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,
Brave,
DoCoMo iMode,
Dolphin,
Google Chrome,
HotJava,
IBM Home Page Reader,
IBM Web Browsers,
iCab,
Konqueror,
Lynx,
Microsoft Edge,
Microsoft Internet Explorer,
Microsoft MSN Explorer,
Microsoft MSN-TV Viewer,
Mosaic,
Mozilla & Friends (Firefox, SeaMonkey, etc.),
Nokia,
OmniWeb,
Opera,
Pale Moon,
RockMelt,
Samsung Internet,
Skyfire,
Vivaldi,
W3C Amaya,
Web/Epiphany,
Yahoo Axis,
Yandex Browser.
NB: 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.
NB: 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 MacOS]:
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 doesn’t update the version vector 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 MacOS 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 vector 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 haven’t 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 wouldn’t 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 MacOS is a browser suite for MacOS, 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;
1.7 appeared in Nov 2010.
[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. NB: 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⮞.
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 MacOS, Safari now runs on other platforms, including 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.
Version Vectors
Apple uses 3 sets of version vectors for Safari:
- One set are the Safari version vectors 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 vectors 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 vector 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 vectors related to each other, but a brainless idiot at Apple removed the page:
it is therefore very difficult now to determine the Safari version vector 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 2.0 released in Mar 2010; 2.1 released in May 2010.
Brave
Brave offers a browser for desktops and cellphones, using Chrome’s WebKit browser engine.
[more⮞.
Brave uses the currently installed version of the Chrome browser. Brave 1.0 appeared on Nov 13, 2019.
DoCoMo iMode
DoCoMo offers a mobile web browser in cellphones, primarily in Australia, Japan, and parts of Europe.
Dolphin
Dolphin is a mobile web browser based on Apple’s WebKit.
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 its developer previews are akin to alphas or early alphas.
Chrome is available for Android, Linux, MacOS, and Windows.
Chrome uses a modified version of the WebKit-based KHTML engine that Safari uses, with a different JavaScript interpreter.
Beginning with Chrome 28, it will use a variant of the WebKit engine called ‘Blink’, which will diverge over time from the variant
of the WebKit engine used by Apple.
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 can’t 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: released on Sep 2, 2008.
Chrome 2: released on May 21, 2009.
Chrome 3: released on Sep 15, 2009.
Chrome 4: released on Jan 25, 2010.
Chrome 5: released on May 25, 2010.
Chrome 6: released on Sep 2, 2010.
Chrome 7: released on Oct 19, 2010.
Chrome 8: released on Dec 2, 2010.
Chrome 9: released on Feb 3, 2011.
Chrome 10: released on Mar 7, 2011.
Chrome 11: released on Apr 27, 2011.
Chrome 12: released on Jun 7, 2011.
Chrome 13: released on Aug 2, 2011.
Chrome 14: released on Sep 16, 2011.
Chrome 15: released on Oct 25, 2011.
Chrome 16: released on Dec 3, 2011.
Chrome 19: released on May 15, 2012.
Chrome 20: released on Jun 27, 2012.
Chrome 21: released on Aug 1, 2012.
Chrome 22: released on Sep 25, 2012.
Chrome 23: released on Nov 6, 2012.
Chrome 24: released on Jan 10, 2013.
Chrome 25: released on Mar 7, 2013.
Chrome 26: released on Mar 26, 2013.
Chrome 27: released on May 21, 2013.
Chrome 28: released on Jul 8, 2013. It now uses the Blink browser engine.
Chrome 29: released on Aug 20, 2013.
Chrome 30: released on Oct 1, 2013.
Chrome 31: released in Nov, 2013.
Chrome 32: released on Jan 14, 2014.
Chrome 33: released on Feb 20, 2014.
Chrome 34: released on Apr 8, 2014.
Chrome 35: released on May 20, 2014.
Chrome 36: released on Jul 16, 2014.
