Resources > The Browsers

This gives an overview of browsers past and present.

This page covers:  Access NetFront,  AOL,  AOL Compuserve,  AOL Desktop,  AOL Explorer,  AOL Netscape,  AOL OpenRide,  AOL TV,  Apple Safari,  Bitstream Bolt,  DoCoMo iMode,  Google Chrome,  HotJava,  IBM Home Page Reader,  IBM Web Browsers,  iCab,  Konqueror,  Lynx,  Microsoft Internet Explorer,  Microsoft MSN Explorer,  Microsoft MSN-TV Viewer,  Mosaic,  Mozilla & Friends (Camino, Firefox, SeaMonkey, etc.),  Nokia,  OmniWeb,  Opera,  Skyfire,  W3C Amaya.

Note : because this site focuses on browsers needed to test websites, it rarely covers browsers that are little used or that use standard engines from more common browsers.

Note : you may also wish to refer to Wikipedia’s list of web browsers.

Access NetFront

Access offers a mobile web browser, NetFront, which appears in mobile devices such as cellphones and the Amazon Kindle. Access provides some resources for website designers.

AOL

This discusses the AOL browser suite for AOL subscribers. Other AOL browsers and browser suites are listed in the sidebar, with links to details.

Versions

• AOL 4: obsolete.
• AOL 5: obsolete.
• AOL 6: obsolete.
• AOL 7 // Windows: AOL offers this for Windows 95. Later Windows users should upgrade.
• AOL 8 // Windows: released in October 2002, it uses IE, distressing many designers who had hoped that it would instead use Gecko.
• AOL 9 // Windows: AOL offers what appears to be its current generation browser suite. An odd point is that, although AOL pushes it in many markets, AOL has never AFAIK issued a press release saying that a final version had been released. Note: in Nov 2004 AOL issued AOL 9 SE, with security features added. Note: in Jan 2007 AOL issued AOL 9VR, with Windows Vista support added; on some unknown date, AOL issued AOL 9.1; in Oct 2009, AOL issued AOL 9.5.
• AOL 10.3 // Mac OS X: released in Aug 2002, and updated in Apr 2003, it uses an obsolete early release of the Gecko engine. It now appears to be unavailable, seemingly replaced by AOL Desktop for Mac.

Note: AOL does not update the version number when it makes security updates.

AOL’s Future

AOL was originally an ISP and offered its flagship IE-based browsers only to its clients. But AOL seems to often try to reïnvent itself, and in the process has produced a bewildering range of browsers and browser suites, using a number of different browser engines.

AOL’s flagship browsers have always used IE (except for one OS X version which used Gecko), but its other browsers — Compuserve, Desktop for Mac, Explorer, Netscape, etc. — have used various versions of AppleWebKit, Gecko, and Safari: one, Netscape 8, used both Gecko and IE.

AOL has also abandoned several of its browsers, e.g. Compuserve and OpenRide. Right now (Apr 2008) AOL appears to be pushing different browser suites in different areas, e.g. AOL Desktop 10 for Windows in the U.S.A., and AOL 10VR (a very different product) in Canada.

One can only assume that an ever changing kaleidoscope of browsers will appear in the future.

Designing for AOL

See AOL’s Webmaster Info site to learn how to craft web pages for AOL browsers.

Note that the AOL browsers use browser engines created by others: sometimes Trident (the Internet Explorer engine), sometimes Gecko (the Mozilla engine), and sometimes AppleWebKit (the Safari KHTML engine).

Caution About Updates

AOL often updates its browsers without telling news services, so the version number of the latest version may be off.

AOL often offers different versions to different countries, with the U.S. getting the latest version; other countries may never get the latest version.

AOL-Compuserve

AOL acquired Compuserve years ago, and offered this browser for its subscribers. Versions up to 6 use Internet Explorer as its browser engine; later versions use Gecko.

AOL killed the Compuserve service in Jun 2009.

