Browsing opportunities: 11 Web browsers compared

Specifications

Product Avant Browser 10.0 Camino 0.8 FastStone 4in1 Browser 1.2
Vendor Avant Browser Mozilla FastStone Soft
Price RRP (incl. GST) Freeware, donations appreciated Free download or ~AU$20 with disk+manual Freeware, donations appreciated.
Warranty Online forum for support Web forum for support (or pay for phone supp.) Comments + criticisms accepted
Phone N/A N/A N/A
Web avantbrowser.com mozilla.org faststoneserver.org
Features      
Search toolbars Yahoo, Google Google No
Security see Internet Explorer + Flash control Script, Java, Pop-up & cookie control; SSL see Internet Explorer
Content filter Yes No Yes
Zoom Yes Text only Text only
Tabbing Yes & Multiple window Yes Yes
History Yes Yes, but not while viewing web Yes
FTP support Yes Yes Yes
PDF support Yes Add-on Yes
Instant messaging No No No
Development tools No No No
Multi-language 34 languages, instant conversion Available No
Rendering engine Internet Explorer Mozilla Gecko Internet Explorer
System Requirements      
Operating systems Windows 95-XP + IE Mac OSX (10.1.5 & above) Windows 95-XP +IE
RAM 32MB 64MB 64MB
Disk space 2.5MB 30MB 1.5MB

Product Firefox 1.0PR Internet Explorer 6 iRider 2.21 Netscape 7.2
Vendor Mozilla Microsoft Wymea Bay AOL
Price RRP (incl. GST) Free download or ~AU$20 with disk+manual Free download or bundled with Windows Download 21 day trial, then ~$38 Free download or ~$20 with disk+manual
Warranty Web forum for support (or pay for phone supp.) Microsoft 5yr+ support Email tech support Online and phone support available
Phone N/A 132 058 N/A 1-800-411-0707 (support-US)
Web mozilla.org microsoft.com irider.com netscape.com
Features        
Search toolbars Google Add-ons available Google (default) + Netscape
Security Script, Java, Pop-up & cookie control; SSL ActiveX, Script, Java, Pop-up & cookie control; SSL see Internet Explorer Script, Java, Pop-up & cookie control; SSL
Content filter No Yes Yes No
Zoom Add-on Text only Yes Text only
Tabbing Yes No Tree menu Yes
History Yes Yes Yes Yes
FTP support Yes Yes Yes Yes
PDF support Add-on Yes Yes Yes
Instant messaging No Yes No Yes
Development tools JScript console, DOM inspector Java console No JScript console, Java console
Multi-language 27 languages 24 languages No No
Rendering engine Mozilla Gecko Internet Explorer IE compatible Mozilla Gecko
System Requirements        
Operating systems Windows, MacOSX Linux i686 Windows 98-XP (Other ver. of IE for Mac) Windows 98-XP+IE Windows, Linux, MacOSX
RAM 64MB 32MB 32MB 64MB
Disk space 52MB (72MB for MacOS) 12MB 7.5MB 26MB (36MB for Mac)

Product Opera 7.54 Safari 1.2 Secondary Browser UltraBrowser
Vendor Opera Software Apple Secondary Protocol.com UltraBrowser
Price RRP (incl. GST) Free with ads or ~AU$50 without Free download Download free trial, ~AU$40 Free download, AU$66 customisable
Warranty 1yr support, via email + online forums Covered by MacOSX support Trouble reporting service, email tech support Not specified
Phone N/A 133 622 866-649-2948 (US) N/A
Web opera.com apple.com.au secondaryprotocol.com ultrabrowser.com
Features        
Search toolbars Google, Amazon, Ebay Google No Various
Security Script, Java, Pop-up & cookie control; SSL Script, Java, Pop-up & cookie control; SSL as per MSIE, cookie viewer. see Internet Explorer
Content filter No No No Yes
Zoom Yes Text only None Text only
Tabbing Yes Yes Multi-row No
History Yes As menubar item AS Menu Hard to find
FTP support Yes Yes Yes Yes
PDF support Yes ??? Yes Yes
Instant messaging Yes No No uses MSoft
Development tools JScript console, Java console N/A Web speed checking For browser only
Multi-language 20 languages As per MacOSX. 6 European languages Possible, with branding
Rendering engine Open source/Gecko compatible Open source/Gecko compatible IE compatible Internet Explorer
System Requirements        
Operating systems Windows, MacOS, Linux, Solaris, OS/2, FreeBSB, Psion MacOSX Windows Windows 95-XP
RAM --- --- 32MB 32MB
Disk space 5.6MB   5MB 1.4MB

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Talkback 8 comments

    You say Firefox requires 52M d ...Anonymous -- 13/03/05

    You say Firefox requires 52M disc space.

