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’ve been doing my best to keep my finger on the pulse of the browsersphere over on Twitter, but you know you’re not getting the real deal until we go “around the browsersphere.”

General

• In addition to needing an editor (”sometimes you a specialist”), Macworld may need to take a look at the latest browser market share figures.  They mention Chrome almost in passing while covering what some of the alternative browsers do better than Firefox and Safari.
• At a WebKit hackfest recently, some improvements were made to context menu handling, including the ability to hold the CTRL key while right-clicking to see the default context menu instead of any custom context menu provided by the current website.  Additionally, some include- and linking-related improvements were made to decrease the overall WebCore build time, which should come as good news to those 80 active WebKit committers.
• Avencius has some interesting thoughts on the competition between Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome and suggests that, despite their lead in browser market share, the Mozilla folks should be worried.
• Some videos from Add-on-Con feature representatives for Chrome, Firefox and Safari and delve into topics such as browser security and mobile add-ons (via Dan Moore).
• Royal Pingdom takes a look at what 2010 has in store for the browsersphere.

Chrome

• In a LinuxCrunch review of the Linux version of Chrome (via Slashdot), it is touted as being “stable and fast,” but downsides such as lacking extension and RSS support are mentioned as well.  Additionally, there’s an interesting note about a KDE-related bug that Google has opted not to fix.

Firefox

• An article at TG Daily (via Digg) calls Firefox “clunky-looking” and says that the news Firefox 4 may not ship until 2011 “comes as some embarrassment for Mozilla.”  It goes even further to claim that Microsoft will now have a “clear advantage” over Mozilla and “bit-players” Chrome and Safari.
• An RC1 build of Fennec, the mobile version of Firefox covered here recently, was released tonight.
• You can get a feel for some of Mozilla’s plans for Firefox in the coming year over at Mozilla Links.
• If you long for the good-old-days of Netscape, you’re crazy the new Rebrand add-on may be right up your alley.
• If you’re experiencing some jumpiness with YouTube videos, The Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog has some tips on fixing the problem.
• Daniel Glazman has some thoughts on how notifications in Firefox could be improved.
• If you’re one of those “Danger is my middle name” types of folks, you can already start testing multi-process plugins in Firefox on Windows and Linux.
• As you may have heard, Firefox 3.5 is “the most popular browser in the world.”

Internet Explorer

• Tweak Internet Explorer with IE Tweaker.
• One Betanews reader wants Microsoft to “release [an] HTML5 and CCS3 compliant IE9 by June with a radically new UI.”
• FavBrowser.com points us to some videos from IE9’s JavaScript engine team, namely John Montgomery, Steve Lucco and Shanku Niyogi.

Opera

• In its coverage of Opera’s added support for CSS3 Transitions and 2D Transforms in the pre-alpha build of Opera 10.5, CSS3 . Info mentions that “Opera is the first browser to offer support for Backgrounds and Borders without the need for a vendor prefix, with Firefox and Safari still requiring ‘-moz’ and ‘-webkit’ [respectively].”
• With the pre-alpha release of Opera 10.5, Anne van Kesteren says “we are getting a little better at this iteration stuff.”
• A couple of articles (via Slashdot), Opera 10.50 Unveiled: Opera Is Once Again the Fastest Browser on Earth and Opera 10.5’s new Carakan Javascript engine is fast – Google Chrome fast, go into detail about the impressive performance of Opera’s new Carakan JavaScript engine (which I’ve mentioned here a few times in the past).
• True to form, Opera Watch has a solid rundown on Opera 10.5 pre-alpha as well.
• In reporting on Opera’s State of the Mobile Web report from November, TechCrunch relays that Russia is the top country for Opera Mini usage, but that usage is really growing in Asia and Africa.
• Even though I think it’s a cool feature (which admittedly takes some getting used to), FavBrowser.com lends a hand to those who want to turn off Opera 10.5’s tab thumbnails in Windows 7 (I’m sure this approach works for Safari as well).
• The Opera Core Concerns blog provides some details on Opera’s native support for JSON, including performance comparisons against the other main browsers.
• In Carakan Revisited, improvements made to the Carakan JavaScript engine over the previous Furthark engine are discussed, mainly focusing on garbage collection and caching.  The post also touches on some of the plans for future improvements.
• A New Year’s Eve post unveils a newer pre-alpha build of Opera 10.5 and discusses Opera’s new support for HTML5’s <video> tag.
• Introduce yourself to mouse gestures in Opera.
• If you’re excited about the pre-alpha builds of Opera 10.5, you can show it off with some wallpaper.

Minor Players

• SeaMonkey 2.0.1 was released as a security update this month.
• Now that Avant has been listed as one of the browsers to appear on Microsoft’s browser ballot screen, they need translation help.
• One Maxthon user thinks the browser is so cute that there should be a Windows 7 theme based on it.

