Downloads

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