Software > Web & Email Applications

Alternative Browsers

By Jo Cancilla, Techsoup

Although Microsoft's Internet Explorer currently dominates the Web browser market, there are several promising alternatives. Long-time rivals like Netscape are making a strong comeback and unknown gems are just waiting to be discovered. Techsoup's Joe Cancilla takes a look at Internet Explorer's promising competitors.

There are many reasons to give alternatives browsers a try:

• Security: Explorer is a relatively secure browser, but its large user base makes it a prime target for hackers. Using alternative software can actually make you less vulnerable to attack.
• Speed: Explorer is not only the largest target for hacking, it also is the largest in file size. As with most software, speed and stability can usually be related to a program's size. Weighing in at 45MB, Explorer is destined to start up and run slower than smaller browsers like Opera (3MB).
• Stability: The large size also means there is a greater chance for bugs to creep into Explorer's code, making it less stable. Unfortunately, when Internet Explorer crashes it has a tendency to take your computer down with it. Since Microsoft integrated Explorer into its file management system, a simple browser crash can force you to reboot. This is reason enough to give the alternatives a chance, especially if you've had any unsaved work taken out with a crash.
• Features: Alternative browsers will often have features that Explorer lacks. For example, Mozilla and Opera each have "tabbed browsing [which became available from version Internet Explorer version 7]." This makes it much easier to switch between and keep track of open Web pages.
• Look and feel: The final reason to give different browsers a try is for the general look and feel. Explorer hasn't changed its basic look in years. An alternative browser can give you a refreshingly new view of the Internet.

Alternative browsers for the Windows operating system

Mozilla

If you're using some variant of the Microsoft Windows operating system (NT, 98, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7) the major alternatives to Explorer are Mozilla, Opera, K-Meleon, and Lynx.

What about Netscape, you ask? Well, Mozilla is Netscape. Mozilla is the Open Source browser upon which Netscape is based. Netscape 7.1 is Mozilla 1.4. Back in January of 1998, Netscape Communications announced to the public that its next generation browser would be a freely available Open Source project.

Although there was much excitement over this project, delays, bugs, and a general failure to live up to the hype made the release of Netscape 6.0 a major disappointment. It was slow, buggy, and didn't really distinguish itself from Explorer. Since Microsoft bundled Explorer within the Windows operating system, there wasn't much incentive to switch. But that was years ago.

Due to its open development model, Mozilla has become one of the best ways to surf the net and manage your e-mail. There is no real reason to use Netscape instead of of Mozilla. At one point, Mozilla's e-mail component lacked Netscape's spell checking, but spell checking is now included as of the 1.5 release.

PC World rated Mozilla the "best browser of 2003". This is mainly due to its extra features that Explorer lacks.

Tabbed browsing allows all of your Web pages to be opened as tabs within one window. You can then easily switch between tabs by pressing Ctrl-Tab. This makes it a breeze to deal with several different Web pages at once. Unlike earlier versions of Explorer, Mozilla also allows you to block all of those annoying pop-up ads. One of the best things about Mozilla is the included e-mail client with built-in intelligent spam filtering technology. Not only can you easily avoid Outlook-based viruses, but all of your spam is filtered into a Junk folder.

Mozilla Firefox

If you decide you don't want some of the extra components included with the full Mozilla suite (like the e-mail client, IRC, address book, and HTML composer), then you can try Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is an an experimental sub project of the Mozilla, that attempts to simplify the browsing experience, while preserving Mozilla's advanced features. For a full list of reasons to try out Firebird check out Ben Goodger's list of reasons Why You Should Switch to the Mozilla Firebird Browser. Among the interesting features, the integrated search box allows you to search Google just by pressing Ctrl-K.

K-Meleon

Like Firefox, K-Meleon is a relatively new browser that strives to be the "unbloated Mozilla." K-Meleon is actually built with some of the Open Source code that was used to make Mozilla, specifically its rendering engine, called "Gecko."

The developers of K-Meleon decided that the Mozilla browser was too packed with extraneous features, so they took Mozilla's core engine and set out to make a simpler browser. Although it is smaller, K-Meleon does offer some neat features that Mozilla lacks. You can disable pop-up windows, turn off images, and customise the loader. A loader is an option in both Mozilla and K-Meleon that allows the browser engine to be loaded into your system's memory when you start your computer. This substantially decreases the browser's start-up time. K-Meleon's loader also allows you to pre-load your start page, so getting to the Web site you visit most is only a matter of milliseconds.

K-Meleon does have some major problems, unfortunately. Although K-Meleon has a very intuitive way of importing both Explorer and Netscape bookmarks, you may be disappointed with the capabilities available to manage these bookmarks. You have to restart the whole program for changes to occur. It also lacks a history feature, so it doesn't keep track of the Web sites you've visited. This is an essential part of any browser, so they're doubtless working on a solution. K-Meleon is still in the early stages of development, so there are still bugs to work out. The speedy loader and small size, however, make it a great secondary browser for quickly opening your most-viewed Web site.

Opera

In terms of pure speed and stability, Opera is a good alternative browser. Opera has many of the same features as Mozilla and K-Meleon, including tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, and a simple e-mail client.

Lynx

If you've ever surfed the Internet from one of your local library's ancient text-based computers, you've probably used Lynx. Lynx is a text-only browser. It won't load any images; it only displays the text areas of a Web page. This makes loading pages much faster, since images usually account for the most data on a page.

The Lynx program itself is a small download (1.5MB), which requires no installation process.

Another important feature of Lynx is the fact that it only accepts keyboard input.

All browsing is done through commands entered in through your keyboard. While this may sound like a bad thing, it is a great advantage to those who suffer from RSI in their mouse arm or are simply tired of using their mouse.

Alternative browsers for alternative operating systems

While Opera and Mozilla are available for the Macintosh and Linux operating systems, there are browsers that are built exclusively for these systems.

Macintosh

iCab

This is a small, bare-bones browser available for Macs. It is easy-to-use, fast, and most importantly, its small size makes it run well on older Macs.

Camino

Another browser for Mac that is based on Mozilla. It has some interesting security features which allow for advanced security settings. It also has an integrated Google search box.

Safari

The browser that Apple has integrated into OS X.

Linux

For Linux, there are a plethora of alternative browsers available, the two most popular being:

Konqueror

Konqueror is considered to be the "Internet Explorer of Linux" since it acts as both an all-purpose file manager and Web browser.

Galeon

In their extensive look at the Linux Browser Wars, CanadaComputes chose Galeon as the best Linux browser. Like K-Meleon, Galeon is an unbloated version of Mozilla, but it is further along in development. Galeon had a good overall balance of features and performance.

Options for the timid

If you're feeling too timid to move beyond Explorer, but are tired of its drab look and feel, you can download NeoPlanet. NeoPlanet is program that allows you to add "skins" to Explorer. These skins change the overall look of Explorer, but they also add NeoPlanet ads.

Conclusion

If you want a real alternative to Explorer, I suggest trying out a whole new browser. Mozilla is the best all-purpose Internet suite that will work on any operating system. K-Meleon makes a great secondary browser for quickly loading your favourite sites. Linux geeks will love Firefox, and Mac heads should give Camino a try. For those who have old computers and/or a slow Internet connection, Lynx is the way to go. The latest versions of all the above browsers will be available on the relevant websites.