Hydra Browser is a freeware browser which marries concepts found in
Explorer and Firefox, though it does not share any code with them.
From Explorer and other Vista applications, you have the menu bar
replaced by tabbed ribbon bars. From Firefox and other branches of
the Mozilla tree, you have sidebars with history, bookmarks, and
RSS feeds. It all adds up to an exceptionally busy interface. The
sheer number of options, drop-downs, toolbars, and settings can be
overwhelming.
Hydra Browser has some nice features--for example, there is an 'up
to domain' button, and 'fast forward' and 'fast backward' buttons
which guess the likely next (and prior) pages in a sequence--useful
for reading online comics. However, features get lost in the
multitude of tabs. For example, the Fast Forward/Backward buttons
are on the Edit tab. The normal forward/back arrows, the most-used
buttons on any browser, vanish when you leave the Home tab; if you
are on another ribbon, you must either remember the key combo or go
back.
The hierarchical bookmark feature comes pre-stocked with many
common sites, but it is also a bit quirky. You cannot right-click
on a bookmark to open it in a new tab, for instance, and it took me
several tries to figure out how to add a new category of bookmarks.
The bookmark manager dialog is powerful but unintuitive. You can
drag and drop bookmarks within the outline, but you cannot drag a
page into the bookmark list.
I found Hydra Browser sluggish compared to Firefox, my current
browser of choice. There is a 'fast browsing' option, but this
works by turning off security features such as popup blocking and
phishing detection.
Since Hydra Browser is a one-man show, the sheer number of features
and relative stability is impressive. Further, the author is using
an affiliate system to raise money for charity, always a laudable
goal. Given that the program is still fairly young, many of its
quirks and oddities are likely to be erased over time. It is free,
and it's worth looking at to see if among its many features are
ones you can't live without.
--Ian Harac
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Hydra Browser
- Version: 1.07
- Downloads Count: 3,179
- License Type: Free
- Price: Free
- Date Added: Apr 16, 2008
- Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista
- Requirements: 512MB RAM, 60 MB hard drive space, 32-bit processor
- File Size: 15.04 MB
- Author: Hydra Browser
Editorial Review of Hydra Browser
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