Windows Internet browsers: The best of the rest
When European Windows users are presented with a “browser ballot” in March, the first five options will be familiar: Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Opera. But here’s a guide to some of the other entries on the ballot which aren’t as well known.
One point to note is that it was originally believed the 12 browsers on the list would be based on European market share. Given the appearance of several Chinese browsers in the list, it appears to instead be based on worldwide shares.
AOL Explorer: This is a standalone version of the browser originally used with AOL’s “walled garden”. While it received decent reviews a few years ago, it’s not been developed for some time and is likely only among the 12 most popular browsers through force of habit. As more and more people switch to new computers, this browser seems likely to lose support.
Avant: Developed by Chinese programmer Anderson Che, this uses some of the Windows technology behind Internet Explorer with the aim of offering the benefits of an open source system such as Opera while ensuring pages look as designed. One of the most useful features is that the browser can directly run from a USB drive which also stores information about the pages you have open, meaning you can switch from one machine to another without skipping a beat.
Flock: This takes advantage of the open source nature of Firefox by taking Mozilla’s browser as its basis and then incorporating user accounts from various social networking sites. There’s arguably very little that couldn’t be achieved with Firefox plugins or separate apps, but for frequent users of Facebook, Twitter and the like it may offer a smoother experience.
K-Meleon: Think Firefox, but targeted solely at Windows. This means the browser is able to work directly with Microsoft’s own technology, thus heavily reducing the processor and memory demands. This may be worth a look if Firefox causes your machine to experience performance issues.
Maxthon: With much the same concept as Avant, this browser is particularly popular in China and performs very well in terms of compatibility with web standards.
Sleipnir: The only browser named after an eight-legged Nordic horse, this is designed to be the most customizable browser available.
Slimbrowser: While nothing particularly stands out as innovative about this browser, it may be worth a look for people who regularly have multiple tabs or windows open.
Of course, there’s nothing about the ballot screen that means you have to change browser… and nothing to stop you changing browser at any other time.
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