Chrome 37: released on Aug 26, 2014.
Chrome 38: released on Oct 7, 2014.
Chrome 39: released on Nov 18, 2014.
Chrome 40: released on Jan 21, 2015.
Chrome 41: released on Mar 3, 2015.
Chrome 42: released on Apr 14, 2015.
Chrome 43: released on May 19, 2015.
Chrome 44: released on Jul 21, 2015.
Chrome 45: released on Sep 1, 2015.
Chrome 46: released on Oct 13, 2015.
Chrome 47: released on Dec 1, 2015.
Chrome 48: released on Jan 20, 2016.
Chrome 49: released on Mar 2, 2016.
Chrome 50: released on Apr 13, 2016.
Chrome 51: released on May 25, 2016.
Chrome 52: released on Jul 20, 2016.
Chrome 53: released on Aug 31, 2016.
Chrome 54: released on Oct 12, 2016.
Chrome 55: released on Dec 1, 2016.
Chrome 56: released on Jan 25, 2017.
Chrome 57: released on Mar 9, 2017.
Chrome 58: released on Apr 19, 2017.
Chrome 59: released on May 5, 2017.
Chrome 60: released on Jul 25, 2017.
Chrome 61: released on Sep 5, 2017.
Chrome 62: released on Oct 17, 2017.
Chrome 63: released on Dec 6, 2017.
Chrome 64: released on Jan 24, 2018.
Chrome 65: released on Mar 6, 2018.
Chrome 66: released on Apr 18, 2018.
Chrome 67: released on May 29, 2018.
Chrome 68: released on Jul 24, 2018.
Important: Chrome 68 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 69: released on Sep 4, 2018.
Important: Chrome 69 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 70: released on Oct 16, 2018.
Important: Chrome 70 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 71: released on Dec 4, 2018.
Important: Chrome 71 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 72: released on Jan 29, 2019.
Important: Chrome 72 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 73: released on Mar 12, 2019.
Important: Chrome 73 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 74: released on Apr 23, 2019.
Important: Chrome 74 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 75: released on Jun 4, 2019.
Important: Chrome 75 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 76: released on Jul 30, 2019.
Important: Chrome 76 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 77: released on Sep 10, 2019.
Important: Chrome 77 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 78: released on Oct 22, 2019.
Important: Chrome 78 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 79: released on Dec 10, 2019.
Important: Chrome 79 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 80: released on Feb 3, 2020.
Important: Chrome 80 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 81: released on Apr 7, 2020.
Important: Chrome 81 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
- Chrome 82: there was no Chrome 82.
Chrome 83: released on May 19, 2020.
Important: Chrome 83 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 87: released on Nov 17, 2020.
Important: Chrome 87 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 88: released on Jan 19, 2021.
Important: Chrome 88 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 89: released on Mar 2, 2021.
Important: Chrome 89 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
Chrome 90: released on Apr 14, 2021.
Important: Chrome 90 says a page is insecure if it is an http:// page. More⮞
“about” Pages
Chrome has a set of built-in pages whose names begin with about:.
Some of these built-in pages are listed by the page named about:about.
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.
NB: 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.
iCab
Alexander Clauss makes two browsers:
iCab for MacOS: 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 MacOS, and version 5 is available for modern editions of MacOS.
[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.
NB: iCab 1–3 use a proprietary browser engine; iCab 4 and above use Apple’s WebKit.
References
Wikipedia
Konqueror
Konqueror is a browser included in the open source
KDE Desktop Environment
for Unix and Linux systems.
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.
NB:
it may be impossible to find the latest version for your O/S, since the Lynx developers don’t
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.
NB:
one way to help testing pages for Lynx compatibility is to use the free
Lynx Viewer.
References
Wikipedia
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft has made several independent browsers. This discusses the two editions of Edge:
Edge::HTML, and Edge::Chrome.