There’s a lot more to cover, but that should hold you over until 2010.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Tags: 2D Transforms, Add-on-Con, Add-ons, Africa, Alternatives, Anne van Kesteren, Asia, Avant, Avencius, Carakan, Chrome, Comparisons, CSS, CSS3, CSS3 Transitions, Daniel Glazman, Delays, Development, Digg, Fennec, Firefox, Firefox 4, Furthark, Google, Google Chrome, HTML5, IE Tweaker, IE9, Internet Explorer, John Montgomery, JSON, Localization, Macworld, Maxthon, Microsoft, Mouse Gestures, Mozilla, Multi-process, Netscape, Notifications, Opera 10.5, Opera Mini, Performance, Reviews, Russia, Safari, SeaMonkey, Shanku Niyogi, Slashdot, State of the Mobile Web, Steve Lucco, TechCrunch, Twitter, Vendor Prefixes, Videos, Wallpapers, WebKit, Windows 7, YouTube

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

All the nonsense aside, now that it seems like multi-process architectures are beginning to surface in the world of web browser development, I thought it would be a good idea to dig in to the feature a bit and, at the very least, provide links to some useful information for those who are interested in what multi-process architectures mean for web browsers.

One of the more notable features included in the unveiling of Google’s Chrome was what Google refers to as “Crash Control.”  This feature allows for a “Windows Task Manager” type of interface for managing web browser processes.  Aside from providing the interface for explicit management of the running (or dying) processes, it is also meant to shield tabs within the same running instance of the browser chrome (for lack of a better word) from any issues arising in other concurrently running tabs.  In essence, when you accidentally load a web page in one tab that was developed using Microsoft Word, you don’t have to worry about the severe code bloat of the page bringing your other tabs to a screeching halt.  Or if the JavaScript of one page goes off into la-la land, you won’t necessarily lose any of the other non-offending tabs.

Months after this feature was unveiled in Chrome, it was announced as a feature of Maxthon under the name “The Isolator:”

Maxthon 2.5.1…includes a feature called The Isolator that separates the functions of each Web tab from all other tabs and other parts of the browser. The Isolator protects other tabs from also becoming frozen because a single unresponsive tab is monopolizing a computer’s resources.

Though it certainly wasn’t the first implementation (despite what MaxthonGuy might want you to believe), The Isolator is one of the first official implementations of a multi-process architecture among the web browsers that actually show up on the Browsersphere radar.  Unlike Chrome’s “Crash Control,” though, The Isolator is still considered to be “in advanced beta.”

Other than the press release, I wasn’t able to find much on Maxthon’s actual implementation.  On the other hand, there has been plenty of coverage on Chrome’s implementation.  Marc Chung, for example, does an excellent job of explaining Chrome’s process model.  He even goes so far as to show you how you can control the type of process model used by Chrome at launch time.  He also points to another interesting article from Chromium Blog that explains why Chrome uses the multi-process architecture and why the architecture is more relevant today than it was when web browsers were first created, and refers to a publication from which Chrome’s process model was derived.

Though the multi-process architecture has been heralded by many web users, it isn’t without its downsides.  Google Chrome Memory Usage – Good and Bad explains the trade-offs of separating tabs into their own distinct processes, including the following:

While the multi-process model provides clear robustness and performance benefits, it can also be a setback in terms of using the absolute smallest amount of memory. Since each tab is its own “sandboxed” process, tabs cannot share information easily. Any data structures needed for general rendering of web pages must be replicated to each tab.

For more information on Chrome’s implementation of the multi-process architecture from both a developer’s and end user’s perspective, I recommend checking out the following links:

• Chromium Developer Documentation – Process Models
• Developers and Webmasters: Task Manager
• Crash Control (Video)
• How can my web page open a new tab in a separate process?

And finally, here are some other multi-process-related links related to web browsers other than Maxthon and Chrome:

• The Firefox Process Model
• Download Stainless for Mac – Multi-process web browser
• Evidence tabs will get more attention in future Firefox releases
• Google Chrome vs. Internet Explorer 8 (note the mention that IE8 Beta 2 may have beaten Chrome to the punch, albeit with a slightly different approach to the overall architecture)
• IE8 and Loosely-Coupled IE (LCIE)
• Making Firefox More Robust (interestingly enough, this is from the author of the aforelinked publication, Charlie Reis)

Tags: Architecture, Charlie Reis, Chrome, Chromium Blog, Crash Control, Firefox, Google Chrome, IE8, Maxthon, MaxthonGuy, Multi-process, Performance, Stainless, The Isolator

I always get a kick out of reading the Maxthon Blog because some of the claims made about either Maxthon or its competitor web browsers are so outlandish.  This time around, a press release was posted claiming the following:

Maxthon’s engineers redesigned the browser’s framework so that each tab associated with a Web site works independent of each other. With that new architecture, if a tab becomes unresponsive for any reason, the other tabs and the browser are unaffected. The computer user can continue to browse normally and can refresh, reopen, or close the tab that is creating problems.

