Five Alternative Web Browsers

Camino 1.6.4

Camino, an open source browser based on Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine, is clearly designed to be a simple, easy-to-use, yet fully functional browser. With a look and feel very similar to Safari and Firefox, almost anyone will find it easy to work with in seconds; I found myself completely at home with Camino from the second I launched it.

One major difference between Camino and Firefox is that Camino was designed and programmed specifically for the Mac instead of ported over as Firefox was (so it's less likely to "feel" like a Windows application). In addition, one gets the impression that the developers of Camino didn't try to duplicate all the features of Firefox and focused on the core browsing functionality, which probably results in leaner code overall and thereby increased performance and stability.


"Maxthon 2.1.4

If you're looking for a browser that bristles with power features, and don't mind a somewhat unattractive interface and some confusing configuration, then Maxthon is the browser for you. It's got just about every feature built into competing browsers, and many that you won't find anywhere else -- such as a "file sniffer" that makes it easy to download YouTube videos and a pop-up notepad for pasting or dragging text you want to save. Power users will love it. Those who like sleek design will turn away.

The interface is quite cluttered, with a file menu, Address Bar, Favorites Bar and other toolbars, and stray icons near the top and bottom of the screen. Think of it as the un-Chrome. But there's a reason for the clutter: The browser has so many features, they need to fit somewhere. And you can customize the interface, if you like, to cut down on the clutter."



"OmniWeb 5.8

OmniWeb has been around longer than Mac OS X, dating back to the NeXT platform of the 1990s. Throughout its history, OmniWeb has always been an excellent citizen of technologies specific to the NeXT -- and later, OS X -- platform, and the polish shows through in even minor details.

Even though OmniWeb was one of the first native browsers to grace OS X, with an interface that has remained top-notch, it has faced rivals such as Firefox and Camino that are powered by speedy Gecko-based rendering engines -- not to mention Apple's own Safari browser, which has been integrated with OS X since 2003. That's kept OmniWeb's browser share limited to a fairly small audience. However, the advances seen in OmniWeb since its rendering engine revamp in 2004 may mean it's time for surfers to give this browser another serious look."




"Opera 9.6

Opera is a Windows-based browser that has been ported to many different platforms, including most Unix variants such as Mac OS X and Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris; cell phone operating systems, including Windows Mobile, PalmOS, BlackBerry OS, and even the popular Wii gaming station. But despite its ubiquitous nature, Opera has so far only captured 2 percent of the browser market. That's something of a surprise, because it isn't as though this browser lacks ability or features.

Are you ready for event-driven business? - watch this webcast.

Version 9.6 for Macintosh is a fast, option-laden browser that represents a formidable entry in an extremely competitive product category. Opera uses its own proprietary rendering engine called Presto to display Web content; this engine is almost as capable at rendering code as the Gecko engine used by Firefox and Camino, and nearly as fast as Safari and OmniWeb's WebKit engine. In fact, there were some sites that Gecko had trouble rendering accurately, but Opera displayed most sites properly."


"Shiira 2.2

Shiira is a relatively new entrant to the Mac Web browser market. Like Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome, Shiira is based on WebKit.

Are you ready for event-driven business? - watch this webcast.

One of the first unique interface elements that I noticed was Shiira's PageDock. The PageDock provides the same functionality as tabbed browsing, but with complete thumbnails of every page that is opened."
Info World



[edit on 12/15/2008 by mrmonsoon]

I grab all opportunities that I find to talk about Opera.

I know it since the time I used a 33.6K modem, and one of the reasons I started using it was because it let us turn the images on and off very easily, and using one of those modems, any help was welcome.

I stopped using it during the time the free version had publicity, but I returned to it when they stopped using that and returned to a completely free browser.

To me it's the best browser. It's fast, has many handy things, like the notes and the possibility of creating searches from almost any search form we find on the Internet and at least on my computer it does not complain if I keep the tab count bellow 30.

I am also a user of opera and has me addicted to it, the reason, why is the mouse gesture feature mainly which allows to move back and forth between pages by clicking on the mouse buttons in a sequence and moving a mouse, it is more convenient than, going all the way to the backspace button in the keyboard and back button in browser and also changing between tabs is more easier, than I tried with firefox. And as ArMaP mentioned, it is fast with almost any function you can think of.

(Looks at the firefox and IE users in pity).

mmm, I like using opera. I think Ive been using it since 7.5 or something like that and I havnt looked back since. The next version is looking pretty good actualy.
I have no idea how people could not like opera to be hoenst. It dose everything thats needed in a browser.

Just downloaded Maxthon

You may have just introduced me to my FF replacement..

All I can say now is WOW

What a tremendous amount of features and I have just started looking around...

The only thing I an having trouble finding is a spell check. But I am looking on the "Plug-Ins" area and I am sure they have one..

Way to go AGAIN MM

Semper

i tried that maxthon browser and did not like it at all.

too may features made it confusing and didn't care for the way it looked so i erased it as fast as i could...lol

sticking with Flock...easy to use and easy on the eyes