Browsersphere

The folks over at the Maxthon Blog have explained why the answer to the question of whether or not Greasemonkey scripts work in Maxthon is both “yes” and “no.”  However, after you read the post, you realize the real answer is “no.”  They just support similar functionality.

I just spotted 10 web browsers that aren’t IE, Firefox or Opera, and other than the fact that some of the “minor players” listed there actually kinda are IE and the fact that they put Netscape Navigator in their list, overall the list is a pretty good read, so check it out.

The Maxthon skinning contest has been extended to October 31st:

We decide to extend the deadline of our worldwide Maxthon skinning contest to October 31st. Since in the US, school is back in session, people are done with vacations and are back at their PCs. We might get a lot more beautiful skins from these guys.

A post has already been made to the Maxthon forums, and our partner WinCustomize would like to extend this contest as well.

Hope you guys could submit more skins to us.

The submitting link is here: http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?libid=68

Via the Maxthon Blog.

WinCustomize has interviewed Maxthon founder, Jeff Chen, as part of their Developer Interview Series. The interview is a little “skin heavy,” since WinCustomize obviously leans in that direction, but I did find Jeff Chen’s list of cutting-edge features interesting:

There are still a lot [of Maxthon's features] that most browsers do not have, to name a few: advanced content filtering system, advanced proxy system, URL key, URL alias, search alias, smart acceleration system… And we believe what we are developing will keep Maxthon ahead. The new feature[s] will include a light security system to help reduce attacks from Trojan, a new web acceleration technology and more…

Read the full interview for more — especially if you’re into skinning and browser customization.

Buckle up, ’cause this one should be a doozy. There’s been a lot going on in the browsersphere lately, so I’ll try and break it down by browser.

Firefox

• The Mozilla Store relaunched a couple weeks ago and now features many more goods, just in time for the back-to-school season.
• Asa Dotzler explains the difference between the old Firefox logo and the new.
• Simon Willison links to an “idiotic campaign” called Why FireFox is Blocked (that was eventually hacked).
• According to Guardian Unlimited, 75% of the people who download Firefox don’t become active users.
• Mozilla Links gives us a look at Firefox 3’s new download manager.
• Ars Technica wrote about becoming a part of the Firefox quality assurance process.
• Kubuntu 101 explains how to install Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Kubuntu 7.04.

Internet Explorer

• TechRepublic.com shares 10 keyboard shortcuts for tabbing around in Internet Explorer 7.
• The cookies-per-domain limit has been increased from 20 to 50 in IE7.

Maxthon

• You can get a Leopard Safari skin for Maxthon 2.x.
• Maxthon was discussed at the Mozilla China open house party on Saturday.

Opera

• Already, Opera 9.5 (aka Kestrel) is getting high marks in the area of performance.
• Opera is currently building up its developer relations team.

Safari

• Dave Hyatt has posted five detailed articles on WebCore rendering.

Others

• Sunrise is “a web browser for web developers.”
• 32bit Web Browser apparently “makes browsing the web fun and profitable.”
• In the Playstation Forum you can learn how to keep your son from getting into trouble with his PSP web browser.

Maxthon 2.0.3 has been released. You can download it here. The biggest feature of the new release seems to be recovering your Favorites using their “online recovery” mechanism. For a list of the features and bug fixes in this release, head on over to the Maxthon Blog.

In an article titled What Are Google’s Browser Plans?, TechCrunch touches on Google’s tie to Maxthon, the browser in which Google invested nearly a million dollars earlier this year.

The main reason I mention this is that Maxthon is among the many browsers I intend to cover here at Browsersphere (and it’s always interesting to think about where the shoe will drop when it comes to Google and the web browser market).

To get us started thinking about Maxthon in particular, I should point out that users of that browser can now download Microformats Button, the Maxthon equivalent of Firefox’s Operator extension.

I should also point out that there is apparently a Maxthon Lovers Group on Facebook, and that there will be a worldwide Maxthon skin contest starting in the coming weeks.