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Difference between revisions of "Web browsers"

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Personal needs and viewing preferences vary wildly, so one should ideally test several major Web browsers before making a decision. No one choice is going to be perfect for everyone.
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There are many great web browsers to choose from, and many different ways of viewing the web, from text-only to 3D rendered pages.
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Avoid Flash, as it's buggy and soon to be out of support for [[GNU/Linux]].
  
 
__TOC__
 
__TOC__
  
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== Major Web Browsers ==
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==Major browsers==
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===[[Freedom|Free software]]===
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'''[[Firefox]]''' is historically known for being the most compatible, stable, and customizable browser available, but some of those points have been challenged in recent times, such as with Australis. Firefox is by far the most customizable browser, and is generally considered to have better add-ons.
  
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=== Chromium ===
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'''[[Chromium]]''', the open-source project that [[Chrome]] is based on and is also developed by [[Google]]. It is basically Chrome minus the in-built Pepper flash plugin, PDF viewer and a few of the tracking features and it is fully extension compatible with Chrome.
  
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''This browser is one of the two usually recommended on /g/ for general use.''
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===<span style="color:#ff0000">Non-free</span> software===
  
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'''[[Chromium]]''' is a free and open-source Web browser known for its extremely fast JavaScript execution and multiprocess security model. Upon its initial release, Chromium was ahead of the competition by leaps and bounds in terms of raw performance. In the years that followed though, Firefox and Opera largely equalled and in some cases surpassed its performance advantage. Chromium still tends to maintain a slight edge in UI responsiveness and JavaScript execution.
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[[File:Inori-tan.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Superior waifu browser not available on Freedom™ systems]]
  
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==== Google Chrome ====
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'''[[Chrome]]''', developed by [[Google]], is an upstart competitor of Firefox. It tends to be more stable and seem much faster, but that is mainly due to the fact that it renders UI and webpages separately.  In exchange, you are joining a [[botnet]] - Chrome sends a lot more data than necessary back to Google, tries to convince you to sign in to Google services and has their menus inside. Speed between Firefox and Chrome is not something to worry about as both perform different in different situations and both can be equally fast. It used to have issues with customization, but that has been reduced in recent times. In recent times there have been outbreaks of extensions that have malware or track you for their own benefit, but if you have common sense then that shouldn't be much of a problem. Based on Chromium, which is '''free software'''.
  
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''This variant is NOT recommended for general use. See our entry on [http://wiki.installgentoo.com/index.php?title=Questionable_Software#Google_Chrome Google Chrome] under [[Questionable Software]].
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"'''[[Niggernet Wangblows Exploder]]''', or IE, is a demon hell-spawn that uses Trident to try to be a unique special snowflake by advertising with a waifu named Inori Aiwaza <sup>you're waifu a shit</sup>. Developed by a crack-team of apes straight out of compton otherwise known as Microsoft, there are many better alternatives, including death"
  
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'''Google [[Chrome]]''' is a proprietary fork of the free and open source Chromium project. It integrates Google's 'Pepper' Flash plug-in, a Foxit-based PDF reader, and controversial user-tracking capabilities in addition to the usual Chromium feature set.
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Recently, IE11 evolved into something that can almost be called a browser. Due to a better integration with Windows and normal Flash Player right out of the box (not shitty pepper-flash, like in Chrome), Internet Explorer is usable nowadays. Also, it has AdBlock.
  
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=== Mozilla Firefox ===
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'''[[Opera]]''' is one of the oldest browsers still developed, and comes with many useful features right out of the box. It looks great and performs well, and is well known for its standardization of web protocols and completion of tests. Recent updates have made it a shit clone of Chrome.
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Used to have its own Presto engine, but since 13.x version is now using <strike>WebKit</strike> Blink, a joint project with Google, which means <strike>its just a skin for chrome and has been shit ever since.</strike> shares code with Chrome, reducing overhead for Opera ASA and making Opera partially '''[[open source]]'''. Opera's current development path is strikingly different from what it used to be, but there are compelling reasons to use Opera, including the additional extensions made available for it using a compatibility layer for Chrome extensions. The browser is undergoing a complete re-transformation, and the end result is a compelling browser with a bright future.
  
