CompetitiveBrowserDevelopment

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This page summarizes the competitive news and information we have on other major browsers.

Internet Explorer

Web Browser Internet Explorer
Current Version 7.0
Future Version 8.0
Release Date end of 2008; Beta in 2007, released after Vista SP1


Direction

  • new client scripting APIs
  • standards compliance
  • usability
  • security
  • support for growing uses of the Web (blogs, etc.)
  • mobile: Deep Fish mobile browser development
  • unofficial: IE browser for XBox 360 [1]

Emphasis

  • backwards-compatibility
  • security
  • standards compliance: layout, more compliant w/ CSS 2.1 layout standards, increased compliance w/ Object Model, allow more flexible programming patterns; more client-side APIs for Ajax (like local storage and mashup security model)
  • allow developers to more easily add extensions to its browser
  • invest heavily in advancing its Web development toolbar with the next version of IE
  • make the IE 8.0 object model more interoperable with that used by other browsers

Features

  • require Web site authors to "opt-in" to standards mode when developing IE 8.0 sites: authors then have to take responsibility for breaking pages
  • improved APIs for client-side scripting, particularly to support AJAX applications, such as Outlook Web Access and Google Maps - this API could help AJAX applicaitons to operate reliably offline
  • enable browser scripts to save data into a limited-capacity, restricted store on the client
  • improved security model to support local storage and "mashup" sites
  • implementation of W3C's client-side event API
  • Support for CardSpace and microformats
  • primary UI for Microsoft Silverlight application
  • improved RSS and CSS support
  • undo close tab (like Firefox)
  • saving and restoring sessions (like Firefox)

IE7 Pro (free add-on download for Internet Explorer)

  • Enhanced Tabbed Browsing Capabilities
    • Double click to close tab
    • Open new tab from address bar.
    • Enable/disable tab browse history manager
    • Enable/disable crash recovery
    • Move the IE menu bar above the address bar
    • Hide search bar.
    • Modify the maxium number of parallel connections to the web server.
    • Select the external program to view page source
  • Super Drag and Drop
    • With Super Drag and Drop enabled, you can open new links by simply dragging and dropping the link on the page. You can also Drag and Drop to search selected words with the default search engine or save the selected photo when Shift is held down.
  • Mouse Gesture
    • Mouse Gesture allow the user to execute commonly performed tasks (open/close a tab, go back, go forward , print , scrolling page etc.) by drawing a simple symbol on the screen.
  • Crash Recovery
    • Crash Recovery automatically restores all opened pages after a crash happened.
  • Save Page to Image
    • Flexible and easy-to-use tool that converts html page from any URL to image. It captures the whole web page's content into JPG, BMP , GIF , PNG or TIFF on the fly.
  • Quick Proxy Switcher
    • Different internet connections do often require completely different proxy server settings and it's a real pain to change them manually.
  • AD Blocker
    • Blocks all forms of advertising, including Flash ads, rich media, fly-ins, slide-ins, pop-ups, pop-unders, spyware and adware ads, and messenger ads.
  • Greasy monkey alike User Script
    • IE7Pro Script is to Internet Explorer7 as Greasemonkey is to Firefox. It lets you remix the Web via scripts.
  • Inline Search
    • Adds the inline search bar like firefox has, finds as you type, use the F3 and Enter Key to cycle between multiple results, highlight all results.
  • Spell Check
    • IE7Pro Spell Check will check any text you enter and alert you to possible errors by adding a red underline to any potentially misspelled words.

Possible Features

  • Enabling draggable tabs from one IE window to another
  • Configuring tabs so that each has its own private cookie cache
  • Improved Bookmark Management
  • "Locking" a page to prevent users from accidentally navigating away from it
  • Adding a "Find on Page" capability
  • Improving username/password management
  • Restoring the "Image Toolbar" provided in earlier IE 7 test builds
  • Changing the download mechanism, perhaps eliminating the initial download to the "temporary Internet files" folder; download manager that can continue downloads across multiple sessions
  • Adding easily editable config files (similar to Firefox's userChrome.css and UserContent.css)
  • Introducing new status bar info, possibly with fields such as "last accessed by user" and "window last updated"
  • Enabling add-ons, such as stocks, movies, etc., a la Firefox
  • UI: a hybrid of the tradition browser UI and the Office Ribbon. When visiting certain websites the UI morphs to display new buttons and options. For example when you visit MSN Soapbox, a button that allows you to upload videos, appears on the toolbar.
  • implement the HTML 5 standards
  • Online/Offline RSS Feeds and Reader
  • Semantics: focus on context rather than just content. When you go to a website, IE8 scans and analyzes the content of the page to find out what the page is about, and then looks for additional information, whether it be ratings for a movie or the download link for a software. The retrieved information can be viewed in the sidebar, a new tab, or a pop-up window. It is also extensible so, although by default when you go to a page about a movie, you get information from IMDB only, with third party add-ons, you can can add that movie in your NetFlix cue, buy it from Amazon or eBay, or simply download it using BitTorrent.
  • versioning for web pages - what version of HTML

