Maxthon, Chrome Plus - good 4...?

I'm not quite sure how to understand this browser. Initially it was a reworked Internet Explorer much like Avant or Sleepnir, but now it has sandboxed tabs like Chrome. So have they switched to building a Chromium isotope or is this now really a new programming effort that's being developed on its own but using preexisting rendering technologies?

 

I tried Sleipnir once (only the Japanese could name a browser after an 8 legged horse from Germanic mythology) & it does indeed seem to have some parallels with Maxthon, especially with the homepage opening a new tab instead of opening in itself (unless you are in speed dial). Maxthon has a reputation for being really secure, but I'm not sure what information that is actually based on. Sandboxed tabs can't be a disadvantage in this respect, so it's got something Firefox & Opera haven't got (yet) at least.

An excellent question; I have no idea . My guess it would be a little of both. I remember using the previous Gecko/IE version. That version reminded me of the Dolphin browser, which I quite liked, but eventually discovered (Dolphin) was inherently buggy.

Maxthon 3 seems to me, at any rate, to be like an odd combination of Chrome & Safari, with IE Tab & a hint of Opera. It has the speed Chrome once had (& then some), Chrome-like sandboxed tabs, & the innovation & built-in customisation of Opera.

Unfortunately, it also appears to have Safari's spellchecker.

 

Lol you've tried out everything haven't you I haven't used Safari since upgrading from my Bondi Blue G3 400mhz iMac when that bloke trojanned Apple into a toy factory. What've Santa's little helpers done with the spellchecker now?

 

I remember a friend of mine had one of those. In fact, I nearly bought it off him for next to nothing, but didn't. They revolutionised desktop publishing.

I've tried a fair few alternative browsers. I only ever used Firefox (with IE as back-up) at one time. Unfortunately Fx 3 wasn't too successful for me & was a bit crash happy until I finally figured out what was giving it so much angst. Meanwhile, I desperately needed a browser (on my notebook) that wasn't the slowcoach 'I regularly surf in slow motion' IE.

So I tried as many as I could find that looked like that they could do the job Firefox did. The nearest I got to getting Firefox back was SeaMonkey (#1 series). Eventually though the Ajax scripting bug that was bugging me in Firefox finally found its way to the Gecko-engined SeaMonkey. My ultimate solution was to swing between Opera & SRWare Iron, when one broke pages I could always implement the other. When the Google Borg finally removed most of their spyware from Chrome I tried that as well. Firefox was once light, lean & swift. Now, you need more power for it to perform like it did. It works fine on my desktop PC. It's not bad on my notebook, but it is getting a little slack in opening tabs & especially in the dropdown (right-click) menu. Admittedly, it may be related to some of the extensions that I use, but they are mainly for functionality anyway.

Either way, it's been at least a week & I'm still testing Maxthon, even if I am running a portable version of it from my C-Drive. The Firefox portable would probably be quicker as a portable on my C-Drive, but I do not want to necessarily overcomplicate things at this time. Incidentally, the actual portables of Maxthon that I am also using as portables have hugely impressed me. I always thought that SeaMonkey was the most responsive (& reliable) portable I had ever used. Maxthon 3 is an easy rival. Hardly any page breaking (in WebKit mode) & far more responsive then Chrome or even Iron.

I haven't used Safari on a Mac for a while, but Safari for Windows is not particularly successful IMO. The spellchecker is quite basic compared to most other browsers, there's no British English option (I'm pretty sure Maxthon/Safari utilise the same spellchecker, I even tried to hack one into Maxthon's dictionary folder with no success). One saving grace is that you can add words to it.

 

You know when reading the Palemoon portable page a while back I noticed a warning that performance could be lower than for the standard version. I wonder as to why people prefer to use portable versions. I can understand if you use several machines and want to transfer your data from one to the next regularly but most browsers have syncing capabilities now (if you trust them with your data) and I think there's more to it. Have you ever tested regular and portable programs for their comparative performance? You'd expect that there should be some sort of impact because otherwise what is the point of the traditional installation process if it isn't needed?

I remember reading a PCMag review a while back that mentioned that Safari's functionality and performance are heavily impaired on Windows. I guess that they don't really want to support Windows.

Oh what a delight, I think Opera still requires you to install the international version and Palemoon doesn't have it build in either. On the plus side there aren't THAT many differences and you can always add words that it irritatingly insists on correcting. No I'M spelling colour right damn you! To my eternal disgrace I'm afraid that I've halfway gone over Blame it on Microsoft, how long can you go on thinking about discs and programmes? Et tu Opera international? Oh bother

 

Well, the whole point of a portable browser is the fact that it actually is portable. In other words it can be carried on a flash drive or similar device. The performance from most thumb/flashdrives is never going to be as good as off a computer's own HDD. So I should imagine that portable applications are coded & adapted with this in mind. I use OpenOffice, VLC & very often need to use a browser at work. Carrying SeaMonkey or Maxthon with all of my customisations & in a device smaller than a cigarette lighter is a lot easier on the crowded London-Marylebone commuter train than carrying a laptop.

Which does kind of raise the question of why Apple released Safari for Windows in the first place.

I'm pretty sure Opera have actually fixed the British English language pack now. It was one of the few things that actually impressed me with some of the recent Opera releases. The most recent Waterfox upgrade left my 'hacked-in' UK dictionary instead of its habit of usually deleting it & replacing it with the US version. Although it did re-add the US one. So, there's some hope yet LOL.

We actually have more variant spellings in British English than the Americans have in American English anyway. Of course, just to complicate matters, there are also variant Commonwealth forms (Australian, Canadian etc) which also differ from Standard English.

I'm pretty sure disc/disk is variant for us & 'programme' is usually used in the context of a schedule of proceedings, leaving 'program' as computer geek-speak.

 

It's not impressing me right now, still peering over my shoulder with its know-all attitude telling me I'm spelling my words wrong when I'm not. Cork it you

Gateway drug?

 

You do know you can add a British English dictionary right? The language pack has always been there AFAIK, but it would revert back to default US version when you closed the browser. I got a tad bored having to change it back every time I opened Opera.

Not a particularly addictive one I would have thought.

I have discovered a 'Mac' skin for Maxthon, it looks quite nice. If I half squint, considering how bad Maxthon's spellchecker is, I could almost be running Safari. LOL

 

Yeah I have that set, it has its own ideas though!

Hahaha!!!

 

Cheers JR

 

That's another thing that bugs me about Opera. It's always seemed to have its own ideas. Unfortunately, those ideas aren't always good ones.

 

Version 3.3.8.3000 for Win2003/XP/Vista/Win7

 

Cheers JR

 

I tried again with the official Maxthon 3 download & it was fine until after a couple of hours I launched it & it had reverted back to its pre-customised 'vanilla' state again.

Then I had a brain-wave ...

It's been over 24 hours & the official (non-Portable) Maxthon 3 release (3.3.9.1000) has not reverted back to its vanilla state (upon re-launching) on my notebook. I noticed that on my Win 7 PC it automatically imported my IE 9 bookmarks. It didn't do this on my notebook (I cannot run IE 9 so have IE Eight). So I have imported IE, Chrome & Firefox bookmarks into the notebook version & so far everything has stayed the same (including extensions, skins etc). I'll have to see how it goes.

Bollocks! It nearly made 48 hours! Looks like I'm sticking with the portable.

 

Cheers