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''This browser is one of the two usually recommended on /g/ for general use.''
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Opera with its new rendering engine is not available currently for Linux, only Windows and OS X; 12.16 is the latest version available for Linux, which was the last version using the Presto engine.
  
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'''[[Firefox]]''' is a free and open-source Web browser descended from the Netscape Communicator. It is known for its championing of the open Web during Internet Explorer's reign of terror and its extensive customisability via add-ons and settings. Although many other browsers have adopted the practise of allowing third-party extensions in the browser, Firefox's add-ons still tend to be a cut above the rest.
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'''[[Safari]]''' is a WebKit-based browser for [[Apple]] OS/X. Will sync across Apple devices using Apple ID. Has a bit of customization abilities, but less than Firefox. Very few add-ons compared to other browsers, and it's hard to find the website for add-ons in the first place. <del>Available</del> <ins>was available</ins> for Windows, but not seen on Windows normally. The best for Mac's battery life, guaranteed. {{Citation needed}}
  
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=== Internet Explorer ===
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== Other browsers ==
  
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'''[[Internet Explorer]]''' or IE is the default Web browser in [[Microsoft]]'s Windows series of [[operating systems]]. It is based on Microsoft's Trident layout engine. Before version 9, Internet Explorer was infamous for its myriad security vulnerabilities, poor performance, disregard for Web standards, and perversion of the few Web standards that it bothered to acknowledge. Since version 9, Microsoft has been actively developing Internet Explorer into something resembling an actual Web browser in an attempt to check Google's rise in the browser market.
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=== Gecko-based ===
  
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=== Opera ===
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*[http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ Seamonkey Internet Suite], derivative of the classic Netscape Communicator internet suite. Compatible with Firefox addons and is reminiscent of the Opera 12 series.
  
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'''[[Opera]]''' is one of the oldest Web browsers that is still under active development. For most of its existence, Opera has been characterised by its customisability, innovation, broad out-of-the-box feature set, and respect for Web standards. Several now ubiquitous features like tabbed browsing and speed dial made their débuts in Opera. Until recently, it was based upon Opera Software ASA's own Presto layout engine and offered to its users as an Internet suite, complete with Email, IRC, and FTP support. The last stable release of the traditional Opera browser was version 12.16.  
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* [http://www.geticeweasel.org/ Iceweasel], a rebranded version of Firefox by the Debian project, due to Firefox artwork being non-free. Therefore, Iceweasel is even more free than Firefox, but is mostly only easily available if you run Debian.
  
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With the release of version 15, Opera development departed radically from that of previous versions. Opera's email client was re-released as standalone software, support for GNU/Linux was suspended, native 64-bit builds were suspended, and many other features were simply removed. Even the Presto layout engine itself was discontinued permanently in favour of Google's new Blink layout engine, a Webkit fork. The result of these changes is a browser that resembles Chromium in most respects with a few popular features from old Opera like speed dial. It is fully compatible with Chrome extensions.
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* [http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/ K-Meleon], Open-source GPL licensed web browser based upon Mozilla's Gecko engine. Old as fuck now, but works well on older versions of Windows (Win2K/ME/98 etc.) and better than using IE.
  
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=== Safari ===
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=== Webkit-based ===
  
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'''[[Safari]]''' is the default Web browser in [[Apple]]'s Mac OS X. It is based on Apple's Webkit layout engine, a KHTML fork. Compared to Chromium and Firefox, Safari has a slow development cycle and is lacking in features.
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* [http://midori-browser.org/ Midori], minimal WebKit browser
  
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== Other Browsers by Layout Engine ==
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* [http://rekonq.kde.org/ rekonq], WebKit browser with Qt interface
  
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=== Gecko ===
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* [http://otter-browser.org/ Otter], a project aiming to recreate the Opera 12 GUI/features in QT5. Open/Libre software
  
