There's a Web browser out there for everybody, and Avant should appeal to those users who like their customization in-house and built on an IE-rendering engine. Avant takes off in a different direction from Internet Explorer, though. It's IE if it were being produced by a small firm instead of Microsoft.
The browser is sufficiently zippy, preloaded with two dozen similar skins as well as tabbed browsing and modular toolbars. The Menu bar, though, is counterintuitively pinned to the upper-right corner, and icons for proprietary functions, such as an in-page search term highlighting toggle, aren't instantly comprehensible.
Avant can save personalized data online, making bookmarks and form content accessible from any machine. Avant includes many features that are available to Firefox users only through plug-ins, such as automatic form fillers. The Full Screen view auto hides all menu bars, a nice touch, but certain plug-ins--notably Flash--don't work on Windows Vista.
Avant is a good browser with some nice built-in features and interface-customization options, but the lack of extensibility and Vista problems don't help. We recommend it to XP users who want a Microsoft-based engine but think that Internet Explorer 7 is a pain.
Although Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are the most popular Web browsers, there are lots of surfers who prefer the style and features of Avant Browser, a customizable app that's based on on the same layout engine as IE.
Integrated search engines have quickly become one of the most used features in Web browsers, and Avant Browser's search is a bit different than Firefox or IE. Brian Cooley demonstrates how to customize your built-in search engines with Avant Browser.
(Credit:
Clockwise: Mozilla Foundation, Microsoft, Avant Force, Opera Software)
Last week's post about Living with Windows XP generated a virtual storm of comments. Most readers echoed my own personal notion of sticking with XP for the near future instead of upgrading to Windows Vista.
It's not surprising that a discussion about operating systems can arouse empassioned responses. After all, it's the most essential software many of us run. The only other current candidate for king of software apps is the mighty Web browser.
I've been thinking about browsers lately, as well as my allegiance to Mozilla Firefox as my personal surfing weapon of choice. With the amount of customization and third-party add-ons, the open-source browser is extremely tough to beat. ... Read more
- prev
- 1
- next
