Browsers are the most needed software for any computer user. A browser is an interface that lets you surf the web. Internet sites in the initial days had been text based. There weren’t many sites that had images or graphical content. So the browsers during the era gone by were text based.
That is not the case now. With most of the sites containing audio, video and flash content among others, browsers have been incorporating those changes as well. A browser of new age needs to support a web browser engine, a rendering engine and support for all available content. In the following article, we will be discussing the best browsers for Linux operating system.
Linux is an open source operating system. As such it allows a browser to experiment with as many features as they want. An ideal browser should be able to support all the data types including audio, video, flash or HTML. It should be able to support and adjust to both old and new system requirements. The browser needs to provide faster performance in addition to the ability to support adapt to a maximum number of system hardware ( like Intel, AMD, etc.).
Here we go with our prime list of best open source alternative browsers for Linux. Please note that the listing is not exactly in the order of preference.
Contents
7 Best Open Source Alternative Browsers for Linux
1. Chromium
Chromium is the base for most of the browsers. In fact, Google Chrome – the most popular browser currently, is based on Chromium itself. Most of the browsers take source code from it. Some of the worth mentions could be Chrome, Opera, Yandex and Epic.
It has a minimalist interface which makes it one of light weight browsers currently available. Some important features of the browser include tabbed windows, support for a variety of HTML5 standards and Bookmarks. The Chromium browser is based on C++ programming language.
Chromium is quite widely known as able web browsers. It has support for Linux, Windows, OS X and Android. The latest release of the browser dates to December 2015.
2. QupZilla
The QupZilla web browser is based on GPLv3. It is yet another well-known web browser for Linux. The browser is available for Windows, OS X and Linux.
The QupZilla browser started off as a Research Project in 2010. The initial version was based on Python, but later it was changed to C++. It uses a WebKit engine with QtWebKit. QupZilla is in tune with most of the modern browsers.
Some of the features you will fall in love with this browser include inbuilt Ad Blocker, Speed Dial and bookmark management. It comes with Performance Optimization. The feature involves better memory consumption. In fact, the browser is capable of better memory management than the mainstream browsers like Firefox and Chrome.
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3. Konqueror
Konqueror is a modern age browser for Linux. It is developed using C++ Qt. Licensed under GPLv2, the Konqueror browser is available for Windows and Linux.
The browser uses KTML derived rendering engine. It does support Javascript, Jquery and Java applets. The rendering abilities of Konqueror browser are at par with the best browsers currently available. The browser is capable of showing multimedia content from within the web pages. It can also open PDF, Word and other specific file types. The browser has customizable search services embedded.
The Konqueror browser supports HTTP, FTP, WebDaV and SMB. It also has an embedded version named Konqueror Embedded.
4. Opera
This is one of the earliest browsers that continues to exist till today. It should be noted that the browser made its first entry in 1995.
The browser is written using C++ and based on Chromium. The browser uses Blink web engine ( the earlier versions used Presto). The Opera browser is available for almost all operating systems including Windows, Linux, OS X, Symbian and Android.
The unique features of the Opera browser include tabbed browsing, flash and speed dials for quick search. It also comes with the customised download manager. Opera can delete HTTP cookies, browser history and other details quite easily with just a single click.
Opera has drawn a little flak with some issues in the compatibility matters along with UI problems. However, in spite of those criticisms, the browser has been quite popular and boasted of over 300 million users globally.
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5. Epiphany
Well, that is the old name that this browser is known by. It is now called The Web. The browser is written in C(GTK+) is a part of GNOME project. The browser is in compliance with the GNOME guidelines.
The Epiphany browser is based on GPLv2 licensing. The browser uses WebKitGTK+ engine. Earlier, it used Geeko engine.
The browser supports HTML4, CSS1 and xHTML. Epiphany also supports HTML5 and CSS3. It comes with inbuilt plugins for Adobe Flash and IcedTea. Being a GNOME integrated browser it has all GNOME features like GNOME Network Manager and GNOME Printer.
The Epiphany browser has bookmarks feature as well, but what excels it is the ability of Smart Bookmark feature. The feature uses the search as you type technique. The browser has been gaining popularity with its faster page loading.
6. Links
Links is yet another open source browser available for Linux. The browser is licensed under GPLv2+. The browser is written in C++. The Links browser is available for Windows, Linux, OS X and OS/2, Open VMS and DOS.
It is the best choice for those of you who would want to use text only browser. This browser has been released as Links 2 in 2015. The latest version supports Javascript. It has earned the distinction of being one of the fastest browsers.
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7. SwiftFox
SwiftFox is the next in our list. As the name itself indicates, it is based on FireFox. Unlike other browsers in this list, SwiftBox is built exclusively for the Linux operating system.
SwiftFox is the FireFox that has been optimised for Linux. The task is completed by using Binary code optimisation technique. The browser also has an optimisation that is specific to your hardware architecture like Intel, AMD etc.
The browser is more secure than Firefox. The SwiftFox has been praised for its faster rendering speed. The latest version has claimed to be faster by 2% that the earlier versions. You can read some actionable tips to speed up your firefox browser.
And finally
That list concludes our choice of the best open source browsers for Linux operating system. As we said before this need not be the final or ultimate list of browsers available for Linux. If you have any more of your personal choices, do share them with us. We will be glad to add them in the next update of this article. Share this article on social networking sites to help techinformerz grow.