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* [http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/ K-Meleon] is a free and open-source Web browser for Windows. The original goal of the project was to produce a Firefox-like browser with a truly Windows-native UI. It is old and unmaintained, but it could potentially be useful to users of older Windows operating systems.
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* [http://mason-larobina.github.io/luakit/ luakit], Highly configurable minimalistic browser
  
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*[http://www.seamonkey-project.org/ Seamonkey] is a continuation of the Mozilla suite. Unlike most modern Web browsers, it is an Internet suite, complete with bundled programs for Email, IRC, and Web design. It is compatible with most Firefox add-ons.
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* [http://portix.bitbucket.org/dwb/ dwb], a lightweight web browser based on webkit and gtk. It aims to be keyboard driven with vi-like shortcuts.
  
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=== Webkit ===
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* [http://www.uzbl.org/ uzbl], Minimalistic browser that follows the UNIX philosophy
  
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* [http://midori-browser.org/ Midori] is a lightweight Web browser with a GTK+ interface. It is a component of the XFCE Goodies package.
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* [http://surf.suckless.org/ surf], a minimalistic WebKit browser created by suckless.org people
  
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* [http://rekonq.kde.org/ rekonq] is a lightweight Web browser with a Qt interface. It is a core component of the K desktop environment.
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* [https://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php SRware Iron], a fork of Chromium with dubious claims of being more secure than Chrome, while adding no additional features.
  
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* [http://otter-browser.org/ Otter Browser] is a project that aims to recreate and improve upon the features of classic Opera using the Qt5 tool-kit. It is in the early stages of development at the time of this writing, and is thus unsuited for general use.
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=== KHTML ===
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* [http://mason-larobina.github.io/luakit/ Luakit] is a minimalistic GTK+ Web browser targeted at users who desire fine-grained control over their browser's behaviour and interface.
 
  
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* [http://portix.bitbucket.org/dwb/ Dwb] is a keyboard-driven GTK+ Web browser inspired by Firefox's Vimperator add-on.
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* [http://www.konqueror.org/ Konqueror], KHTML browser and file manager developed for K desktop environment (KDE). Webkit was forked from its layout engine.
  
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* [http://www.uzbl.org/ Uzbl] is a minimalistic GTK+ browser that is developed according to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy Unix Philosophy].
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=== Basic HTML ===
  
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* [http://surf.suckless.org/ Surf] is a minimalistic WebKit browser developed according to the [http://suckless.org/philosophy Suckless philosophy].
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* [http://www.netsurf-browser.org/ NetSurf], small light and fast, also, barely any website works properly - what else could you ever need?
  
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=== KHTML ===
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* [http://dillo.org Dillo], minimalistic and fast browser that only loads text, images, and basic HTML.
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* [http://www.konqueror.org/ Konqueror] is a Web browser and file manager that was once a core component of the K desktop environment. Webkit and Blink are both descendants of its KHTML layout engine.
 
  
 
=== Terminal ===
 
=== Terminal ===
  
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* [http://links.twibright.com/ Links] is a text-based browser that can display images.
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* [http://links.twibright.com/ Links], a text browser that can display images, holy shit!
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* [http://w3m.sourceforge.net/ w3m] is another text-based browser that can display images.
 
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* [http://www.elinks.cz/ ELinks] is a text-based based web browser that runs from the terminal.
 
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* [http://lynx.isc.org/ Lynx] is the oldest Web browser still under active development.
 
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== Common Plug-Ins ==
 
  
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* [https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html Adobe Flash Player] is required to play the flash video incorporated into many modern Web pages. It is infamous for being bloated, slow, and exploitable. While it is being phased out in favour of HTML 5 video, Flash is unfortunately still required in many cases. Flash should not be used on GNU/Linux systems, due to the fact that it is no longer being updated for that platform.
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* [http://w3m.sourceforge.net/ w3m] can also display images.
  
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* [https://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/ The Silverlight Plug-In] is required to play Silverlight content. Silverlight was essentially Microsoft's answer to Flash, but it failed to gain any significant market share. Like Flash, it is being phased out in favour of HTML 5. Unlike Flash, it is not common enough to justify its use.
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* [http://www.elinks.cz/ ELinks], a text based web browser that runs from the terminal.
  
