Otter Browser

Last updated
Otter Browser
Developer(s) Michał Dutkiewicz
Initial releaseJanuary 1, 2014;10 years ago (2014-01-01)
Stable release
1.0.03 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 22 February 2022;2 years ago (22 February 2022)
Repository
Written in C++
Engines QtWebEngine, QtWebKit
Operating system Unix-like (Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD), macOS, Microsoft Windows, Haiku, RISC OS, ArcaOS
Platform Qt
Type Web browser
License GPL-3.0-or-later
Website otter-browser.org

Otter Browser is a cross-platform web browser that aims to recreate aspects of Opera 12.x using the Qt framework. [2] Otter Browser is free and open-source software and is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later. It works on Linux-based operating systems, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, macOS, Haiku, RISC OS, OS/2, and Windows platforms.

Contents

History

The author of the software, Michał Dutkiewicz, began work on Otter Browser in 2014 due to versions of Opera after Opera 12 not having Linux versions at the time and because he was dissatisfied with the changes made and features removed in builds after Opera 12. [3]

Early versions of the browser were released starting in January 2014 as an alpha. [4] The browser started out using QtWebEngine because Presto was closed source. The browser was designed to be modular and allow for customization, instead of being a 1:1 recreation of Opera. [3]

Otter Browser was ported to RISC OS in 2019 as OBrowser, although it was noted that it did not behave like a standard RISC OS application. [5]

The first stable release was released in 2019. [6]

The browser and QT5 was ported to OS/2 in 2022 because the latest browser OS/2 could run was the outdated Firefox 49. [7] [8]

Features

The browser currently runs on the QtWebEngine, which is a version of Blink, the web engine used by Chromium. The web browser was designed to have integration with the KDE Plasma and Unity desktop environments. [9] Otter Browser has a built in feed reader for RSS and Atom, [10] note taking utility, and cookie management accessible from a sidebar. It also includes a built in content blocker [6] and popup blocker, session management, password manager, bookmarking, userscript support, and privacy features such as do not track. [3] [11]

Tab grouping, form auto-complete, extensions support, and a mail client are planned to be implemented in future versions of the browser. [6]

Reception

Otter Browser has been well received. Praise has been brought towards its aim to recreate classic Opera features and modularity. [2] [3] Praise was also given to its lightweight nature and navigable user interface. Some cons that have been noted are that the user interface may be ugly to some users as it does not support theming, it does not support extensions, and it may not have standout features compared to other browsers. [12]

Related Research Articles

In computing, cross-platform software is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software requires a separate build for each platform, but some can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, being written in an interpreted language or compiled to portable bytecode for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all supported platforms.

WebKit is a browser engine developed by Apple and primarily used in its Safari web browser, as well as all web browsers on iOS and iPadOS. WebKit is also used by the PlayStation consoles starting with the PS3, the Tizen mobile operating systems, the Amazon Kindle e-book reader, Nintendo consoles starting with the 3DS Internet Browser, and the discontinued BlackBerry Browser. WebKit's C++ application programming interface (API) provides a set of classes to display Web content in windows, and implements browser features such as following links when clicked by the user, managing a back-forward list, and managing a history of pages recently visited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Opera web browser</span>

The history of the Opera web browser began in 1994 when it was started as a research project at Telenor, the largest Norwegian telecommunications company. In 1995, the project branched out into a separate company named Opera Software ASA, with the first publicly available version released in 1996. Opera has undergone extensive changes and improvements, and introduced notable features such as Speed Dial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera (web browser)</span> Freeware web browser

Opera is a multi-platform web browser developed by its namesake company Opera. The current edition of the browser is based on Chromium. Opera is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. There are also mobile versions called Opera Mobile and Opera Mini. Opera users also have access to Opera News, a news app based on an AI platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chromium (web browser)</span> Open-source web browser project

Chromium is a free and open-source web browser project, primarily developed and maintained by Google. It is a widely-used codebase, providing the vast majority of code for Google Chrome and many other browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Samsung Internet, and Opera. The code is also used by several app frameworks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skia Graphics Engine</span> Open source graphics library written in C++

The Skia Graphics Engine or Skia is an open-source 2D graphics library written in C++. Skia abstracts away platform-specific graphics APIs. Skia Inc. originally developed the library; Google acquired it in 2005, and then released the software as open source licensed under the New BSD free software license in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pale Moon</span> Open-source web browser

Pale Moon is a free and open-source web browser licensed under the MPL-2.0 with an emphasis on customization. Its motto is "Your browser, Your way." There are official releases for Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, macOS, and Linux.