Challenges

  • security
  • compatibility vs. standards-compliance: don't want to break existing sites without solid reasons; backwards compliance trumps everything
  • ship date loosely tied to Vista SP launch date

Strengths

  • Browser pre-installed, default for all XP, Vista computers; many users don't know about the availability of other web browsers, and simply use what is already in front of them
  • Market share: 79%
  • Developers optimize and test their sites against IE (Compatibility/Site Rendering)
  • Inherently easier to integrate with MS Office, Windows, and the XBox 360

Weaknesses

  • Target for hackers
  • Perceived as slower and more bloated
  • Perceived as being less secure

Safari

Web Browser Safari
Current Version 2.0
Future Version 3.0
Release Date October 2007

Direction

  • Expand browser market share; more web site developers will test their code against Safari, which is good for Apple
  • Save Quicktime; better quicktime integration into Safari for Windows
  • iPhone - get Mac and Windows developers to develop web apps for iPhone.
  • increase search box revenue
  • using iTunes as a distribution vehicle for Safari for Windows

Emphasis

  • speed/performance
  • easy to use
  • Safari for Windows

Features

  • Safari on the iPhone: links can be embedded in web pages to allow phone calls from a click (source: arstechnica.com)
  • photographs with richer, deeper colors [2]
  • anti phishing: automatically detecting "phishy" or deceitful website URLs. It then notifies the user via a dialog box, webpage overlay, or a combination of the two.
  • significant user interface changes to iCal, 3D audio cues in VoiceOver, live previews in print panels, basic document editing in Preview.app, and the ability to restore groups and subgroups in AddressBook with Time Machine.
  • support for PDF, HTML, Web Archives, Text, QuickTime movies and sound in "Quick Look" view
  • (unofficial): access Google's AntiTrust database through a plug-in or under-the-hood extension for anti phishing
  • (unofficial): allow its iPhoto digital photo cataloging application to interact with Google's Maps service.
  • Web Clip
  • Manipulatable browser tabs: ability to reorder tabs through drag-and-drop; ability to drag individual tabs off an existing browser window, thus creating a fresh browser window with the contents of that tab; ability to drag tabbed windows from one Safari window to another, or ask the browser to consolidate all open windows into one, making tabs for each existing page in a single Safari browser window.
  • In-page lightbox searching: in-page searching that allows users search "live" for specific search terms on any web page; find all instances of the search term right off the bat; implements the "lightbox" technique it invented for Dashboard, dimming the web page background and shinning a spotlight on the text matches.
  • Resizable text areas: Web designers developing pages for Safari will no longer have to fiddle with TEXTAREA form elements in order to satisfy user requirements, while at the same time maintaining some semblence of good page design; enables a "resize" corner that allows users to resize text fields on a web page in real time, to suit their text-editing needs.
  • easy view of all your plug-ins
  • ability for private browsing - information about an individual's browsing history isn't stored
  • SnapBack: one-click access to an initial search query

Challenges

  • Safari is optimized for Macs; it will take time for Safari for Windows to stabilize and catch up to the other Windows browsers
  • Window’s-based malware and security issues
  • Mobile developers were disappointed about not having the ability to design native apps (no Software Development Kit, but devs can create Web 2.0 apps that run w/in iPhone’s version of Safari using tools like Ajax); opening up 3rd-party development threatens security and reliability of phone
  • More resources needed to support more platforms

Strengths

  • Perceived coolness factor
  • Perceived ease of use
  • Mac default web browser

