Friday, April 20, 2012

Avant Browser

Avant Browser is a freeware web browser from a Chinese programmer named Anderson Che, which unites the Trident layout engine built into Windows (see Internet Explorer shell) with an interface intended to be more feature-rich, flexible and ergonomic than Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). It runs on Windows 2000 and above, including Windows 7. Internet Explorer versions 6 through 9 are supported.
Version 2012 (released October 2011) was separated in two editions : Ultimate edition, which added the Gecko layout engine (used by Mozilla Firefox), allowing the user choose between both layout engines, and Lite edition which contains only the Trident layout engine. — As of November 2008, total downloads surpassed 22.5 million.

 Avant Browser is currently available in 41 languages.
Avant Browser logo 
Avant Browser
Avant Force
Download version 2012 build 16

Avant Browser was largely inspired by Opera, the first major browser to have a multiple document interface. The developer's objective was to wrap a comparable interface around the layout engine used by Internet Explorer, thereby achieving Opera-like ergonomics without suffering the frequent problems that browser had rendering pages tested only in IE. In fact it was initially released under the name "IEopera", though this was soon changed due to the obvious trademark issues.
Latterly, Avant's developer Anderson Che has concentrated on adding user-requested features, and Avant was among the first browsers to have popup blocking, advertising server blocking, and one-click disabling of potential security vulnerabilities such as ActiveX, Java, and scripts.
The Avant Browser's default search engine is a version of the Yahoo! search engine renamed Avantfind and given a custom look. Other search engines are available via the address bar "Quick Search" facility, and instructions on how to change the default to an engine of the user's choice have been posted by the very active Avant Browser user community.
The community has also created other tools and extensions for Avant, including registry files which allow it to use the Information Bar and other security enhancements of XP SP2.
Alongside Avant, the developer used to have a sister project known as Orca Browser, an Avant-like shell of Mozilla's Gecko layout engine as used in Firefox 3 and has similar approaches as Flock. Orca Browser project is now discontinued. Gecko layout engine was included in Avant Browser version 2012 Ultimate edition, alongside the traditional Trident layout engine.
Avant was one of the twelve browsers offered to European Economic Area users of Microsoft Windows in 2010

Avant Browser 11

Avant Browser 11 (build 130 released on January 26, 2011), introduces more new features than any previous iteration. These include support for many toolbars that are compatible with IE, a facility for users to create their own scripted toolbar buttons, and a password and form-filling wizard. The overall trend though seems to be a gradual movement away from Avant's IE roots.
More radical is the addition of a native bookmark system in place of sharing IE's favorites. These bookmarks may be stored online - as can feeds, autofills, and browser settings. This allows the user to synchronize any number of Avant installations on different computers. Avant can still share IE's favorites. This option was reintroduced by the developer after some users lamented its loss.
Another innovation is that Avant may now be run from a USB flash drive (or other portable storage device such as an MP3 player) without needing to be installed. In conjunction with Avant's session saving facility, this allows the user to halt a browsing session on one PC, move to another and resume viewing the same web pages.

Avant Browser 2012

Avant Browser 2012 Ultimate edition (build 3 released on October 25, 2011) added the Gecko layout engine (the rendering engine used by Mozilla Firefox), and the most recent release (build 168 released on April 6, 2012) also included the WebKit layout engine (the rendering engine used by Google Chrome), making Avant Browser a 3-engine browser. Layout engine is selectable by the user.

Tabbing

  • User-customizable tabbed interface
  • Progress bar on each tab (optional)
  • Tab locking, duplication, and drop-and-drag arrangement
  • Automatically save and reopen any number of pages
  • Can restore open pages after system crash
  • Undo menu for last 25 closed tabs
  • All pages open in single process, reducing resource demands
  • Multiple home pages

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