Versions

• AOL Compuserve 2: AOL still offers 2.6.1 for Windows 3.1.
• AOL Compuserve 4: AOL still offers this for Windows NT4. [get it...]
• AOL Compuserve 5: AOL still offers this for the Mac. [get it...]
• AOL Compuserve 6: this was replaced by version 7.
• AOL Compuserve 7: AOL offers this for Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It uses a very old beta of the Gecko engine, so old that no one should use it; users should use a different, more contemporary browser. [get it...]

Caution

The Compuserve browsers have not been updated for a very long time, and use browser engines which are now extinct, so no one should be using a Compuserve browser. When tested in Nov 2007, the Compuserve home page would not work with Firefox, but it would work with IE, so it would seem that an IE-based browser would be best for those who choose the Compuserve service.

AOL Desktop

There are two completely different products with this name: AOL Desktop (for Windows), and AOL Desktop (for Mac).

AOL Desktop

AOL Desktop for Windows is a browser suite for Windows, using Internet Explorer. It was once named Helix, and may be considered a replacement for the defunct OpenRide.

AOL Desktop 10: this was released Dec 6, 2007 as AOL Desktop 2.0, then silently renamed sometime later to AOL Desktop 10 [get it...]. Note that there was no version 1.0; this suggests that OpenRide is deemed version 1.

AOL Desktop for Mac

AOL Desktop for Mac OS X is a browser suite for OS X, apparently using Apple’s AppleWebKit.

AOL Desktop for Mac 1.0: this was released May 5, 2008 after the release of numerous betas; 1.5 appeared Dec 15, 2008. [get it...]

AOL Explorer

This was a free browser for Windows, based on Internet Explorer.

Versions

• AOL Explorer 1.2: released in Jan 2006.
• AOL Explorer 1.5: released in May 2006. AOL removed access to it in Feb 2010, which suggests that it is now extinct.

References

Wikipedia

AOL-Netscape

AOL acquired Netscape several years ago [get it...].

Versions

• AOL Netscape 5: development was cancelled in mid-1999, and Netscape 5 was never released. It was to have been built using the NN4 core, but AOL dropped it to focus on NN6. Note : sloppy browser detection code may mis-identify Gecko-based browsers as Netscape 5, which is why “Netscape 5” appears in many browser stats reports.
• AOL Netscape 6: AOL released it in Nov 2000, using a Gecko beta engine. It was updated several times, but never used a released Gecko engine, so it had compatibility and reliability problems that hindered its widespread use.
• AOL Netscape 7: AOL released it on Aug 29, 2002, using the Gecko 1.0.1 engine, and updated it several times since, but updates were far apart, allowing bugs and security problems to remain unfixed for long periods of time.
• AOL Netscape 8: AOL released it on May 19, 2005 and updated it several times. It uses either Firefox or IE, depending on the page and the user’s choice. It is available only for Windows.
• AOL Netscape 9: AOL released it on Oct 15, 2007. Unlike NN8, this is Gecko-based only.

Netscape is now extinct, with no updates after Mar 1, 2008. [details...] AOL suggests that users switch to Firefox or Flock.

References

Wikipedia

AOL-OpenRide

AOL OpenRide: this was a browser suite for Windows.

OpenRide 1.x: this was released Oct 4 2006, and was silently updated several times before being quietly killed by AOL in mid 2007. It is no longer available.

AOL-TV

In Jun 2000 AOL announced AOL-TV, a TV-based Internet appliance designed to compete with MSN-TV. It was a limited HTML 3.2 browser with simple JavaScript support. It was discontinued in Feb 2003 [details...].

Apple Safari

Safari uses Apple’s WebKit, which is based in part on Konqueror’s KHTML browser engine. Originally for OS X, Safari now runs on other platforms, including Windows and the iPhone. [get it...]

Apple reportedly chose to base Safari on KHTML instead of Gecko because (a) KHTML was faster, (b) KHTML’s source code was smaller and cleaner, and (c) Apple did not need Gecko’s multi-platform support.

