Avant Browser
Encyclopedia
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.
, 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.
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
, autofill
s, 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.
(this is the engine used by Mozilla Firefox
) making Avant Browser a 2-engine browser. Layout engine is selectable by the user.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
from a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
programmer named Anderson Che, which unites the Trident layout engine
Trident (layout engine)
Trident is the name of the layout engine for the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer.It was first introduced with the release of Internet Explorer version 4.0 in October 1997; it has been steadily upgraded and remains in use today...
built into Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
(see Internet Explorer shell
Internet Explorer shell
An Internet Explorer shell is any computer software that uses the Trident rendering engine of the Internet Explorer web browser. Although the term "Trident shell" is probably more accurate for describing these applications , the term "Internet Explorer shell", or "IE shell", is in common parlance...
) with an interface intended to be more feature-rich, flexible and ergonomic than Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
(IE). It runs on Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and above, including Windows 7. Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
versions 6
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth major revision of Internet Explorer, a web browser developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems...
through 9
Internet Explorer 9
Windows Internet Explorer 9 is the current version of the Internet Explorer web browser from Microsoft. It was released to the public on March 14, 2011 at 21:00 PDT. Internet Explorer 9 supports several CSS 3 properties, embedded ICC v2 or v4 color profiles support via Windows Color System, and...
are supported.
Version 2012 (released October 2011) was separated in two editions : Ultimate edition, which added the Gecko layout engine
Gecko (layout engine)
Gecko is a free and open source layout engine used in many applications developed by Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation , as well as in many other open source software projects....
(used by Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
), 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.
History and development
Avant Browser was largely inspired by OperaOpera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
, the first major browser to have a multiple document interface
Multiple document interface
Graphical computer applications with a multiple document interface are those whose windows reside under a single parent window , as opposed to all windows being separate from each other . Such systems often allow child windows to embed other windows inside them as well, creating complex nested...
. The developer's objective was to wrap a comparable interface around the layout engine
Layout engine
A web browser engine, , is a software component that takes marked up content and formatting information and displays the formatted content on the screen. It "paints" on the content area of a window, which is displayed on a monitor or a printer...
used by Internet Explorer, thereby achieving Opera-like ergonomics
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:...
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
Popup
Popup or pop-up could refer to:* Batted ball, a type of hit ball in baseball* Hidden headlamps, also called pop-up headlamps* Pop-up book, or movable books* Pop Up, a 2007 album by Yelle* Popup camper, a type of recreational vehicle...
blocking, advertising server blocking, and one-click disabling of potential security vulnerabilities such as ActiveX
ActiveX
ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language-independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these components in order to provide their functionality....
, Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, and scripts
ECMAScript
ECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript...
.
The Avant Browser's default search engine is a version of the Yahoo! search
Yahoo! Search
Yahoo! Search is a web search engine, owned by Yahoo! Inc. and was , the 2nd largest search engine on the web by query volume, at 6.42%, after its competitor Google at 85.35% and before Baidu at 3.67%, according to Net Applications....
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
Mozilla
Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
's Gecko layout engine as used in Firefox 3
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
and has similar approaches as Flock
Flock (web browser)
Flock was a web browser that specialized in providing social networking and Web 2.0 facilities built into its user interface.Earlier versions of Flock used the Gecko HTML rendering engine by Mozilla....
. Orca Browser project is now discontinued. Gecko layout engine
Gecko (layout engine)
Gecko is a free and open source layout engine used in many applications developed by Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation , as well as in many other open source software projects....
was included in Avant Browser version 2012 Ultimate edition, alongside the traditional Trident layout engine
Trident (layout engine)
Trident is the name of the layout engine for the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer.It was first introduced with the release of Internet Explorer version 4.0 in October 1997; it has been steadily upgraded and remains in use today...
.
Avant was one of the twelve browsers offered to European Economic Area
European Economic Area
The European Economic Area was established on 1 January 1994 following an agreement between the member states of the European Free Trade Association and the European Community, later the European Union . Specifically, it allows Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to participate in the EU's Internal...
users of Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
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
Web feed
A web feed is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an aggregator...
, autofill
Autofill
Autofill is a function in some computer applications or programs, typically those containing forms, which fills in a field automatically.Most of the time, such as in Internet Explorer and Google Toolbar, the entries depend on the form field's name, so as to not enter street names in a last name...
s, 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
USB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
(or other portable storage device such as an MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
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 engineGecko (layout engine)
Gecko is a free and open source layout engine used in many applications developed by Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation , as well as in many other open source software projects....
(this is the engine used by Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
) making Avant Browser a 2-engine browser. Layout engine is selectable by the user.
Features
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
Tools
- Compatible with many IE toolbars and add-ins, including Google toolbar
- Highlight marker to find keywords on any page (the words also used by the search engine)
- Facility for user to add custom-made function buttons
- RSS feed reader built in
- URL alias facility to create keyboard shortcuts to favorite sites
- Page zoom slider - 25% to 500%
- Full desktop mode - hides toolbars
- Full screen mode - hides toolbars and taskbar
- Compact mode - saves interface space
- Boss button - quickly hides browser
- Tray icon - keeps Avant running in system tray for fast access (optional)
- Mouse gestures (customizable)
- Autoscroll facility for hands-free reading
- Context-activated floating toolbars to save and edit images, text and Flash
- Customizable right-click menu entries
- Quick translation menu
- 15 interface languages available so far
- Automatic page refresh at custom intervals
- Sidebar access to:
- Advanced search
- Blocked URL record
- History
- Bookmarks
- Feeds
Appearance
- Fully skinnable:
- Range of bundled skin options (21 total)
- Accessory application allows user to create own skins
- Highly customizable:
- Toolbars can be rearranged freely
- Most functions may be accessed from either toolbar buttons or menus
- All Buttons and menus are optional
Security and privacy
- Push-button quick blocking of unwanted items (Popups, Adverts, ActiveX, Java, Scripts, Flash, Video, Sound, Images)
- Customizable black/white lists for popups and ad servers
- Multiple proxy servers may be configured
- Browsing tracks cleaner - can clear traces automatically
- XP Service Pack 2 security extensions can be integrated
Search
- Search bar with separate engines configurable for web, images, groups, directories and news
- Search within site, search within page, and target word highlight buttons
- Quick Search facility - user can configure any engine for searches from the address bar
- Similar websites toolbar - searches in background for pages that relate to the current
Bookmarks and online storage
- Online secure bookmark, feed and setting storage - allows access of same browser setup anywhere
- Portable flash drive version allows running of Avant without installation
- Bookmark search
- Bookmark validation
- Bookmark toolbar for fast link access
- Bookmarks can be arranged in task-orientated groups that can be opened together or individually
- Optionally uses IE favorites
See also
- List of web browsers
- Comparison of web browsersComparison of web browsersThe following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.-Historical web browsers:...
- Internet Explorer shellInternet Explorer shellAn Internet Explorer shell is any computer software that uses the Trident rendering engine of the Internet Explorer web browser. Although the term "Trident shell" is probably more accurate for describing these applications , the term "Internet Explorer shell", or "IE shell", is in common parlance...
browsers - List of feed aggregators
- Comparison of feed aggregatorsComparison of feed aggregatorsThe following is a comparison of notable RSS feed aggregators. Often e-mail programs and web browsers have the ability to display RSS feeds. They are listed here, too.Many BitTorrent clients support RSS feeds for broadcatching ....