14 DAY TRIAL // The world of web browsers keeps expanding every day and almost with each new product a new feature is tested. It is just the natural way of progress and, believe it or not, all cool features we have nowadays in our web browsers were at one point in experimental stage. The same happens now with the new releases.
Opera, IE and Firefox are the main players currently on the market and if you take a good look at their feature you will find similarities or variations. All of them come with tabbed browsing, bookmark/favorites management, newsfeed options, etc., but also sport some new, cool features like Opera's speed dial, Firefox's add ons that expand its functionality or IE7's quick tabs function.
Lively Browser, although it has been on the market for a while, has not imposed itself as a standard web surfing application. However, its list of features contains elements that definitely deserve your consideration. It comes in four different flavors: Free, Basic, Standard and Premier.
The application offers more than simple web browsing as it also stands for a database compendium for the most popular websites on the web, the best user/editor rated softwares on the market and top forums, complete with links and details. Its browsing capabilities have not yet reached maturity but there is one feature that should be interesting enough for most of you: tree browsing.
Besides the now standard tabbed browsing implemented in virtually all browsers on the market, Lively Browser has implemented tree browsing, a feature that allows you to open the links in the currently opened web page in a tree-like manner. The principle is simple: the links inside a page (called "parent") will not open in a new tab or new window, but in a new tab bar, right under the main one (these are called "daughter" pages). The result is a cleaner main tab bar which handles only main tabs while all the links are opened in secondary tab bars and can be accessed only when their main tab is active.
This new form of browsing permits checking out hundreds of pages in the same browser easily and comfortably without losing track of what links came from what page. However, the feature is not yet fully perfected, especially when it comes to moving the windows in same tab bar or a different one. Moving one parent page having daughters will not grab all the "family" at once but only the selected parent. It would be nice to drag a parent and take the entire family with it, either if we are moving it in the same tab bar or in a secondary one.
Configuring the web browser should not take you more than ten seconds because there are few settings to adjust. Preferences window permits setting the homepage, limit the number of daughter pages, configure what should be loaded when the application starts (home page or the last session), set the page opening mode (tabbed or tree) and limit the number of URLs to be recorded in browsing History.
Save for these cool features, web browser's functionality is quite limited. There is no domain completion available and the context menu of a link does not allow opening it in a new tab (the option is grayed out), although selecting "Open in New Window" will do just that. Adding new favorite pages does not support the traditional shortcut (Ctr+D) but Alt+V which may be a bit confusing for some users. Also, the size of the tabs is not automatically adjusted by the application and you have to set a maximum length in Preferences window, under General (each address typed in address bar will open the page in a new window). On the bright side, you can easily change the browsing mode by double clicking on the active tab (the arrow will give you a hint). Mind that each tab can be configured independently for tabbed browsing or tree mode.
But, despite web browser's limits, Lively Browser sports a set of other features that will definitely keep your eyes on it. It provides database for the most popular software in the world, the most consulted forums out there and a list with the to websites on the market. All the data is effectively arranged according to fields of activity, categories and countries, making the search more easier for you.
For TopSites, users have unrestricted access to the most accessed Internet locations, dealing with a total number of 14 different fields of activity ranging from News, Arts, Health, Kids and Teens to Shopping, Science, Recreation, Computers or Games. More than this, all websites can be arranged according to popularity by country or by language.
In the case of forums, the same approach is available, with slightly differences in the sense that these can be organized by popularity, number of total posts or total members. The categories and subcategories are also available, just like in the case of websites.
Softwares are split in three main categories (Top Popular, Top Editor Rated and Top User Rated) and cover two of the main operating systems on the market (Windows and Mac) and the mobile section. Every software category is covered in here, from screensavers and wallpapers to antivirus, antispyware and firewalling.
However, there are some downsides regarding the lists as they contain double (or more) entries and sometimes you may not agree with them. But this is not a Lively Browser problem because it simply imports them from specific locations. As for the reliability of the sources, I have to tell you that these are some of the most trusted sources on the Internet. I would be more specific but I would have to kill you ? just kidding, but here's a hint: they are the largest databases on the Web (this should not be too difficult to find out).
The Good
Lively Browser sports a new feature (tree-mode browsing) that once perfected may become as useful as tabbed browsing.
It offers access to the top rated 2 million websites of the world and provides the possibility of organizing them according to country or language as well as their field of activity.
You get to view top rated software products by both editors and users as well as to make an idea about the hottest debates on top forums.
The Bad
Web browsing capabilities are limited and the application needs a lot of improvement in this area. Tree mode browsing is not yet perfected and moving the entire "family" of a parent tab is not available yet.
TopSites, TopForums and TopSoftwares lists are not in tip top shape and there are multiple entries of the same item.
The Truth
The application is much more useful for the databases it incorporates rather than the browser, although this has a special feature that deserves all the attention: tree mode browsing.
There are still some glitches to be taken care of and features to be perfected, but the application makes for a very good advisor when it comes to learning about the most popular websites in a country or all over the world, accessing a list of the largest forums or finding out which are the top editor/user rated softwares.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