Versions

• Safari 1.0: this was released on Jun 23 2003 for OS X 10.2 (Jaguar); 1.2 was released on Feb 2 2004 for OS X 10.3 (Panther); 1.3 was released on Apr 15 2005 for OS X 10.3.9 (Panther).
• Safari 2.0: this was released on Apr 27 2005 for OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
• Safari 3.0: this was released with OS X 10.5 (Leopard), and on Nov 14 2007 for OS X 10.4 (Tiger), and later appeared for Windows and the iPhone; 3.1 was released on Mar 18 2008 for OS X 10.4 (Tiger), OS X 10.5 (Leopard), Windows XP, and Windows Vista; 3.2 was released on Nov 13 2008 for OS X 10.4 (Tiger), OS X 10.5 (Leopard), Windows XP, and Windows Vista. Warning : when Safari 4 was released, many security issues were fixed, but Safari 3 was not fixed, so all users should update to Safari 4.
• Safari 4: this was released on Jun 8, 2009 for OS X, Windows, and the iPhone. Warning : the installation procedure removes the previous version of Safari, even if you want to keep the older version to test sites; also the Safari 3 installation procedure will not run if Safari 4 is installed, so Apple has made it impossible to have both versions installed on a PC for test purposes.

Version Numbers

Apple uses 3 sets of version numbers for Safari:

• One set are the Safari version numbers listed above, i.e. 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, etc. These are the primary numbers Apple uses in its public documents, but the version numbers appear in Safari userAgent strings only in newer versions of Safari: when present they are in the userAgent strings following the substring “Version/”.
• A second set of numbers are Safari build numbers, e.g. 85.5, 85.8, 85.8.1, 100, 125.7, 312, 412: these are in the userAgent strings, following the substring “Safari/”.
• The third set are the WebKit (browser engine) build numbers: these are also in the userAgent strings, following the substring “AppleWebKit/”.

Apple updates the Safari version number only with major updates. Apple usually (but not always) updates the Safari build number when it fixes bugs, and sometimes (but not always) updates the WebKit build number when it fixes bugs. Apple used to have a page listing how the various version numbers related to each other, but a brainless idiot at Apple removed the page: it is therefore very difficult now to determine the Safari version number by examining the userAgent string; the major WebKit versions are reported by Wikipedia, but it is not known how up to date and how authoritative this is; a simplied list of WebKit and Safari versions is also available, on this site.

DOCTYPEs and Safari

Safari renders pages differently for different DOCTYPEs [more...].

References

Wikipedia

Bitstream Bolt

Bitstream offers this mobile web browser for cellphones. [more...].

Versions

• 1.x 1.6 released in Dec 2009; 1.7 released in Feb 2010.
• 2.x now in beta.

DoCoMo iMode

DoCoMo offers a mobile web browser in cellphones, primarily in Australia, Japan, and parts of Europe.

Google Chrome

Google makes the Chrome browser [get it...].

Chrome is available as a “final version”, and as betas and developer previews: its betas are akin to betas or late alphas of other software; and ts developer previous are akin to alphas or early alphas. Chrome is available for Windows XP and Vista: versions for Linux and OS X are being developed, and test versions are available.

Chrome uses a modified version of the WebKit-based KHTML engine that Safari uses, with a different JavaScript interpreter.

Chrome has a minimalist user interface, and offers few user options. For example, it offers no option to disable JavaScript, to select alternate stylesheets, or to select the default CSS fonts. And, as best as this author can determine, there are no built-in pages of advanced options similar to Firefox’s about:config page or Opera’s opera:config page.

Chrome automatically updates itself with minor updates: the user cannot block or delay updates. This makes testing sites harder, because the browser could be updated at any time, even in the middle of testing a site. This also makes it impossible to retain old versions of Chrome for comparison testing.

Versions

• Chrome 1: this was released on Sep 2, 2008 for Windows XP and Vista.
• Chrome 2: this was released on May 21, 2009 for Windows XP and Vista.
• Chrome 3: this was released on Sep 15, 2009 for Windows XP and Vista.
• Chrome 4: this was released on Jan 25, 2010 for Windows XP and Vista.

