Firefox 3 credits.
• Work on the next version of Gecko appears to be starting to pick up steam.
• Asa Dotzler cleared up some misconceptions about a Vietnamese Language Pack at the For the Record blog.
• Read up on site identification in Firefox 3.
• Firefox pulled in quite a win in LinuxJournal’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
• An Opera user believes that “Mozilla has vastly improved their product [in Firefox 3 Beta 5].”
• Firefox market share continues to climb in Europe (via Digg).

Flock

• “Flock is the baddest ass browser for internet losers.”
• Flock won a webby for social networking.

Internet Explorer

• One user got some help implementing a liquid faux column layout in IE7.
• Dariusz Siedlecki thinks that IE8’s “rendering model is…too precise.”
• IE8 will feature per-user ActiveX.
• Lifehacker walks you through how to get Firefox’s “best” features in Internet Explorer.
• Security researcher Aviv Raff has uncovered a 0day vulnerability in Internet Explorer but has hidden it somewhere on his blog rather than disclosing its details outright (via Digg).

Konqueror

• KDelicious adds del.icio.us functionality to the right-click menu in Konqueror.
• Don’t confuse Konqueror with Conkeror.
• Some information on running Python scripts directly from Konqueror.
• Apparently the WordPress visual editor doesn’t work correctly in Konqueror.
• It sounds like the spellchecking in Konqueror (and KDE) leaves something to be desired.
• Perhaps it goes without saying, but some KHTML and Konqueror bugs have been being dealt with.
• There are some comparisons between Konqueror and Firefox over in an Ubuntu forum.
• Neither Opera nor Konqueror got much love in the Readers’ Choice Awards 2008 (Linux).
• One user claims that Konqueror is excellent for dealing with cookies.
• Epiphany will be following in the footsteps of Konqueror and switching to WebKit.

Maxthon

• One user ponders why there are so many more Firefox ads than Maxthon ads.
• Disabling Ad Hunter can help with cookie-related problems in Maxthon and maybe others as well.
• It sounds like, in some cases at least, Maxthon’s ad-blocking may be too good.
• Maxthon’s support for cached images may not have parity with Opera.
• If you’re interested in the history of Maxthon, one blog has a pretty good synopsis.

Opera

• The latest Opera snapshots have gotten more efficient thanks to something called profile-guided optimization.
• Opera announced a specification for File I/O access in widgets.
• Opera 9.5 Beta 2 was recently reviewed by ars technica (via Digg).

Opera Mini

• The Opera Mini 4 servers were recently upgraded with some improvements, specifically around RSS feed support.
• Opera Mini 4.1 is scheduled to be released this coming week (and there’s a summary of the new features listed at Opera Watch).

Safari

• Safari tripled its market share on Windows in April (although the statistics in question have been brought up for debate).

Minor Players

• A forum post points to two lightweight browsers, Scope and NetWorker, the former of which claims to take up only 250k of disk space.
• HydraBrowser is another IE shell that apparently utilizes user interface elements similar to those in Office 2007 products.
• Watch the ACE browser as its implemented in Visual Studio 2008.
• There’s a heated debate on whether a Zune browser would be possible or usable.
• Leet Browser allows you to multitask with non-gaming applications from within your game (via Digg).
• GeneNET Web Browser is “hack-proof” and there is a screenshot available.
• Sunrise is billed as a web browser for web developers and utilizes the KHTML rendering engine (see screenshot).
• BigScreenLive is geared toward the elderly and “computer-phobics.”
• WebGoo 4 is 70% faster.  Than what?  I couldn’t tell you.
• Have a look at the web browser on the HTC Touch Diamond (Blip.tv video).
• OWB is a web browser for CE devices that is based on KHTML.
• Midori is another browser billed as “lightweight” and it utilizes WebKit under the hood.  There’s a pretty good review of the browser and its potential over at Associated Content.
• Read about how Shiira has plans to overtake Safari on Macs.
• Someone spotted a browser called DeepFish in a YouTube video.
• IBM is working on a voice-controlled web browser called Spoken Web.

Web Standards

• The WHATWG wiki has a list (or an attempt at a list) of all known implementations of HTML 5 in today’s web browsers.
• Writing web browsers can apparently lead you to hate the W3C with a “purple throbbing passion.”
• Dave Hyatt implemented support for CSS Gradients in WebKit in about four days (via Daniel Glazman).  Support for CSS Reflections (web developers are going to go nuts with this one) and CSS Masks has been implemented as well.
• Read a bit about “CSS Qualified Selectors” and why they’re a pain in the butt (via CSS3 . Info).
• Mark Pilgrim wrote a particularly scathing article concerning Mozilla’s approach to the Acid3 test, which is perhaps best observed in blog posts from Mike Shaver and David Baron.  It’s an interesting read; form opinions as you will.

