Other Browsers Available for Linux


Epiphany

Program Info

Program URL

http://www.gnome.org/projects/epiphany/


GNOME has always wanted a browser. It's sort of like how I have always wanted a pony, or how one kid wants something just because the other kids in the neighborhood have one. The Epiphany browser emerged as the old GNOME browser, Galeon, rode off into the sunset. The main goal of Epiphany is simplicity. I think the developers looked at Mozilla, Konqueror, and Netscape, and saw browsers that were more bulky and heavy than bad fruitcake.

The result is that Epiphany is a browser with a small footprint, a simple interface (see Figure 5.4), and no extraneous functions such as mail or newsgroups. You might be thinking, "Hey, you just told us all of this stuff about Mozilla Firefox!" First, calm down. Next, I can say that Epiphany and Galeon started this quest before Mozilla Firefox was born. Now Epiphany has competition in the simple browser genre.

Figure 5.4. Epiphany is a browser that emphasizes efficiency and simplicity.


Epiphany has most of the functions and features you will recognize in any browser, and also at least one innovation: The program uses the Mozilla Gecko layout engine for rendering Web pages. The advantage of using Mozilla's engine is that you, as a user, can still benefit from the antialiased text and other nice aspects of the Gecko engine. The big difference in Epiphany is in how the browser handles bookmarks. We are used to the tree list or folder list when looking at our bookmarks. Epiphany has tossed the conventional and opted for organizing bookmarks by keyword searching. To go to a stored bookmark, you type the bookmark name or a word from the URL in the address bar. Possible matches show in a drop-down list under the address bar. I like this new approach for finding bookmarks that you want to get to quickly. You do, however, lose the browsing of forgotten bookmarks when using this keyword method.

Opera

Program Info

Program URL

http://www.opera.com


Opera is a classic. It's like fine cheese, Norwegian cheese. This browser has been around for quite some time. Opera has been a friend to the Linux community for a while as well, by providing a Linux version long before it was popular to do so. Opera provides versions for all major Linux distributions, including Fedora, Mandrake, Red Hat, Debian, SUSE, and also a Macintosh Power PC package. The program is both a Web browser and an e-mail client with additional capabilities for participating in IRC chat (more on IRC in Topic 10, "Instant Messaging and Chat"). Opera is not entirely free; it's a commercial application that you need to buy, but you can choose to download an ad-supported version.

Once again, like all of the browsers we are talking about, there aren't a lot of wildly differing features in the Opera browser. Among its attributes is the capability to search directly in the address bar by adding in a search engine's shortcut before your keywords, such as a g for "Google." So, type "g modern delusions of grandeur," and you will go to the Google search result for those search terms, probably with my Web site as your top search result. Opera also takes pride in supporting Web standards, such as those set out by the W3C (see http://www.w3c.org). Now, Web standards might not mean much to you as a user, but they mean a lot to Web developers and mean a lot in terms of giving you a consistent experience between browsers and Web sites.

UNDER THE HOOD

OPERA OF THE MUPPETS

There was once a day in which Microsoft spoke in the language of the Swedish Chef from Jim Henson's Muppets. It was a great day that is talked about around virtual Linux geek campfires and told to young Linux geek children. On this heralded day, Opera accused Microsoft of having its MSN search engine page render differently when it detected the Opera Web browser. Opera responded by releasing a version of its browser that always displayed the MSN search engine page translated in SwedishChef speak,"Tudey oon MSN; Ver prutests geereeng up..."You can read more about this funny story at http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2003/02/14/.


Opera can seem like a bit of a bloated application because it has so many features in it, but the company has been a leader in coming up with new ideas in browsers. Here are just a few in Opera's lineup of interesting attributes:

  • Chat client

  • Mail client

  • Mouse gestures (set certain mouse movements to be shortcuts to common functions)

  • Multiple document interface (display multiple Web pages in one window, in tabs, or in a single interface)

  • Password manager

  • Pop-up blocking

  • Sessions (save a group of open pages to open again all as a group)

  • Skinning (change the whole look of Opera with downloaded skins and color schemes)

  • Small-screen rendering (rearrange pages for display on very small screens and windows)

  • Zoom (magnifies your view)

Netscape

Program Info

Program URL

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/


You can call Netscape a classic, too, but it's a different kind of classic, like an old friend you used to love who now just keeps coming to your house to kick your dog, eat all your cookies, and pee on your front porch. There is a name for a friend like that: Used to Be Cool Browser That Kicked Out Its Mozilla Friends and Now Just Shills for AOL and Time Warner.

Okay, so I am maybe being a bit harsh. Netscape was the classic friend to Linux and to the browser world. For years, Netscape was the only big browser supporting Linux. Netscape was the better alternative in an Internet Explorer world. Netscape started the Mozilla Project to utilize the open source software community in its development of new versions. Those were the old days. Eventually, Netscape got eaten by Internet Explorer and bought by big corporations. They then asked the Mozilla folks to leave. Now Netscape is still a decent browser, but it somehow seems less friendly than it used to be.

Odds are, you have used Netscape before in another OS, so you will recognize the conventions of its layout and features. Netscape includes a mail client, address book, news client, Web composer, instant messaging (AIM), themes, and integrated search capabilities; lots of multimedia plug-ins are available for it. The My Sidebar feature has search, news, buddy list, stocks, auctions, and music. Many more sidebar tabs are available to download as well.

You might have sensed my bitterness about Netscape, but it's only my own sense of regret, not the fault of the program. Although too many features over the years have made the browser a little bit slow to load, there is still a good Web browser there. Web developers will bristle at a few quirks in how Netscape deals with JavaScript and how it renders Web pages. Users will enjoy that Netscape is still free, easy to install, and familiar to use.



Linux Desktop(c) Garage
Linux(R) Desktop Garage
ISBN: 0131494198
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 141

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