Edge::HTML
Edge::HTML is a Windows 10 browser, using the Edge::HTML browser engine.
The userAgent
for Edge makes it easy for naïve browser sniffers to mistake it for Chrome, Opera, or Safari.
A Microsoft document cites a user agent as:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/42.0.2311.135 Safari/537.36 Edge/12.<OS build number>
.
The userAgent
for Edge has a substring which makes it appear to be (in this example) Edge 12.
Edge::Chrome
Edge::Chrome is a later browser, using the same browser engine as Google Chrome. It runs on Android, iOS, MacOS, & Windows 7+,
The userAgent
for Edge makes it easy for naïve browser sniffers to mistake it for Chrome, Opera, or Safari.
An example of its user agent is:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/80.0.3987.87 Safari/537.36 Edg/80.0.361.62
.
The userAgent
for Edge has a substring which makes it appear to be (in this example) Edg 80.
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.
- 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: Microsoft released it on Mar 14, 2011. The 32- and 64-bit versions have different JavaScript engines, with
the 32-bit engine being much faster.
- Microsoft’s IE 10:: Microsoft released it on Oct 26, 2012.
- Microsoft’s IE 11:: Microsoft released on October 17, 2013.
Note: Microsoft doesn’t update the version vector when it makes security updates; Exception:
Microsoft has updated the version vector for IE 9.
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 MacOS; in May 2005 it killed MSN Explorer for MacOS; and in Jan 2006 it killed IE for MacOS.
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 IE 9 is available only on Windows Vista+.
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. Releasing new
versions of IE without waiting for new versions of Windows will enable IE 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 and IE 9 are 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 doesn’t 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 flaws.
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:
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 [MacOS]: 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 hasn’t been supported for a very long time.
Microsoft MSN-TV (WebTV)
MSN-TV was a Microsoft TV-based Internet appliance, formerly named WebTV.
There were two versions of MSN-TV:
MSN-TV (classic): this was a limited HTML 4 browser with some
CSS and JavaScript support.
MSN-TV 2: introduced in Oct 2004, this used a version of IE6.
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 (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.
NB: you can donate to the Mozilla Foundation.
Mozilla Browser Products
Here are some current Mozilla browser products:
Firefox: a browser for several operating systems.
Note: Firefox is also the official name of Fennec browsers.
Note: a Client Customization Kit is available for producing customized versions of Firefox.
Note: betas are available here.
Firefox Focus (Mobile): edition of Firefox for mobile devices with focus on privacy.
SeaMonkey: a browser suite for a variety of operating systems, replacing the defunct 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⮞.
“about” Pages
Firefox and SeaMonkey have sets of built-in pages whose names begin with about:, for example about:config,
used to configure the browsers.
Some of these built-in pages are listed by the page named about:about.
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 MacOS. It was not free until version 5.9 appeared.
NB: links in OmniWeb broke in Sep 2013.
Versions
- OmniWeb 4: this is an HTML 4 browser for MacOS 10.1 that aspired to be
standards-compliant. Obsolete.
OmniWeb 4.5: this was an HTML 4 browser for MacOS 10.2 (and up).
It uses the same KHTML engine that Safari uses. Obsolete.
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 5.9.2: now free, with features improved and bugs fixed. Obsolete.
References
Wikipedia
Opera
Opera Software, owned by a Chinese consortium,
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
This used an Opera browser engine until Opera 15, when it switched to Chrome. At this point it appears to have stopped releasing matching
versions for Free BSD.
- 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.
- 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 vector. 10.50 was released in March 2010, with a new JavaScript engine.
- Opera 11 : this was released in Dec 2010. The userAgent string reports it as version 9.80, but a userAgent substring
beginning with "Version/" has the real version vector. 11.50 was released in June 2011, 11.60 in Dec 2011, 11.61 in Jan 2012; 11.62 in Mar 2012;
11.64 in May 2012.