References

Wikipedia

HotJava

HotJava was made by Sun Systems.

The last version, HotJava 3, was released in May 1999. It was never updated, and in April 2003 it was relegated to Sun’s archives.

Note : Sun also offers Java software for users and designers [more...].

IBM Browsers

IBM used to offer two browsers:

• IBM Home Page Reader: this was a talking browser for blind and visually impaired persons, for Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP. IBM killed it in Nov 2006.
• IBM Web Browser for OS/2: this was a Gecko-based browser for OS/2. IBM killed it in Dec 2005 when it killed OS/2. Those using OS/2 can get Firefox or SeaMonkey instead.

iCab

Alexander Clauss makes two browsers:

• iCab for OS X : this was available as a free beta for a long time, and has a small number of loyal users. It is free, but paying for it will flip it into Pro mode. Version 3 is available for older editions of OS X, and version 4 is available for modern editions of OS X. [get it...]
• iCab Mobile : this is currently available from the AppStore for iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices.

iCab likely will never be widely used, as it competes with other highly standards compliant browsers made by organizations with much greater resources.

Note : iCab 1-3 use a proprietary browser engine; iCab 4 uses Apple’s WebKit.

References

Wikipedia

Konqueror

Konqueror is a browser included in the open source KDE Desktop Environment for Unix and Linux systems [get it...]. It is an HTML 4 browser that aspires to be fast and standards-compliant. It uses KDE’s KHTML browser engine.

Another major desktop environment for Unix and Linux systems is GNOME, for which Gecko-based browsers are available.

References

Wikipedia

Lynx

Lynx is the most popular text-only browser [get it...].

Lynx is updated at very rare intervals.

Note: it may be impossible to find the latest version for your O/S, since the Lynx developers do not consistently make it available for the common operating systems. You may have to settle for a version that is a beta, or is old, or is in a foreign language.

Note: one way to help testing pages for Lynx compatibility is to use the free Lynx Viewer.

References

Wikipedia

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft has made several independent browsers. This discusses its current flagship browser, Internet Explorer for Windows [get it...].

Versions

• Microsoft’s IE 5.0x: Microsoft supports IE 5.01, but not earlier versions.
• Microsoft’s IE 5.5x: Microsoft no longer supports IE 5.x. Microsoft’s decision to kill 5.5, but to keep supporting 5.01 was an act of incredible and inexplicible stupidity: 5.5 was a far better browser than 5.0.
• Microsoft’s IE 6: Microsoft released IE6 for Windows in Q3 of 2001, SP1 a year later, and SP2 (for Windows XP only) two years after that.
• Microsoft’s IE 7: Microsoft released it on Oct 18 2006.
• Microsoft’s IE 8: Microsoft released it on Mar 19 2009. Microsoft claims it fully supports CSS 2.1.
• Microsoft’s IE 9: under development; not for Windows XP or older versions of Windows.

Note: Microsoft does not update the version number when it makes security updates.

Internet Explorer’s Future

For years IE was available on several platforms. This has changed. In Sep 2002 Microsoft killed IE for HP-UX and Sun Solaris. In Jun 2003 it ended IE upgrades for Macs; in May 2005 it killed MSN Explorer for Macs; and in Jan 2006 it killed IE for Macs. Now IE is for Windows only.

For years new versions of IE would run on much older platforms. This has changed. IE 7 and 8 are available only on Windows XP SP2 and up

For years new versions of IE appeared only with new versions of Windows, which has resulted in IE stagnating when new versions of Windows were delayed. This has changed. In Mar 2009 Microsoft released IE 8 without a new version of Windows. If Microsoft continues releasing new versions of IE without waiting for new versions of Windows, IE will be able to compete better with other browsers.

For years new versions of IE maintained very high compatibility with older versions, even when this prevented IE from supporting standards properly. This has changed: IE 8 is standards compliant by default, behaving like older versions only when designers insist on ignoring standards.

