Sleipnir is a tabbed web browser developed by Fenrir Inc. The browser's main features are customization and tab functions. It supports

HTML5 HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5) is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend ...

and multiple layout engines. The names

Sleipnir In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...

and Fenrir are both names of animals from

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. Sleipnir was originally created in Japanese and then released with English and Chinese translations. Further translations are performed by volunteer translators. It is available for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, Android, and

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design languag ...

History

Sleipnir was originally developed by Yasuyuki Kashiwagi. In November 2004, the computer containing Sleipnir's source code was stolen. In 2005, Kashiwagi established Fenrir & Co. to start development of a new version of Sleipnir. Starting with version 2, the new versions are not compatible with the original. As of 2006 Sleipnir had 6%

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

in Japan. Sleipnir was one of twelve browsers originally offered in a browser ballot screen on the EU edition of Windows 7 (and XP and Vista with an update), so users could choose between

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated as IE or MSIE) is a deprecation, retired series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft that were u ...

and other browsers during the installation process. The stable version 5.0 was released on December 24, 2013 with the latest Blink engine.

Features

In the Windows version, the browser's layout engine can be changed.

Trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

and

Mozilla Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting free software and open standards. The community is supported institution ...

Gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

were supported. As of version 3.5.0.4000, support for the

WebKit 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 K ...

rendering engine was implemented and Gecko rendering engine support was terminated. Other features include tab grouping, mouse gestures, page zooming, a search bar, Greasemonkey-like user script support, and plugin support. Bookmarks on Sleipnir can be synced with different platform, using a function called Fenrir Pass. Sleipnir version 5 and onward introduce a proprietary text rendering visually resembling Mac OS text rendering. The feature is not mentioned in their Mac feature set.

Platforms

Sleipnir 2 for Windows: Sleipnir 2 features customizable functions and add-ons created by users. Sleipnir 2 is one of the few browsers to still support

Windows 98 Windows 98 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the second operating system in the 9x line, as the successor to Windows 95. It was Software ...

. Sleipnir 3 for Windows: Includes tab options, tab groups, Touchpaging to flick between tabs using your mouse, and mouse gestures. Sleipnir 3 for Mac: Switch tabs by swiping tabs left or right-click; Operate tabs using gestures; TiledTab - Pinch-in on the

TrackPad A touchpad or trackpad is a type of pointing device. Its largest component is a tactile sensor: an electronic device with a flat surface, that detects the motion and position of a user's fingers, and translates them to 2D motion, to control a p ...

to view a list of tabs; Hold And Go - Hold down on a link to open in the background; Ad Block; Tab groups for managing tabs; Sync bookmarks with other devices using Fenrir Pass; The standard full-screen with Mac OS X Lion Sleipnir 4 for Windows: Sleipnir 4 for Windows has introduced minor interface improvements; Smart Tabs - adding, positioning and deletion of tabs is determined based on relationship with previous and next tabs; 150 mouse gesture functions added; Google Chrome extensions support. Sleipnir 4 for Mac: Thumbnail Tab Navigation - open tabs are not shrunk anymore, instead they are presented in a scrollable list, with tab titles appearing on mouse hover; Portal field - a bar with a double functionality of navigation bar and search; TiledTab - view mode that gives an overview of the opened tabs and allows sorting tabs into six groups; Improved gesture controls. Sleipnir 5 for Windows: Sleipnir 5 for Windows has integrated all of the features introduced in Sleipnir 4 for Mac; Smooth OSX-like font rendering engine introduced; "Site Updates" feature shows personalized recommendations of articles from the often visited sites; Added touch screen support. Sleipnir 6 for Windows: Sleipnir 6 for Windows adds FavTab for quick navigation to favorite sites; SmartSearch for searching via highlighting; resizable portal field. Sleipnir 6.5 for Windows: Sleipnir 6.5 for Windows is a customizable web browser that offers advanced tab management, non-member social feeds, mouse gestures and privacy protection features. Sleipnir Mobile: The following mobile versions of Sleipnir for smartphones have been released: Android,

, and Windows Phone.

Reception

Early Gecko-based versions of Sleipnir for Windows scored positive reviews from '' CNET'' for the design and functionality, most noticeably, for the inclusion of gestures. “The action is very smooth and natural and a lot like scrolling through pages on your phone with your thumb.” The OSX version review by ''MakeUseOf'' followed generally the same line while additionally bringing attention to the convenient tab management. ''

MacWorld ''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG. History ''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fl ...

'', while reviewing Sleipnir 4 for Mac has praised how the URL bar was changed. “Opera pioneered that idea, but Sleipnir’s tabs remain constantly visible and strike a nice balance between being large enough to identify but small enough not to intrude on the main browser window.” Despite this, version 4 was criticized for its poor performance, compared to other browsers using

. Later versions of Sleipnir received positive reviews from ''

Softpedia Softpedia is a software and tech news website based in Romania. It indexes, reviews and hosts downloadable software and reports news on technology and science topics. It is ranked as among of the top download portals on the internet. History So ...

'', due to the browser's customizability, features and the availability of mobile versions. “Sleipnir proves to be a stable and fast web browser that comes with innovative functions and various customization possibilities. The extra security features, together with smartphone and web apps linking are features that make it a viable alternative to its more popular competitors.” In 2012, multiple performance tests were performed by '' Tom's Hardware'', where the Android version of Sleipnir was placed on the third spot as the best browser for Android, outrun by

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

and

Maxthon Maxthon (, formerly named ''MyIE2'') is a freeware web browser, created by JeffChen in Singapore. It is available for Microsoft Windows, Windows, macOS, Linux, and as ''Maxthon Mobile'' for Android (operating system), Android, iOS, and Windows P ...

References

External links