- Opera 12 : this was released in Jun 2012. The userAgent string reports it as version 9.80, but a userAgent substring
beginning with "Version/" has the real version vector.
Opera 15 : this was released in Jul 2013, using the same browser engine as Google’s Chrome. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 28, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 16 : this was released in Aug 2013. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 29, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 17 : this was released in Oct 2013. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 30, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 18 : this was released in Nov 2013. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 31, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 19 : this was released in Jan 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 32, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 20 : this was released in Mar 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 33, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 21 : this was released in May 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 34, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 22 : this was released in Jun 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 35, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 23 : this was released in Jul 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 36, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 24 : this was released in Sep 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 37, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 25 : this was released in Oct 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 38, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 26 : this was released in Nov or Dec 2014. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 39, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 27 : this was released in Jan 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 40, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 28 : this was released in Mar 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 41, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 29 : this was released in Apr 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 42, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 30 : this was released in Jun 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 43, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 31 : this was released in Aug 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 44, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 32 : this was released in Sep 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 45, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 33 : this was released in Oct 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 46, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 34 : this was released in Dec 2015. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 47, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 35 : this was released in Feb 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 48, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 36 : this was released in Mar 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 49, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 37 : this was released in May 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 50, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 38 : this was released in Jun 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 51, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 39 : this was released in Aug 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 52, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 40 : this was released in Sep 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 53, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 41 : this was released in Oct 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 54, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 42 : this was released in Dec 2016. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 55, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 43 : this was released in Feb 2017. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 56, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 44 : this was released in Mar 2017. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 57, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 45 : this was released in May 2017. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 58, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 46 : this was released in Jun 2017. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 59, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 47 : this was released in Aug 2017. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 60, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 48 : this was released in Sep 2017. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 61, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 49 : this was released in Nov 2017. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 62, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 50 : this was released in Jan 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 63, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 51 : this was released in Feb 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 64, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 52 : this was released in Mar 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 65, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 53 : this was released in May 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 66, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 54 : this was released in Jun 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 67, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 55 : this was released in Aug 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 68, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 56 : this was released in Sep 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 69, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 57 : this was released in Nov 2018. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 70, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 58 : this was released in Jan 2019. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 71, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
- Opera 59 : this was not released.
Opera 60 : this was released in Apr 2019. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 73, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 62 : this was released in Jun 2019. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 75, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 63 : this was released in Aug 2019. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 76, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 64 : this was released in Oct 2019. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 77, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 65 : this was released in Nov 2019. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 78, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 66 : this was released in Jan 2020. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 79, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 67 : this was released in Feb 2020. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 80, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 72 : this was released in Oct 2020. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 86, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Opera 74 : this was released in Feb 2021. The userAgent string
reports it as Chrome 88, but a userAgent substring beginning with "OPR/" has the Opera version vector.
Note: Opera updates the version vector when it makes security updates.
Opera Mini
- Opera Mini 4.2 : this was replaced by Mini 5.0.
- Opera Mini 4.5 : this was released in Jun 2013.
- Opera Mini 5.1 : this was released in Jul 2010.
- Opera Mini 6.0 : this was released in Mar 2011; 6.1 in Jun 2011; 6.5 in Oct 2011.
- Opera Mini 7.0 : this was released in Mar 2012.
- Opera Mini 8.0 : this was released in Mar 2014.
- Opera Mini 9.0 : this was released in Nov 2014.
Opera Mobile
- Opera Mobile 10 : this was released in Mar 2010; 10.1 in Nov 2010.
- Opera Mobile 11 : this was released in Mar 2011; 11.1 in Jun 2011; 11.5 in Oct 2011.
- Opera Mobile 14 : for Android, this was released in May 2013, using the same browser engine as Google’s Chrome.
- Opera Mobile 18 : for Android, this was released in Nov 2013, using the same browser engine as Google’s Chrome.
Opera Coast
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+ will render pages differently for different DOCTYPEs
[more⮞.
