Web Browsers

            A note about browsers for older systems: Many browsers are still available for older systems but are not being further developed. Developers' efforts are focused on continuing the evolution of browsers designed for the newest operating systems - currently Mac OS 4 (Tiger) and 5 (Leopard), and Windows XP and Vista. The best option is of course to upgrade your hardware (if your computer allows it) and use the latest version of your Windows or Mac operating system.

              Microsoft no longer recommends the use of Internet Explorer for Macintosh the last version of which was 5 and it is no longer available for download, leaving users with older systems very little choice. The reason why the use of older browsers is discouraged is because they do not have built in capabilities for handling the new browsing techniques used by web developers these days. The best bet for a modern browser on older systems is iCab 3.0.

(M=Mac; W=Win)

Mosaic   (M.W.) NCSA's Mosaic(TM), developed in 1993, wasn't the very first Web browser but was the first to include features like inline images (on the same page as the text) as well as icons, bookmarks and an attractive interface. It is no longer supported by NCSA (University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications.) The very first web browser was written in 1990 by Englishman   Tim Berners Lee who invented the Web (but not the Internet) in 1989.   His browser was called WorldWideWeb and later renamed Nexus.

Netscape (M.W.) "http://browser.netscape.com/" The first version of Netscape appeared in October 1994 under the code name "Mozilla." Netscape is the browser that introduced most all of the remaining major features that define a web browser as we know it today. The Current version is Navigator 9.

Internet Explorer (M.W.) "www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx" Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.0, released in August 1995, broke no important new ground in a way that became part of a future standard. Later versions quickly caught up; Internet Explorer 3.0 was very close to Netscape 2.0's feature set. The current IE version 7 does not work for Mac. Mac versions stopped at IE version 5.

Mozilla Firefox (M.W.) "http://www.mozilla.org/" (formerly Phoenix then Firebird, now Firefox) This browser is a strong, stable, secure competitor to IE and is generally recommended to IUG members for Mac or Windows..

Safari (M.W.) "http://www.apple.com/" Safari is Apple's first browser since OpenDoc died and took CyberDog with it. It's also not the first Macintosh browser to be called "Safari"! It has become a worthy competitor to Camino (M) and Firefox (M.W.) and is shipped with all modern Macs.   Safari has now been developed for Windows.

Camino (M.) (formerly Chimera) "http://www.caminobrowser.org/" This is one of the most promising browsers for the Macintosh

OmniWeb (M.) "http://www.omnigroup.com/" ($15) OmniWeb is Safari done right. It provides options for features familiar in Internet Explorer that are missing in Safari. There is better control of the presentation of images, plug-ins and pop-up windows.

Opera (M.W.) "http://www.opera.com/" (now free) This is one of the fastest browsers and is usually listed in any top-best list.

iCab (M.) "http://www.icab.de/" iCab, available in beta versions for years now, is fast, flexible and takes very little RAM. The download is astonishingly small. It runs well on MHz-challenged Macs and is probably the only Mac browser that runs on every Mac environment: 68k, PPC and OS X.

Mozilla (M.W.) "http://www.mozilla.org/" Mozilla is the basis for the latest versions of Netscape and runs reliably on multiple operating systems. This browser has almost complete support for Web standards and has excellent page rendering, but it is slow to start.

Flock " http://www.flock.com/" This is a Gecko-based browser that promises features unknown in other browsers such as weblog integration, shared photos, bookmark sharing, etc. This browser is often called the first "Web 2.0" browser.

Elinks " http://www.dustin.li/" is an advanced and well-established feature-rich text mode web browser evolved from Lynx.

Sunrise "http://www.sunrisebrowser.com/" Probably the most frequently updated browser currently being developed. Sunrise is from Japan and based on WebKit. It is being specially developed for web authors, with features for transparency of overlaying windows, source code view, specific window sizes for standard resolutions, large display of URLs for presentations.

Songbird "http://www.songbirdnest.com/" Open source Songbird is primarily a music player like iTunes, but can do a lot more than just play mp3 files - it includes a browser based on Mozilla Firefox.

Googalizer "http://idisk.mac.com/gonfunko/Public/index.html" Primarily an application for searching multiple Google services, but also featuring a browser based on WebKit. Freeware with source code available. Version 3 now supports tabbed browsing, downloading files, full screen browsing and more.

wKiosk "http://www.app4mac.com/wkiosk.html" A commercial full-screen browser for kiosk systems, originally based on the Gecko engine. This browser allows you to lock down a Mac so that only authorized web pages can be viewed. Key presses can also be suppressed.

KidsBrowser "http://www.app4mac.com/kidsbrowser.html" KidsBrowser is a commercial, WebKit-based browser intended for use by children. This is the replacement for AppMac's discontinued wKids browser and requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later. KidsBrowser offers parents many options for keeping their kids out of trouble by restricting their exposure to parts of the "wild west" web. A free demo version is available.