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K-Meleon is a web browser for the Microsoft Windows platform. Based on the same Gecko rendering engine as Mozilla Firefox, K-Meleon uses native Windows API to create the user interface (instead of using Mozilla's cross-platform XUL layer), and as a result, is tightly integrated into the look and feel of the Windows desktop; this approach is similar to that of Galeon and Epiphany (for the GNOME desktop), and Camino (for Mac OS X). This also makes K-Meleon less resource-intensive and more responsive to user input, which is important for users of low-end hardware.

Development and specifications

K-Meleon is released under the GNU General Public License and runs on the Win32 platform. The current release version of K-Meleon is 1.0.2, which was released on September 22, 2006.. This release is based on the Gecko 1.8.0.7 rendering engine.

The current K-Meleon 1.0.x is a major modification from the previous 0.9.x series builds. The most notable change is the main K-Meleon code being updated to accommodate the Gecko 1.8.0.x rendering engine, as used in the latest releases of SeaMonkey and Mozilla Firefox. The change of layout not only brings the browser up-to-date on the level of security, but on web page layout as well. Several other major improvements include support for favicons and multi-user environments. Some themes and macros from version 0.9 are still compatible with 1.0, although the macro system has been updated. An even more fundamental update of the macro system is being made concurrent with the development of K-Meleon 1.1 (now in the alpha stage as K-Meleon 1.1a2 ), which will be based on the Gecko 1.8.1 rendering engine that is used in Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and the upcoming SeaMonkey 1.1. The last release of the earlier K-Meleon 0.9 series (which was based on the earlier Mozilla 1.7.x rendering engine used in the former Mozilla Application Suite.) was K-Meleon 0.9.13 (released April 24, 2006). That release was based on the Mozilla 1.7.13 build (the final Mozilla Suite release). Although K-Meleon 0.9.13 is based on Gecko 1.7.13, which is now obsolete, a simulation of it (called "K-Meleon0.9.13-ud3-1.8.0.7") has been made that is based on a current "k-meleon.exe" and a recent 1.8.0.x Gecko rendering engine to allow people who prefer the older K-Meleon 0.9 interface to update their browsing to current security standards.

Customizations

K-Meleon has a highly flexible interface design. All the menus and toolbar buttons can be customized using its configuration files. This feature can be very useful in an environment where the general public has access to the browser such as a library or Internet cafe. Despite its usefulness, it may be intimidating to an end-user, as there is no GUI to customize the individual toolbars. A user must edit the toolbar configuration file to make any changes in the button layouts, although one can move around the toolbars by simply dragging their handles.

The use of Windows native interface means that K-Meleon does not support Mozilla-based themes. Compatibility with Mozilla extensions is also limited, with only a few extensions that can be integrated. However, K-Meleon has its own plugins (called "kplugins") and browser themes, which can extend the functionality and customize the appearance of the browser. There is also a macro plugin which allows users to extend the browser functionality without having to know the C programming language.

Derivatives

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The flexible and editable interface of K-Meleon has led some individual users to create versions of K-Meleon for their own use that have later developed into more formal derivative branches.

K-Ninja

K-Ninja is a minimalistic modification of K-Meleon that appeared during the development phase of K-Meleon 0.9. K-Ninja is designed with no menu-bar and a reduced number of toolbar buttons (one of those button opens a sub-menu that has all of the entries of a normal menu bar) in order to reduce the screen area used by the browser for functions other than rendering the website. An attempt was also made to expand and reorganize the right-click context menus to make them more simple and rapid in use.

K-Ninja was originally developed by Mark Reaves at Mot Studios. When Mark left Mot Studios and founded LDIOS (the Linux Desktop Initiation Operating System), the Official K-Ninja Forum also moved to LDIOS. The LDIOS site has not functioned since Nov. 29, 2005 and Mark Reaves has not been available to maintain the project.

On June 29th, 2005, "TransitMan" updated the K-Ninja rendering engine to Gecko 1.7.9 beta, and since March 12th, 2006, "Al" updated it further and began maintaining it on a new homepage as K-Ninja Samurai v1.x (based on 1.7.13 Gecko). Al has continued work and improvements on K-Ninja, and on January 21st, 2007 has released K-Ninja v2.1.0 beta a version based on the Rendering Engine of Seamonkey v1.1 (currently rv: 1.8.1.2pre).

Portable versions

Some users have created modifications to enhance the portability of K-Meleon so they can run the browser on other Windows computers without having to install the software. Douglas McFadzean has collected and expanded on those efforts resulting in a group of portable K-Meleon projects that are designed to "enhance" the K-Meleon browser's modularity and portability. These projects include Pocket K-Meleon, KMprof, KMV (K-meleon on the MoVe), KMVX (K-meleon on the MoVe eXtended), KM@, KM@X, and KMigrate. These projects focus on the ability to run K-Meleon from a USB flash drive or portable hard drive, leaving no trace of browsing on the host computer.

There have also been some early attempts at making a version of K-Meleon which can run from a read-only device, such as a CD-ROM.

K-MeleonCCF

K-MeleonCCF began as an unofficial version of K-Meleon developed by Hao Jiang for use on the ClassiClub Forum. It has evolved into functioning as the development preview of features that may be included in future K-Meleon browsers. The biggest differences between the K-MeleonCCF and K-Meleon 1.0.x release versions are that the CCF versions use an experimental k-meleon.exe which supports a real tab structure (the current 1.0.x and prior 0.9.x versions use a "layer" system, in which separate windows are hidden and revealed so as to appear to be superimposed), and that some of the macros for K-MeleonCCF have been re-written using a Lua-based macro system. Both K-MeleonCCF and K-MeleonCCFME (the "minimum edition" of K-MeleonCCF that is smaller, uses more Lua-based macros, and avoids use of XUL in its menus) are being jointly developed by Hao Jiang and Dorian Boissonnade.

The K-MeleonCCF builds are also available in Chinese versions.

See also

• List of web browsers
• Comparison of web browsers

External links

• K-Meleon Home Page
• K-Meleon Official Forum
• K-meleon Promotion Community
• Projects developed by Douglas McFadzean
• K-Meleon in Spanish

References

1. http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/webbrowser.xml#body.1_div.5 "Open source and the web browser" by Elena Blanco, OSS Watch
2. http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?f=1&i=42787&t=42787 K-M 1.02 released/changes
3. http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?1,68634 Re: Kmeleon 1.1a2 Gecko 1.8.1
4. https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14285&package_id=12235&release_id=412583
5. http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?f=1&i=42739&t=42739 new version: K-Meleon0.9.13-ud3-1.8.0.7
6. Library Journal article on K-Meleon
7. K-Meleon's official configuration reference page
8. What do each of the default K-Meleon plugins do? Official K-Meleon FAQ
9. K-Meleon Themes Wiki page
10. K-Meleon Macros library
11. K-Ninja changelog, K-Ninja website
12. K-Meleon1.0.1-mod-forCDby Fred, based on Mozilla 1.8.0.6 Gecko, dated 20060730
13. Tabbed K-Meleon by Dorian Boissonnade
14. K-MeleonCCF homepage
15. K-MeleonCCF chinese homepage

• Mozilla
• Windows web browsers
• Free web browsers