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* [https://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp The Java and Java Deployment Toolkit Plug-Ins] are installed with the [http://wiki.installgentoo.com/index.php?title=Questionable_Software#Java_Runtime_Environment Java Runtime Environment]. While the Runtime Environment itself is often necessary for the use of desktop Java software, these plug-ins are extremely vulnerable and rarely used. They should be disabled in all cases.
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* [http://lynx.isc.org/ Lynx], the oldest browser still developed and the only choice for being truly Old Skool.
  
 
== Recommended User Scripts ==
 
== Recommended User Scripts ==
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* [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/87750 4Chan Linkify] - Turn text links into clickable links.
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* [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/155840 Anti-Adblock Killer] prevents various anti-adblock methods from being effective. For best results, it must be used in conjunction with its set of [http://jsbin.com/AhewOcox Adblock Plus filters].
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* [https://4chan-x.just-believe.in/ MayhemYDG's 4Chan-X] - /g/ approved 4chan extension.
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* [http://seaweedchan.github.io/OneeChan/ OneeChan] – Also dormant but project of cweed for '''[[ricing]]'''.
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* [https://4chan-x.just-believe.in/ MayhemYDG's 4Chan-X] is the ''official'' continuation of Aeosynth's popular 4chan X script.
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* [http://seaweedchan.github.io/4chan-x/ Seaweedchan's 4chan X] – Better than the "/g/-approved 4chan extension" my illiterate colleague has suggested. No longer under development, although still functional and more feature-rich.
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** [https://zixaphir.github.io/appchan-x/ Appchan X] is Zixaphir's fork of 4chan X. It combines the features of 4chan X with the rice of the discontinued Appchan and OneeChan style scripts.
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* [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/159658 ViewTubePlus] - ViewTube for porn.
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** [http://seaweedchan.github.io/4chan-x/ Seaweedchan's 4chan X] was a popular fork of 4chan X offered several controversial features over Mayhem's. Due to its author's decision to leave 4chan, its development has ceased.
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* [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/87011 ViewTube] - Replaces Flash video players on many sites including YouTube with HTML5.
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** [http://seaweedchan.github.io/OneeChan/ OneeChan] was another of Seaweedchan's abandoned projects. Unlike Appchan X, it packaged no 4chan X features.
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* [https://github.com/YePpHa/YouTubeCenter/wiki/Developer-Version YouTube Center] - ''The'' YouTube userscript. [Developer Version]
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* [https://zixaphir.github.io/appchan-x/ Zixaphir's Appchan-X] - 4Chan-X rolled into a theme engine script.  
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* [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/87750 4Chan Linkify] changes plain-text links on 4chan into hyper-links. It is redundant if either 4chan X or the official extension are used.
 
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* [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/114002 YouTube Center] seamlessly integrates many features like video downloading directly into YouTube.
 
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* [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/87011 ViewTube] forces HTML5 to be preferred over flash on a variety of popular video sites.
 
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** [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/159658 ViewTubePlus] is like ViewTube, but for pornographic sites.
 
  
 
[[Category:Browser]]
 
[[Category:Browser]]

Revision as of 23:06, 12 February 2014

There are many great web browsers to choose from, and many different ways of viewing the web, from text-only to 3D rendered pages.

Avoid Flash, as it's buggy and soon to be out of support for GNU/Linux.

Major browsers

Free software

Firefox is historically known for being the most compatible, stable, and customizable browser available, but some of those points have been challenged in recent times, such as with Australis. Firefox is by far the most customizable browser, and is generally considered to have better add-ons.

Chromium, the open-source project that Chrome is based on and is also developed by Google. It is basically Chrome minus the in-built Pepper flash plugin, PDF viewer and a few of the tracking features and it is fully extension compatible with Chrome.