“Basically, our technology separates the tab and the browser,” said Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon. “That [sic] why the tab’s problem will not affect the browser’s performance, and so the browser can be a better environment to run Web application in tabs.

“As far as I know, no other major browser has such a feature,” Chen said.

I can understand making a claim like that last one in a press release, since you’re trying to set yourself apart from the competition.  Plus, Jeff Chen said “as far as I know,” which at least keeps the claim from being matter-of-fact.  However, I think it’s pretty inexcusable to make such matter-of-fact claims directly on your product’s blog when common knowledge suggests the opposite.

Before posting the aforelinked press release, the following was posted to the Maxthon Blog:

“…other browsers without [Maxthon's new feature] The Isolator – which would be, let’s see…. All of them. – can’t protect their tabs the way Max does.”

When an astute (or at least, non-delusional) commenter mentioned Google Chrome as a browser already supporting this feature, MaxthonGuy, the persona behind the madness that is Maxthon Blog, had this to say:

“Chrome does have a feature, Crash Control, that has a purpose similar to that of The Isolator. But the two technologies work differently, and Crash Control can’t save you from the Flash-inspired crashes that The Isolator blocks.”

So I guess if a feature has been implemented differently, then it doesn’t actually exist in any other browser.  Using that logic, I suppose Internet Explorer was the first web browser to support tabbed browsing.  But don’t worry, Firefox and Safari fans, your browsers were, too – despite what Opera or NetCaptor might have to say about it!

I just had to get this absurdity out of the way before I post a more in-depth look at multi-process architectures in web browsers.

Tags: Architecture, Chrome, Crash Control, Features, History, Maxthon, Maxthon Blog, MaxthonGuy, Multi-process, NetCaptor, Tabs, The Isolator

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

In a few blog posts I’ve read recently, I’ve witnessed at least two backers of separate web browsers claiming that their respective browsers have an edge over Firefox because they don’t require all the add-ons Firefox does in order to behave the way a user expects them to.

First off, over at the Maxthon Blog last week, a Maxthon user was quoted as having said the following about Firefox 3:

I’m sure Firefox has add-ons that can compensate for its apparent lack of features but…my hard drive says it was nice knowing you but you have to go.

Given that the Maxthon Blog reminds me of a certain other source of information, I took the opinions there with a grain of salt.  However, I soon spotted a similar refrain at a much more trustworthy source.

Opera Watch has an article titled Guardian: Forget Firefox – I’m going back to Opera for browsing and email which quotes The Guardian columnist Andrew Brown as having said the following of Firefox 3:

With the release of Firefox 3, I mounted a private celebration: I went back to using Opera 9.5 as my main browser. This wasn’t just perversity. Firefox without its add-ons is clearly inferior to Opera. Firefox with enough add-ons to make it really useful is very much slower.

Although the reasoning behind Firefox’s add-on architecture has been well-publicized by Firefox spokesmen like Asa Dotzler and there are obviously those out there who appreciate that architecture, it appears that the latest approach by those supporting other web browsers is to suggest that the add-ons approach to feature support contributes to both a lackluster default set of features and excessive bloat once the desired features have been added.

So what’s your take?  Is Firefox’s add-on approach the right approach, or is it better to try and target a larger set of features out-of-the-box?

Tags: Add-ons, Asa Dotzler, Comparisons, Extensions, Firefox, Firefox 3, Maxthon, Maxthon Blog, Opera, Opera 9.5, Opinion, The Guardian, Twitter

An interesting article over at Mobinode sheds some light on the current state of the browser wars in China.  The following is an excerpt:

There is no doubt that Maxthon is still the No.1 Chinese browser in the market, but we can see that the competition is getting more intense. Tencent has its so called TT browser bundled with QQ for a long time, Firefox is more and more accepted by high educated Internet users; If you search for ["Browser" in Chinese], there are a couple of Chinese browsers which are good alternatives. I have tried one called EnjoyIE developed by a team based in Beijing. Even though the founder told me that he was doing this for his own interest, but the fact is that this browser has already got 2 millions users and for me it is working even faster than Maxthon.

The article also goes on to discuss the mobile space, in which an up-and-coming browser called UCWeb is showing promise with upwards of 25 million users.

Be sure to read the entire article, because it’s certainly interesting to see how the browser wars are shaping up overseas.

Tags: Browser Wars, China, Competition, EnjoyIE, Firefox, Maxthon, Mobile, TT Browser, UCWeb