A lightweight web browser is a web browser that sacrifices some of the features of a mainstream web browser in order to reduce the consumption of system resources, and especially to minimize the memory footprint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falkon</span> Free and open-source web browser

Falkon is a free and open-source web browser developed by KDE. It is built on the QtWebEngine, which is a wrapper for the Chromium browser core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Frameworks</span> Collection of libraries and software frameworks for the Qt framework

KDE Frameworks is a collection of libraries and software frameworks readily available to any Qt-based software stacks or applications on multiple operating systems. Featuring frequently needed functionality solutions like hardware integration, file format support, additional graphical control elements, plotting functions, and spell checking, the collection serves as the technological foundation for KDE Plasma and KDE Gear. It is distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivaldi (web browser)</span> Web browser with built-in email client

Vivaldi is a freeware, cross-platform web browser with a built-in email client developed by Vivaldi Technologies, a company founded by Tatsuki Tomita and Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, who was the co-founder and CEO of Opera Software. Vivaldi was initially released on 27 January 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Gear</span> Set of applications and supporting libraries

The KDE Gear is a set of applications and supporting libraries that are developed by the KDE community, primarily used on Linux-based operating systems but mostly multiplatform, and released on a common release schedule.

Vivaldi Technologies AS is a Norwegian software development company, most known for its creation of the Vivaldi Browser. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, it was founded in 2013 by Jon von Tetzchner and Tatsuki Tomita. Tetzchner was one of the founders, and formerly the CEO, of Opera Software, a software company which developed the web browser Opera. About 20 former Opera employees joined him at Vivaldi Technologies. In January 2017, the company had 35 employees. As of September 2021, the company has listed 54 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Projects</span>

KDE Projects are projects maintained by the KDE community, a group of people developing and advocating free software for everyday use, for example KDE Plasma and KDE Frameworks or applications such as Amarok, Krita or Digikam. There are also non-coding projects like designing the Breeze desktop theme and iconset, which is coordinated by KDE's Visual Design Group. Even non-Qt applications like GCompris, which started as a GTK-based application, or web-based projects like WikiToLearn are officially part of KDE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QuiteRSS</span> Free software RSS reader

QuiteRSS is a free and open source cross-platform news aggregator for RSS and Atom news feeds. QuiteRSS is released under the GPL-3.0-or-later license. It is available for Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, and OS/2. QuiteRSS is also available as a portable application for Windows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilisk (web browser)</span> Free and open source web browser

Basilisk is a free and open source web browser available for Windows, Linux, and with experiment support for macOS. Basilisk is an updated fork of Firefox designed to look and feel similar to versions before the underlying backend was changed in version 57. The web browser is described by the developers as being in a permanent development state and a "perpetual beta."

JPEG XL is a royalty-free raster-graphics file format that supports both lossy and lossless compression. It is designed to outperform existing raster formats and thus become their universal replacement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KaOS</span> KDE-focused Linux distribution

KaOS is a desktop Linux distribution that features the latest version of the KDE desktop environment, the LibreOffice office suite, and other popular software applications that use the Qt toolkit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RSS Guard</span> Free and open-source news aggregator

RSS Guard is a free and open-source news aggregator for web feeds and podcasts. It is written in C++ and uses Qt, which allows it to fit with the look and feel of different operating systems while remaining cross-platform. It includes a file downloader, advanced network proxy configuration, and supports external media viewing tools.

References

  1. ↑ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  2. 1 2 Wohlscheid, John (2016-06-29). "[Review] Otter Browser Brings Hope To Opera Lovers". It's FOSS. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Brinkmann, Martin (2014-01-12). "The Otter browser project aims to recreate the classic Opera web browser - gHacks Tech News". gHacks Technology News. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  4. ↑ Larabel, Michael (2014-01-02). "Opera-Like Otter Web Browser Out In Alpha Form". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  5. ↑ H, Vince (2017-10-27). "RISC OS Developments release OBrowser as a fundraising initiative" . Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  6. 1 2 3 Brinkmann, Martin (2019-01-04). "Otter web browser Final released - gHacks Tech News". gHacks Technology News. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  7. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (2022-02-18). "Chromium-adjacent Otter browser targets OS/2". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  8. ↑ Davenport, Corbin (2022-02-16). "Otter Browser aims to bring Chromium to decades-old OS/2 operating system". XDA Developers. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  9. ↑ Nestor, Marius (2017-01-03). "Opera 12 Clone Otter Browser Beta 12 Improves KDE Plasma 5 and Unity Integration". softpedia. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  10. ↑ "Десятый кандидат в релизы браузера Otter". www.opennet.ru (in Russian). 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  11. ↑ Brinkmann, Martin (2016-10-05). "Revisiting Otter Browser: Beta 11 released - gHacks Tech News". gHacks Technology News. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  12. ↑ Diener, Derrik (2015-01-24). "Otter Browser - A QT-Based Browser with Classic Opera UI". Make Tech Easier. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
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