Non-free software

Superior waifu browser not available on Freedom™ systems

Chrome, developed by Google, is an upstart competitor of Firefox. It tends to be more stable and seem much faster, but that is mainly due to the fact that it renders UI and webpages separately. In exchange, you are joining a botnet - Chrome sends a lot more data than necessary back to Google, tries to convince you to sign in to Google services and has their menus inside. Speed between Firefox and Chrome is not something to worry about as both perform different in different situations and both can be equally fast. It used to have issues with customization, but that has been reduced in recent times. In recent times there have been outbreaks of extensions that have malware or track you for their own benefit, but if you have common sense then that shouldn't be much of a problem. Based on Chromium, which is free software.

"Niggernet Wangblows Exploder, or IE, is a demon hell-spawn that uses Trident to try to be a unique special snowflake by advertising with a waifu named Inori Aiwaza you're waifu a shit. Developed by a crack-team of apes straight out of compton otherwise known as Microsoft, there are many better alternatives, including death"

Recently, IE11 evolved into something that can almost be called a browser. Due to a better integration with Windows and normal Flash Player right out of the box (not shitty pepper-flash, like in Chrome), Internet Explorer is usable nowadays. Also, it has AdBlock.

Opera is one of the oldest browsers still developed, and comes with many useful features right out of the box. It looks great and performs well, and is well known for its standardization of web protocols and completion of tests. Recent updates have made it a shit clone of Chrome. Used to have its own Presto engine, but since 13.x version is now using WebKit Blink, a joint project with Google, which means its just a skin for chrome and has been shit ever since. shares code with Chrome, reducing overhead for Opera ASA and making Opera partially open source. Opera's current development path is strikingly different from what it used to be, but there are compelling reasons to use Opera, including the additional extensions made available for it using a compatibility layer for Chrome extensions. The browser is undergoing a complete re-transformation, and the end result is a compelling browser with a bright future.

Opera with its new rendering engine is not available currently for Linux, only Windows and OS X; 12.16 is the latest version available for Linux, which was the last version using the Presto engine.

Safari is a WebKit-based browser for Apple OS/X. Will sync across Apple devices using Apple ID. Has a bit of customization abilities, but less than Firefox. Very few add-ons compared to other browsers, and it's hard to find the website for add-ons in the first place. Available was available for Windows, but not seen on Windows normally. The best for Mac's battery life, guaranteed. [citation needed]

Other browsers

Gecko-based

  • Seamonkey Internet Suite, derivative of the classic Netscape Communicator internet suite. Compatible with Firefox addons and is reminiscent of the Opera 12 series.
  • Iceweasel, a rebranded version of Firefox by the Debian project, due to Firefox artwork being non-free. Therefore, Iceweasel is even more free than Firefox, but is mostly only easily available if you run Debian.
  • K-Meleon, Open-source GPL licensed web browser based upon Mozilla's Gecko engine. Old as fuck now, but works well on older versions of Windows (Win2K/ME/98 etc.) and better than using IE.

Webkit-based

  • Midori, minimal WebKit browser
  • rekonq, WebKit browser with Qt interface
  • Otter, a project aiming to recreate the Opera 12 GUI/features in QT5. Open/Libre software
  • luakit, Highly configurable minimalistic browser
  • dwb, a lightweight web browser based on webkit and gtk. It aims to be keyboard driven with vi-like shortcuts.
  • uzbl, Minimalistic browser that follows the UNIX philosophy
  • surf, a minimalistic WebKit browser created by suckless.org people
  • SRware Iron, a fork of Chromium with dubious claims of being more secure than Chrome, while adding no additional features.

KHTML

  • Konqueror, KHTML browser and file manager developed for K desktop environment (KDE). Webkit was forked from its layout engine.

Basic HTML

  • NetSurf, small light and fast, also, barely any website works properly - what else could you ever need?
  • Dillo, minimalistic and fast browser that only loads text, images, and basic HTML.

Terminal

  • Links, a text browser that can display images, holy shit!
  • w3m can also display images.
  • ELinks, a text based web browser that runs from the terminal.
  • Lynx, the oldest browser still developed and the only choice for being truly Old Skool.

Recommended User Scripts

Retrieved from "https://wiki.installgentoo.com/index.php?title=Web_browsers&oldid=3030"