Weaknesses

  • Not yet secure on Windows
  • Not yet stable on Windows - website won't look/work right
  • Plug-in support is non-existent

Opera

Web Browser Opera
Current Version 9.23, 9.5 alpha
Future Version 9.5, 10.0
Release Date 9.5 in 2007; first preview of 10.0 at the end of 2007

Direction

  • cross-platform experience
  • tools providing open standard development platform
  • collaboration with some Linux distributions on including Opera
  • facilitating easier browsing on cell phones, such as entering long URLs

Emphasis

  • css selectors
  • increase user base, spread word about Opera

Features

  • synchronize your bookmarks, Speed Dials, and Personal toolbar across multiple computers
  • full history search: search the complete content of the webpages you visited directly from the URL toolbar
  • cross platform experience - allow user to begin reading a web page on the desktop, then continue on a mobile phone or PDA
  • native video functionality for mobile browser that will replace Adobe Flash plug-in
  • open standard development platform
    • support more CSS3 selectors; how HTML tags behave depending on hierarchy
    • text-shadow property
    • SVG support
    • bug fixes to standards support
  • new rendering improvements
  • new javascript engine with support for ECMAScript
  • works on non-traditional platforms - Nintendo DS and Wii
  • accessibility
    • screen reader support in Opera 9.5
      • Windows: Support for the Microsoft Accessibility API (MSAA).
      • Windows: Close cooperation with other screen reader vendors.
      • Mac: Support of the Mac API for Accessibility.
      • Mac: Support of VoiceOver.
    • improved keyboard navigation
    • more consistent keyboard shortcuts
  • platform integration
    • Macs: new look and feel
    • Linux: QT4 build, for easy adjustment of skin to match with desktop
    • 64-bit Linux/FreeBSD packages
  • performance
    • UI feels more responsive
    • switching tabs is faster on UNIX
  • (unconfirmed) dockable widgets in status bar [3]
  • (unconfirmed) foXpose/quick tabs in status bar

Challenges

  • gaining popularity
  • not open source; some Linux distributions won’t include Opera for this reason
  • increasing awareness about the browser
  • Limited by wireless carrier support
    • Ability to download music and video
    • Opera Mini can't be used on Verizon cellphones

Strengths

  • Many Linux Distributions already include Opera: Ubuntu, Arabian Linux (Opera), Arch, Buffalo Linux, Gentoo, Linspire, Lunar Linux, Lycoris (now Mandriva), Mandriva, MCNLive, Mustang, Red Flag, SUSE, Puppy, Feather, RR4, AUSTRUMI, Turbo Linux, Xandros, Vector linux (deluxe), phones, devices, and more
  • Speed
  • Best compliance to web standards (acid2 test)
  • Mobile platforms: cell phones, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS

Weaknesses

  • Lack of awareness
  • Some web pages don't render on Opera as many webmasters don't test this browser

Netscape Navigator

Web Browser Netscape Navigator
Current Version 9.0b3
Future Version TBD
Release Date TBD

Direction

  • Netscape Navigator 9 is a standalone browser
    • different from the suites created previously
  • shares its architecture with Mozilla technologies
  • currently working on a companion mail/news client to complement the Navigator browser

Emphasis

  • Similarity to Firefox
    • Firefox add-ons heavily advertised to work on Netscape
    • Netscape add-ons available for Firefox
    • Advertise you can use Mozilla help for Netscape

Features

  • Navigator 9 can be run alongside Netscape browser 7.x and 8.x
  • you can download any version of Netscape browsers from their archive (link: http://browser.netscape.com/downloads/archive)
  • vote on stories submitted by others as you browse
  • URL correction – automatically correct common typos made in Web addresses
  • News menu lets you access the latest news at any time
  • Link Pad – holding area for interesting links that don’t merit bookmarking
  • Tracker – follow Netscape news from sidebar
  • Friends Activity Sidebar – monitor friends’ stories and comments
  • Sidebar – use the sidebar as a mini browser to keep a page in plain site
  • Sitemail – get near-instant notification of new sitemail messages

Challenges

  • partnership with AOL has been challenging
  • currently, Netscape browsers have a very low market share
  • Navigator will have trouble differentiating itself positively from Firefox

Strengths

  • many Firefox features are available on Netscape

Weaknesses

  • unoriginal ideas give users little incentive to switch to Navigator
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