Holy cow.  That’s a lot of information.  The browsersphere is a bustling place.  Hopefully you found something useful in all that.

Tags: Acid3, Avant, BigScreenLive, Branding, CSS3, Dave Hyatt, Deepfish, Epiphany, Extensions, Firefox, Flock, GeneNET, History, HTML 5, Hydra Browser, IE7, IE8, KHTML, Konqueror, Leet Browser, Linux, Mac, Maxthon, NetWorker, Opera, OWB, Reviews, Safari, Scope, Security, Shiira, Spoken Web, Sunrise, Vulnerabilities, W3C, WebGoo, WebKit

Last time around, I didn’t get any feedback on the format of these “Around the Browsersphere” posts, so I’ll give a slightly more organized approach a try and we’ll see how it goes.

Camino

• Camino 1.6, which features a customizable toolbar search field, software update capabilities, a scrolling tab bar, etc., was released on the 17th.

Firefox

• Fuzzbot is a Firefox extention that is “useful for detecting embedded semantic information in web pages and performing actions on that semantic data” (via Microformats).
• Firefox Mastery discusses changing the fonts in Firefox.
• Asa Dotzler attempts to clear up some confusion around add-on installations and required logins.
• Chris Beard gives an update on what’s going on at Mozilla Labs.
• Popular extension Adblock Plus is now compatible with the Firefox 3 betas.
• Deb Richardson gave an excellent overview of bookmarks in Firefox 3 (and did a little damage once her post showed up on Digg).
• Find out how you can help beta test the new Mozilla.com redesign.
• Daniel Glazman figured out how to avoid extension version compatability in Firefox.
• Take a look at the Firefox 3 t-shirt design contest winner.
• Firefox’s market share continues to rise in Europe.
• Paul Kim discusses marketing plans as the release of Firefox 3 nears.
• Robert O’Callahan on the turned-off-by-default ActiveX hosting support in Firefox.
• Firefox was apparently spotted in outer space.

Flock

• Flock is apparently delivering on promises.

Internet Explorer

• IEBlog gives some tips on improving performance in Internet Explorer add-ons.
• Read up on HTML and DOM standards compliance in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

Konqueror

• Some improvements are being made to the error pages in Konqueror.

Maxthon

• Read up on the Maxthon Downloader.
• There’s a new IRC channel for Maxthon enthusiasts.
• Some felt there was perhaps some foul play involved when Maxthon won a Webware 100 award, but the Maxthon Blog certainly didn’t think so.
• One user’s in-depth tale of a switch from Maxthon to Firefox.

Mozilla

• You can download some really old Mozilla versions from the Mozilla Archive.
• Mozilla celebrated its 10th birthday last month (more here and here).

Opera and Opera Mini

• Opera was the first to 106 in the Acid3 test
• A version of Opera Mini has been created to work on Google’s Android platform.
• Indexing and searching in Opera 9.5 explained.
• With Daniel Goldman moving on to bigger and better things, the Opera Watch team is changing.
• David Storey has shed a little more light on Opera Dragonfly.

Safari

• Non-Safari users were none too pleased about some of Apple’s recent software update techniques (more links to evidence at Asa Dotzler’s blog).
• It looks like HTML5’s client-side database storage may be coming to Safari and the iPhone.
• Safari 3 was compared to Firefox 3 (from a Mac user’s perspective) over at Daring Fireball.
• WebKit hackers will be busy in this year’s Summer of Code.
• PayPal says they won’t be blocking Safari users from accessing their site.
• Some Safari-related stats would be better served more carefully worded

SeaMonkey

• Some SeaMonkey contributors recently got together for a Hack’n'Cook.

Minor Players

• There is a whole bunch of minor players (and the major ones, too) listed in “A wealth of browsers.”
• GreenBrowser is “lightest on resources” of the IE clones, according to one forum post.
• Interesting abstract about a tactile web browser for the visually disabled.
• Interested in a little web browser history trivia?

Tags: Add-ons, Beta, Camino, Digg, Extensions, Firefox, Flock, Internet Explorer, iPhone, Konqueror, Mac, Market Share, Maxthon, Microformats, Minor Players, Mozilla, Opera, Opera Mini, Releases, Safari, SeaMonkey, Stats, Web Standards, WebKit

Flock announced earlier this week the release of an Eco-Edition of their “social browser:”

With the growing interest in environmental topics, Flock’s Eco-Edition browser is the best of Green Content across the Internet, bundled into one single download, continuing to deliver fresh and relevant content daily. Flock will donate 10% of the proceeds of the Eco-Edition browser at the end of 2008, and as a recognition of the power of community to create change, will allow users of the Eco-Edition to select the recipient of this donation.

The environmentally-conscious version of the browser is available for Windows, Mac and Linux and can be downloaded directly from the Eco-Edition website.

Tags: Customized, Flock, Releases