Netscape Plug-ins

Microsoft ended support for Netscape plug-ins with IE5.5/SP2. Users must find equivalent ActiveX components, even though ActiveX is a major cause of security problems. [more...] Designers must change their code to use ActiveX components, as Apple did for QuickTime.

Java and Windows

A court ruling forbids Microsoft to distribute its own version of Java, but does not force it to distribute Sun’s. Those wanting Java must therefore get it on their own, and also must get updates on their own, which means that many people unknowingly use old versions of Java, replete with bugs and security issues.

DOCTYPEs and Internet Explorer

IE5//Mac and IE6//Windows (and up) render pages differently for different DOCTYPEs [more...].

“Mark of the Web”

When browsing a site on the “Local Machine”, e.g. on a test PC, a comment with a “Mark of the Web” may be put in the code to make the site work as it would at a specified URL, including any security restrictions at that URL [more...].

Browsers Using Internet Explorer

The IE engine is used by many browsers, including:

• AOL
• AOL-Compuserve (up to v6)
• AOL Desktop for Windows
• AOL Explorer
• Avant Browser
• Browser3D Browser
• Crazy Browser
• CubicEye
• EarthLink Browser
• Fast Browser
• iRider
• Mad Cow
• Maxthon (formerly myIE2)
• MSN Explorer
• Oligo
• PhaseOut
• ResearchDesk
• SecureIE
• SlimBrowser
• Smart Explorer
• TabLane
• TouchNet
• UltraBrowser
• ViOS
• WebPhace
• WindowSurfer

References

Wikipedia

Microsoft MSN Explorer

MSN Explorer was a suite that Microsoft made for subscribers of its MSN Internet service. The suite made Microsoft’s MSN Internet service a more viable competitor to AOL. It integrated standard Microsoft software with a customized user interface and special services.

• Microsoft’s MSN Explorer 2 // OS X: this was released in May 2003 and killed in May 2005.
• Microsoft’s MSN Explorer 7 // Windows: no longer supported.
• Microsoft’s MSN Explorer 8 // Windows: this was released Oct. 23, 2002. A major difference from v7 is that it is no longer free for those who wish to use it with their own ISP.
• Microsoft’s MSN Explorer 9 // Windows: this was released Jan 8, 2004, with a range of plans and extra-cost options.

This product appears to be extinct. The MSN Explorer download page says that this product comes with Internet Explorer 5.5, which has not been supported for a very long time.

Microsoft MSN-TV (WebTV)

MSN-TV is a Microsoft TV-based Internet appliance, formerly named WebTV. There are two versions of MSN-TV:

• MSN-TV (classic): this is a limited HTML 4 browser with some CSS and JavaScript support: for details, see developer.msntv.com.

  MSN-TV 2.8.2 appeared in October of 2003: it has been reported that 2.9 appeared in Aug 2004, but I have not been able to confirm this.

  The MSN-TV Viewer, software to emulate the appliance, is available [get it...]. The Windows version of the viewer is a reasonably up-to-date 2.8, the Mac version a truly obsolete 2.0. Note : recently, developer.msntv.com has been unavailable; it may be that Microsoft has silently pulled availability of its emulator.

• MSN-TV 2: introduced in Oct 2004, this uses a version of IE6. The most recent version of the software appeared in Feb 2006. [more...]

References

Wikipedia

Mosaic

The NCSA made Mosaic, one of the original graphic-based browsers: earlier browsers were text-based. Many current browsers — including Netscape and Internet Explorer — trace their origins to Mosaic [get it...].

Development of Mosaic was abandoned long ago, and now is only of historical interest.

Mozilla & Friends (Camino, Firefox, SeaMonkey, etc.)

The Mozilla Group makes the open-source, highly standards-compliant Gecko browser engine, used by a diverse range of products on many platforms.

Note : you can donate to the Mozilla Foundation.

