Webware100

Site: GetFirefox.com
Category: Browsing

Firefox is a free, multiplatform browser. Its popularity is second only to Microsoft's Internet Explorer among Web browsers, but unlike IE, it has open-source code. The result has been an avid development community, filled with people eager to squash bugs and create new functionality. Firefox also has the option to create and use extensions that can add new features or services right on top of the user experience. These add-ons have gotten so popular that Firefox creator Mozilla has created its own directory for users to search and sort through them.

2008 was the year of Firefox 3, which sports an updated look and an updated rendering engine that's several times faster than the one that came before it. Over 8 million copies of the software were downloaded in a 24-hour period in late June as part of Firefox's download day celebration. In 2009 the company continues to push out further revisions that fix bugs and add new features.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: Xmarks.com
Category: Browsing

Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) is a free password- and bookmark-syncing tool. Users who want to share the same set of bookmarks and site passwords can install this browser plug-in and it will keep information the same across multiple machines. Users can also retrieve all their information from the cloud if their machines suffer a major data disaster.

In 2009 Xmarks hopped into site discovery by taking all of the bookmarking information from its users and turning it into a public database of sites. It created a site discovery tool that shows you what sites are like the one you're on by seeing what other users have bookmarked.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: Maxthon.com
Category: Browsing

Maxthon has been downloaded more than 200 million times and is one of the few browsers to have mouse gestures as a standard feature. Users can hold the right mouse button and use a variety of motions to emulate clicking navigation buttons. It's also got a built-in RSS reader and a screen-capture utility. Its development started when the creator, fed up with the lack of customization in Microsoft's Internet Explorer, decided to make his own browser.

While Maxthon doesn't show up as a major contender in most market share reports, it's worth noting it's the second-most popular browser in China.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: Flock.com
Category: Browsing

Flock is a Web browser that's comes with social-networking features built-in. It uses the same rendering engine as Mozilla's Firefox, and can even install most Firefox add-ons. Where it stands apart is in letting users keep track of social activity on sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, and others in a sidebar that follows them no matter what site they're on. It's also got e-mail notifications, a photo uploader, and a built-in blog editing and publishing tool.

Flock is currently in its second major release, and runs on Windows and Macs.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: iGoogle.com
Category: Browsing

iGoogle is Google's customizable start page. Users can add any number of gadgets to their page that can be custom-tailored to link up with all sorts of Web services and serve as mini applications or newsfeeds.

One of the features that makes iGoogle especially neat is it can be customized with different themes that change by what time of day you're looking at the page. Users can create their own themes that go into the same directory that houses the thousands of developer-created gadgets.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: Microsoft.com/IE8
Category: Browsing

Internet Explorer 8 is the latest version of Microsoft's Web browser. In version 8, Microsoft has added some key features that bring it up to speed with some of the competition.

New to this version is a private browsing mode that hides your tracks between sessions, and something Microsoft calls "accelerators," which can take information on the page and provide quick ways to use it with other Web services.

One of its most interesting features is something called "Web Slices." Sites can create their own Web slice that's like a live bookmark that will update itself when new content is published. It can also be a quick way to use the site from any page. Unlike traditional live bookmarks, however, developers can give it more of a graphical interface.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: Apple.com/Safari
Category: Browsing

Safari is Apple's Web browser. It's currently in its fourth version, which got Cover Flow-style bookmark browsing, history search, a visual bookmarks start page, and a large-size tab style that mimics Google's Chrome.

Safari began as an in-house replacement to Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Mac, which Microsoft didn't update or improve on at the same rate as it did for its Windows counterpart--and eventually dropped shortly after the release of Safari.

In 2007, Safari got quite a bit of attention for its inclusion as the default Web browser in Apple's iPhone, where it remains as the only way to browse the Web on the popular device.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: Opera.com
Category: Browsing

Opera is one of the oldest browsers on the market. It's also made its way into all sorts of consumer electronics, including mobile phones, gaming portables, and even home video game consoles. Opera has combined many technological services into its desktop Web browser and is commonly regarded as the first to implement tabs for viewing multiple Web pages in the same window.

Opera also has a built-in BitTorrent client. Users who want to partake in the peer-to-peer file-sharing technology can do so while continuing their other browsing habits. There's also Speed Dial that gives people the chance to list as many as nine of their favorite sites, which show up as preview thumbnails on their browser's start page. Clicking them goes right to the site. It's essentially a page full of bookmarks, but it's quite pretty.

Opera's latest version includes an improved built-in mail client, as well as a new service called Opera Link that syncs up your bookmarks between your computer and your mobile phone without the need to use a third-party bookmarking service.

(Credit: CNET)

Site: Diigo.com
Category: Browsing

Diigo is a content sharing and bookmarking tool. It pulls double duty as a way to clip things from the Web, as well as share them with others. What makes the service really interesting is that you can use it to grab entire Web pages, and make annotations right on top of the content. Then you can share it with others, or view it even when the source site is no longer there. It's like a personal archive.

Along with the personal nature of Diigo, the service also has groups that users can join to participate in collaborative research. Here you can add some of your bookmarks to a group collective and be notified when there new items. The service also tracks some of the most popular saved items and puts them on a leaderboard, which can be a great way to find new and interesting Web content.

(Credit: CNET Networks)