* A better IE from MySoft
Here in the Network World Web Applications newsletter over the last few years, we’ve covered a number of takes on how to build a Web browser. Today, I have a new entrant into the group that builds on the underlying code of Internet Explorer. The product is from MySoft Technology (see editorial links below) and is called Maxthon.
What I find particularly interesting about Maxthon is that along with complete IE feature compatibility, it manages to improve on IE’s user interface in so many ways yet still manages to stay skinny. According to the company, “Maxthon uses very few resources, resulting in an average of 65% less RAM usage compared to IE when having the same large number of pages open.” Maxthon also feels fast in use – certainly faster than IE.
Maxthon uses a tabbed browsing interface and supports mouse gestures, super drag and drop (which allows any URL to be highlighted in a browser window and dragged to any tab) and privacy protection (automatic end of session flushing of history, cookies, and cache). It also includes AD Hunter (Maxthon’s popup blocker), full support for the Google toolbar, a very useful “External Utility Bar” that can be used to launch selected application from the browser, and skinning.
I mentioned the IE compatible plugin support but there are apparently some issues with how IE plugins work that has made the company only support Microsoft’s officially approved plugins. To get around these IE COM+ plugin problems MySoft offers an SDK for its own version of COM+ plugins. While that might seem problematic for the company to build a market, it turns out not to be an issue – the list of compatible plugins is now some 400 items long.
Maxthon also allows JavaScript and HTML plugins, which act “as normal HTML Elements, such as a script to process page links or a pure HTML page for quick data reference in the sidebar. They are easy to create and use, but have limit on functionalities and speed,” according to MySoft.
Maxthon was originally called “MyIE2” but was changed for some unspecified reason – it is a shame that Mysoft selected such an odd name, in fact, odd enough that the company provides a pronunciation guide. This is never a good idea.
That said, this is a really great browser UI and so far in my testing its performance is excellent and its operation flawless. Add to that that it is free (actually, it is donateware) and Maxthon (however you say it) is well worth checking out.