“opera” Pages
Opera has a set of built-in pages whose names begin with opera:, for example opera:config,
used to configure the browser.
References
Wikipedia
Pale Moon
Pale Moon is a browser using a browser engine named Goanna
and a JavaScript engine named SpiderMonkey which are derived from a Firefox engine prior to Firefox Quantum.
Pale Moon is currently available only for Windows and Linux, though a version for MacOS is planned.
NB: a Goanna is a type of lizard; the browser engine was likely named Goanna because the Goanna lizards
are somewhat similar to Mozilla’s lizard logo.
RockMelt
RockMelt offered a Chrome-based social browser.
[get it⮞
A public beta appeared in Mar 2011; it has been discontinued.
Samsung Internet
Samsung Internet is a light Android browser made by Samsung. [get it⮞
Skyfire
Skyfire, bought by Opera Software in Feb of 2013, once offered a mobile browswer, and now offers a mobile browser extension platform named Horizon.
[get it⮞
Versions
- 1.0 released May 27, 2009.
- 1.5 released Dec 20, 2009.
- 2.0 released Apr 29, 2010.
- 2.1 released Jun 23, 2010.
- 4.0 released Nov 23, 2010.
- 5.0 released ?
- 6.0 released ?
- 7.0 released Oct 15, 2013.
Vivaldi
Vivaldi is a KHTML-based browser for Windows, MacOS, and Linux made by Vivaldi Technologies.
[get it⮞
News about updates is available here.
Versions
1.0 released Apr 6, 2016. Based on Chrome 49.
1.1 released Apr 29, 2016. Based on Chrome 50.
1.2 released Jun 2, 2016. Based on Chrome 51.
1.3 released Aug 11, 2016. Based on Chrome 52.
1.4 released Sep 8, 2016. Based on Chrome 53.
1.5 released Nov 22, 2016. Based on Chrome 54.
1.6 released Dec 15, 2016. Based on Chrome 55.
1.7 released Feb 8, 2017. Based on Chrome 56.
1.8 released Mar 29, 2017. Based on Chrome 57.
1.9 released Apr 27, 2017. Based on Chrome 58.
1.10 released Jun 15, 2017. Based on Chrome 59.
1.11 released Aug 10, 2017. Based on Chrome 60.
1.12 released Sep 20, 2017. Based on Chrome 61.
1.13 released Nov 22, 2017. Based on Chrome 62.
1.14 released Jan 31, 2018. Based on Chrome 64.
1.15 released Apr 25, 2018. Based on Chrome 65.
2.0 released Sep 26, 2018. Based on Chrome 69.
2.1 released Oct 25, 2018. Based on Chrome 70.
2.2 released Dec 13, 2018. Based on Chrome 71.
2.3 released Feb 6, 2019. Based on Chrome 72.
2.4 released Mar 27, 2019. Based on Chrome 73.
2.5 released May 8, 2019. Based on Chrome 74.
2.6 released Jun 20, 2019. Based on Chrome 75.
2.7 released Aug 21, 2019. Based on Chrome 76.
2.8 released Sep 19, 2019. Based on Chrome 77.
2.9 released Oct 31, 2019. Based on Chrome 78.
2.10 released Dec 18, 2019. Based on Chrome 79.
2.11 released Feb 12, 2020. Based on Chrome 80.
3.6 released Jan 29, 2020. Based on Chrome 88.
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 were necessarily betas. Work on Amaya ended in 2012.
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.
Web (Epiphany)
Web is the Linux Gnome browser, also known as Epiphany, also available for other versions of Linux.
The Web browser uses Apple’s WebKit Browser engine.
Yahoo Axix
Axis is a browser for small devices such as iPhones and iPads. Axis is also a set of add-ons for desktop browsers.
[details…]
The Axis browser uses Apple’s WebKit Browser engine.
The Yandex browser is a browser developed by the Yandex search engine company.
[details…]