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WEB TOOLS
> BROWSERS |
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The
following are browsers available for free, each offering its own
unique features. These are the most widely used browsers, while
there are many other alternative they are not used or tested as
heavily.
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| Name
& Description |
Rating |
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Extremely fast broswer, with
many features that make it the best performing browser currently
out there. It can import bookmarks from internet explorer and
in general will behave very similarly to Explorer if you are
used to that browser. We highly recomd this one, as its speed
and stability make it a sure winner. It is available in many
languages and has a load of optional features (plugins) created
by the community that you can download. Excellent security architecture
and no annoying marketing features attached. It does lack in
some small areas of page rendering, with a few glitches in its
implementation of Cascading Style Sheets.
HighLight : By far the safest browser currently on the
market, and quite fast.
Operating Systems Availability : Windows, Mac, Linux
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GOLD PICK |
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A not as well known as others
Opera does have a small share of the borwser market. Opera is
geared much more towards the experienced internet user. It can
import features from other browsers and has a good security
framework. Speedwise Opera is up there and can compete or even
beat almost any other browser. The graphical interface is one
that may be an issue for some people, but it does offer very
good look/feel customization options, but again this is better
handles by an experienced user.
HighLight : Has a realy
cool page ZOOM feature, and for the experienced developer you
can even make it so that pages will look like what you want
them to.
Operating Systems Availability
: Windows, Mac, Linux
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SILVER
PICK |
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The mother of browsers, and
one time leader of the browser industry, the improvement of
Microsoft's Internet explorer weighed very heavily on the Netscape
Browsers, and in conjunction with a few versions that behaved
less than admirably reposistioned the Netscape browsers far
below Internet Explorer in number of users. The latest version
however is very stable and quite faster than internet explorer.
It is far more compliant with new technologies in web languages
than the previous versions, thus making it a very competenet
browser. Security is also very well implemented with the latest
browser. For the uninitiated user it may be a tad tiresome to
remove some of the features that they may find annoying.
HighLight : Very frequent updates which enhance functionality
and security.
Operating Systems Availability : Windows, Mac
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SILVER
PICK
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If you have not heard of it,
then probably you have lived in a cave for years. Its microsoft's
own browser that comes bundled with Windows. It has evolved
to be a very competent browser, but it is still plagued from
various security issues that crop up from time to time. Microsofts,
auto-system updating features take care to neutralize these
errors though. it is however substantially slower than the 2
browsers above and depending on your system not as stable either,
Still it is the most widely used browser of the era with a market
share that dwarfs all other browsers combined.
HighLight : In most ways
due to its market share it sets the standard by which web pages
are created.
Operating Systems Availability : Windows, Mac
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BRONZE PICK |
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Konqueror is a linux browser
that is used widely by the linux users community. It has several
other features besides internet browsing, such as file management.
It is an open source project that is fully compliant with all
the standards of the market. This is one of the highest recomended
linux based borwsers available.
Operating Systems Availability
: Linux
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SPECIAL
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Lynx is a text only browser,
originaly developed for Unix Platforms, but has been extended
to other systems as well.
Operating Systems Availability
: Unix, Windows
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SPECIAL
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Safari is a Mac browser, developed
by Apple corporation and is one of the most widely used browsers
on the Mac Platform. It is a robust system that features a wealth
of functionality and is the best option currently available
to mac users. The best alternative though is Firefox.
Operating Systems Availability
: Mac
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SPECIAL
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Mosaic is one of the oldest browsers
still used by internet surfers. It was developed by the National
Center for Superconduction Applications. It is now quite obsolete
and isnt updated much anymore, but many hardcore internet oldtimers
still swear by it. Still it must be maintained that Mosaic is
one of those special programs that made a huge diference in
the internet and contributed to the wide success of the web
like few other things have. While we wouldn't recomend it for
current events, it is still a landmark that you can visit and
examine and maybe get a glimpse of the past. Microsoft Internet
Explorer was originaly based on this browser.
Operating Systems Availability
: Windows, Mac, Linux
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SPECIAL
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