Mozilla Browser Products

There are four current Mozilla browser products:

• Camino: a standalone OS X browser.
• Firefox: a standalone browser for a variety of operating systems. Version 3 is available. Note: Firefox 3 stupidly will not support Windows 98, 98se, 98me, or NT, nor will it support OS X 10.1, 10.2, or 10.3; users of these operating systems must use another browser. Note: Firefox is also the official name of Fennec browsers. Note: a Client Customization Kit is available for producing customized versions of Firefox.
• Firefox Mobile (Fennec): edition of Firefox for mobile devices like cellphones. 1.0 is available for the Maemo platform, available for the Nokia N900; alphas are available for some other devices.
• SeaMonkey: a browser suite for a variety of operating systems, replacing the classic Mozilla suite.

DOCTYPEs and Gecko

Gecko will render pages differently for different DOCTYPEs [more...].

Designing for Gecko

Mozilla has info for designing pages for Gecko [more...].

References

Wikipedia: Mozilla Foundation, Firefox, Camino, SeaMonkey, Gecko-based browsers.

Nokia

Nokia offers a mobile web browser in some of its cellphones.

Some cellphones may use a Safari-based browser.

OmniWeb

The Omni Group makes the OmniWeb browser for Mac OS X [get it...]. It was not free until version 5.9 appeared.

Versions

• OmniWeb 4: this is an HTML 4 browser for OS X 10.1 that aspired to be standards-compliant. Obsolete.
• OmniWeb 4.5: this was an HTML 4 browser for OS X 10.2 (and up). It uses the same KHTML engine that Safari uses. Obsolete: users should go to v5.5.
• OmniWeb 5: this had improved features and a more up-to-date version of Safari’s KHTML engine; it is now obsolete.
• OmniWeb 5.7, 5.8: these have even more more up-to-date versions of Safari’s KHTML engine; they are now obsolete.
• OmniWeb 5.9.1: now free, with features improved and bugs fixed.

References

Wikipedia

Opera

Opera Software makes the Opera browser for a wide variety of platforms. Opera is renowned as a browser that is small, fast, and standards-compliant. There are three major families of browsers:

• Opera for PCs [get it...]
• Opera Mini for mobile devices [get it...]
• Opera Mobile for more capable mobile devices [get it...]

Opera for PCs

• Opera 3 : v3.62 is available for uncommon operating systems, e.g. BeOS and for Windows 3.1 and NT3.51.
• Opera 4 : this was quickly replaced by v5.
• Opera 5 : this is still available for OS/2 and QNX.
• Opera 6 : this is still available for Mac OS 8 and 9, and as a beta for QNX.
• Opera 7 : this was replaced by v8.
• Opera 8 : this was released in Apr 2005 and replaced by v9.
• Opera 9 : this was released in Jun 2006. Some CSS changes cause layout changes, e.g. with lists, requiring that sites be changed to adapt. 9.50 was released in June 2008.
• Opera 10 : this was released in Sep 2009. The userAgent string reports it as version 9.80, but a userAgent substring beginning with "Version/" has the real version number. 10.50 was released in March 2010, with a new JavaScript engine.

Opera Mini

• Opera Mini 4.2 : this was replaced by Mini 5.0.
• Opera Mini 5.1 : this was released in Jul 2010.

Opera Mobile

• Opera Mobile 10.0 : this was released in Mar 2010.

Note: Opera updates the version number when it makes security updates.

Opera and Standards

To learn about Opera’s support of standards, see Web Specifications Supported in Opera 6, Opera 7, and Opera 8, and Opera 9.

DOCTYPEs and Opera 7

Opera 7 and up will render pages differently for different DOCTYPEs [more...].

References

Wikipedia

Skyfire

Skyfire offers a full-featured mobile web browser. [get it...]

Versions

• 1.0 released May 27, 2009.
• 1.5 released Dec 20, 2009.

Amaya

Amaya is a browser/editor made by the W3C (Worldwide Web Consortium) — an organization that defines the browser standards — in order to test and exhibit elements of new standards. All versions of Amaya are necessarily betas [get it...].

For details about Amaya, visit the Amaya site.

W3C Standards

The W3C has over 300 members. It makes recommendations which — as they are made by consensus of the members — are de facto standards.