Four Alternative Browsers That Holds A Punch

The Internet has evolved to such a point where many websites works just like any standalone desktop application will work. But, one problem with browsers are, they are plagued by bugs and some still have security vulnerabilities. With the increase in popularity of a browser, bugs and security holes are discovered. Some popular browsers to compete with other browsers adds so much features that they becomes bloatware.

If you’d had enough of the bugs, security vulnerabilities and bloatware, you may not be aware of the scope of change available to you. There are more browsers available for you to adopt than you know. These browsers use the same rendering engine that popular browsers such as Firefox, Chrome and Safari uses.

Here, we’ve taken four of these alternative browsers, we found interesting and which will catch your fancy.

These are developed for different kind of users. Some, for those users who want lots of features. Some, for users who wants a light browser with minimal features and look.

RIP BrowsersImage courtesy miss_rogue

K-MeleonThe lightweight Firefox alternative
Website: http://kmeleon.sf.net
Renderer: Gecko

K-Meleon is an extremely fast, customizable, lightweight web browser-based on the Gecko layout engine developed by Mozilla which is also used by Firefox. K-Meleon is free, open source software released under the GNU General Public License and designed specifically for Microsoft Windows (Win32) operating systems. It was launched back in 2000.

kmeleon

At that time it lacked many important features, but after nine years it is very robust and usable browser, suitable for most users. It is light on resource too. The K-Meleon browser is like the combination of Opera and Firefox. It comes as a complete with features browser like Opera but also offers customizations via add ons and extensions like Firefox.

It features a built-in ad blocker, mouse gestures, news feed reader, etc. Moving to K-Meleon is trouble-free and you can import your bookmarks from Opera, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

AroraBrowser of the future?
Website: http://code.google.com/p/arora/
Renderer: WebKit

Arora is a lightweight cross-platform web browser. It’s free (as in free speech and free beer). Arora runs on Linux, embedded Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Windows, Haiku, and any other platforms supported by the Qt toolkit.

Arora uses the QtWebKit port of the fully standards-compliant WebKit layout engine. It features fast rendering, powerful JavaScript engine and supports Netscape plugins. It is developed with collaboration with the guys at Mozilla Labs.

arora

It is unique in its own way. It is developed to be an all-in-one solution that is to be used as an integrated desktop sharing environment. It is still in works. At this point Arora still needs a considerable amount of work, but it is still having all that is needed for a basic browser.

The current build of Arora features session manager, privacy mode, good search engine management, download manager and supports 30 languages.

MidoriThe tiny and lightweight web browser
Website: http://www.midori-browser.org/
Renderer: WebKit

Midori is an open source browser the works on the WebKit renderer. WebKit is the same engine that many popular browsers like Safari uses and is also used to develop many mobile browsers. To get the most out of Midori, you will need to customize it. You can use the Netscape plugins and extensions. But you have to do it manually, unlike other popular browsers.

midori

It does not come as an installation file but instead as a .7z file which has the executable file. Though it is not having an impressive look but is very fast and light. Midori is a work in progress and the developers are very enthusiastic.

EpiphanyThe minimalist web browser for GNOME
Website: https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Web/
Renderer: Gecko

Epiphany is the web browser for the GNOME desktop. Its goal is to be simple and easy to use. Epiphany ties together many GNOME components to let you focus on the Web content, instead of the browser application. As part of the GNOME project, Epiphany is Free Software.

epiphany

It is mainly developed for Linux but also comes with versions for Mac OS X and BSD. Epiphany is the descendant of Galeon, another browser which is old now due to lack of development (last update done was in 2006). The user interface and layout is different but overall similar to Firefox. Epiphany is definitely a browser that GNOME users should give a try.

Thanks for reading!

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