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.

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

Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. Firefox is available for Windows 10 and later versions of Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its unofficial ports are available for various Unix and Unix-like operating systems, including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and other platforms. It is also available for Android and iOS. However, as with all other iOS web browsers, the iOS version uses the WebKit layout engine instead of Gecko due to platform requirements. An optimized version is also available on the Amazon Fire TV as one of the two main browsers available with Amazon's Silk Browser.

WebKit is a browser engine primarily used in Apple's 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.

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<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> Free web browser

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

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

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References

  1. ↑ https://github.com/OtterBrowser/otter-browser/blob/master/CHANGELOG.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  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. ↑ Hudd, 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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