    This is plain wrong. Its a 5M download and at most stretches to 15M unpacked. In the days of 80G discs standard, I don't think too many people are going to be complaining about 15M.

    But start by getting your facts straight.

    You say that Safari has compat ...Anonymous -- 15/03/05

    You say that Safari has compatibility with Mozilla-Gecko.

    I'm not sure what you are getting at here. While the core of Safari is open-source it is based on the KHTML rendering engine, not that of Gecko.

    Hi You have mentioned 11 brows ...Anonymous -- 15/03/05

    Hi
    You have mentioned 11 browsers, but you failed to include Maxthon browser. Ms. Natalie Hambly complains she's not been able to get away from IE6. Why don't she try Maxthon browser? It is like using IE6 with the features you are looking for. Once you have use it you'll never want anything else.

    You think Opera is great now? ...Anonymous -- 15/03/05

    You think Opera is great now? Just wait till you see the next version. Currently it is up 8.00 beta 2 or 8.00 preview 5.1.
    Many new features are included such as voice (XHTML+Voice), medium screen rendering, enhanced security...........
    The official changelog of the new beta can be found here:
    http://www.opera.com/windows/changelogs/operabeta/

    Latest versions can be found here:
    http://snapshot.opera.com/

    First of all, Firefox does not ...Anonymous -- 15/03/05

    First of all, Firefox does not take up 52mb of disk space. It's a small 4.7mb download that, when extracted, takes up a mere 16.6mb of disk space. So get your facts strait before making an obviously biased and unfair comparision of browsers.

    In my opinion, your futureproofing for Firefox and IE are totally backwards.

    Also, why does Firefox get an Interoperability rating of 2 and Netscape get an Interoperability of 3 1/2 when both offer the same in that area? (If anything Firefox offers more.)

    Opera? It's cool. But I would by no means make Opera my "pick of the litter". My choice would be Firefox. This is not a biased opinion, as I would use whatever works best for me. Firefox works best for me, so it's my choice. Plain and simple. If Firefox wasn't an option, I would choose Netscape. Opera? Ok that would come next.

    Both Firefox and Opera are gre ...Anonymous -- 17/03/05

    Both Firefox and Opera are great browsers. Each have different philosophies. Firefox is stripped down, though without any features it is still larger than Opera. Some of Firefox's extensions are simply excellent, and it generally as a very newbie friendly interface. Gecko is a great rendering engine, and the whole experience is very nice.

    Opera, though tiny in size and memory footprint, packs a hell of a lot into it - and is is AMAZINGLY FAST. They very cleverly have a system where, if you want just the browser, then the tiny communications module is not loaded, leaving you with a mean'n'lean browser. Adding a mail account or chat or RSS feed then activates communications. I prefer the way RSS is handled by Opera, you can create new feeds based on powerful searches! Lots of technology is still unique to Opera and Firefox extensions do not emulate them as well as the original (fast forward is one example). Opera is much more powerful out-of-the-box.

    The new version of Opera is going to come out soon, and having tried the beta it is an amazing step forward. I tried beta 3 and it has a new faster (if possible!) rendering engine, support for SVG and VoiceXML, and the best support for CSS2.1 of any browser around. User interface has been streamlined and made more newbie friendly too, while still retaining full power underneath.

    Yep, no argument with Opera Anonymous -- 17/12/05

    I've had 'em all, even browsers such as Deepnet Explorer which use the IE engine but offer greater functionality and security than IE, but once I spent a little time getting to know how to use and customise Opera (which it turns out to very good at) I'm now a dedicated advocate.

    And with the latest free version (8.50) they've removed the advertisement panel, although it never really bothered me anyway.

    Personally I can't see what all the fuss is about Firefox, it's no where near as much fun to use or as functional as Opera. In fact Opera is now my 'one stop shop' replacing the need for Windows Explorer and Outlook Express as well.

    Great stuff!!

    Firefox - Loss of Bookmarks. Frank Halliwell -- 10/03/07

    I love Firefox but it urgently needs a fix to prevent it from failing to display your bookmarks when required.

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