Talk:Maxthon

Features

"Maxthon seeks to provide many rich features, but without losing any of the compatibility of Internet Explorer. It competes directly with Firefox and Opera."

That line needs some citation.

Changelog

Excuse me but... A wikipedia page really isn't the place for a Changelog, is it. I think a link from the Maxthon page would be appropriate, however.

Some think many are AD from the company. but most of them are not TRUE.

Correct Pronunciation?

Does anyone really pronounce it "Max-ton?"

I've always pronounced it "Max-thawn" Sockdude 21:39, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

The official answer: http://www.maxthon.com/files/maxthon.mp3

That file doesn't seem to exist. "Max-ton" as opposed to "max-thon" certainly seems a strange pronunciation. Why didn't they call it Maxton if that's what they wanted? Flapdragon (talk) 08:26, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Try the earlier files from http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.maxthon.com/files/maxthon.mp3 In phonetic Chinese, maxton doesn't (AFAIK) mean anything, while maxthon does. 130.230.92.223 (talk) 15:38, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

• it's a Chinese program. Don't expect the *Chinese* to use *English* pronunciation. Be happy it's spelled in Latin alphabet :-)

Features list

This section reads more like ad copy from the company websiet than encyclopedic content. The exclamation marks and informal writing put me off, but as I've never heard of this browser before, I am patently unsuited to rewriting/fixing it. Have at it... -- nae'blis _(talk) 20:03, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I agree. I myself am a Maxthon user, and I can say that, while what is listed in the features section is true, doesn't sound like what should be in a Wikipedia article. I'll work on it.

look at the firefox page almost all features & releases are mentioned, so if it's good for firefox why not here?? - Suren

Some edits

I've made a few edits to the features list now. I'm not sure whether or not that will be okay, or if the list should be gotten rid of all together. I shortened it down a bit, to try to make it look less like advertising.

Using Gecko

Couldn't the user also choose to use Gecko as Maxthon's layout engine? It's been a while since I last used Maxthon, but I thought I used something like that before.

Yes , still can but not yet in 2.x version. Usually requires installing Mozilla ActiveX Control

Add a section about Maxthon upcoming version

Please add some information about Maxthon new preview version 2.0 and what's new.

Done, doesn't sound good enough for Wikipedia, but the Firefox article had a similar list so it can be fixed. Michaelas10 12:26, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, But why when I uploaded a screenshot, It was deleted?

File manager ?

Removed the links to List and Comparison of File Managers. I don't think Maxthon is a file manager, and it is not listed in either of those pages anyway... -- Peter 08:27, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

needs criticism.

i would if i knew anything about the browser.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.153.0.67 (talk • contribs)

Reference would also be needed, besides one's knowledge. Springbreak04 23:35, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Maxthonlogo.png

Image:Maxthonlogo.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 23:10, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Is Maxthon really a web browser or just an IE shell?

The web browser development chart. Note no presence of Yahoo's IE browser, MSN's, etc.

It added a few features that IE didn't have before version 7, but it doesn't really change it much. It's the same thing as those "browsers" that ISP's give you that are shells running on top of IE. None of those are on the web browser chart. SteveSims 15:29, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Then one might as well say that Flock and Netscape aren't really browsers, just alternate UIs for Firefox with some extensions included, while K-Meleon/K-Ninja are just alternate shells for gecko with a bunch of features built-in. The only major difference is that Trident happens to included with Windows whether you like it or not, while the XUL-based Mozilla/firefox is the only "real" gecko based browser.

Netscape and Firefox share a rendering engine; Netscape does not run on top of Firefox. Maxthon, on the other hand, runs on top of Internet Explorer (a consequence of IE being built into the operating system). Netscape is self-contained (you don't need the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser to run Netscape) but you do need to have Internet Explorer on your computer to run Maxthon. SteveSims 20:54, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

I didn't say the Netscape needs firefox to run, just that it is/was heavily based on firefox code. ( http://www.mozillazine.org/articles/article5691.html , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox#Licensing ). And you don't necessarily need IE itself to run maxthon (and many other Trident based browser), they run just fine with IE removed, as long as windows explorer is still capable of running (ie. mshtml.dll and a few other system files are kept). If one really removes all traces of IE and mshtml.dll from a windows installation ( http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=157214 and iepatcher.exe) then using maxthon (or Networker or Scope) with Trident is quite impossible in which case you have to have mozilla activex control installed to use the browsers with Gecko)

What about AOL Explorer? SBC Yahoo's browser? Are they like Maxthon, or do they require Internet Explorer itself to run? Are they just reskins of IE with login screens and a few ActiveX buttons added? SteveSims 18:56, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia lists Maxthon, AOL Explorer, etc. as shells. According to this Wikipedia article, an IE shell shares the same Trident rendering engine as the "real" Internet Explorer. They, Maxthon included, need the preinstalled Trident rendering engine that comes with IE in order to run. However, Netscape, Flock, etc. are not Firefox shells because they come with their own Gecko rendering engine; one doesn't need to install Firefox, keep at least the rendering engine, then install Netscape for Netscape to work.

So basically, Maxthon would become a browser in its own right if its developers were licensed the Trident rendering engine (instead of merely using Windows' copy) and include it in their install of Maxthon. SteveSims 19:06, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Which is unlikely to happen, unless MS start licensing Trident to be shipped with 3rd party products. Or provide an official way of running IE6 and IE7 side-by-side. An average end-user wouldn't see much of a diffence between a browser and a browser shell anyway. Many Kubuntu or Knoppix users would propably cry wolf if one called Konqueror 'just a browser shell' even though many other KDE apps use KHTML too.

It may be a shell, but its utter nonsense to say "doesn't really change it much" its the difference between a bicycle and a space shuttle - somebody who is willing to ignore the vast vast number of differences would easily be mistaken for a troll. IceHunter 20:56, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Total Downloads

"Maxthon is reported to be the second most popular browser in China, and it has been downloaded more than 150 million times worldwide." The source for the second statement is the Maxthon site itself. Assuming maybe half the people end up using it as their primary browser, that leaves 75,000,000 people using it. Roughly 1.5 billion people use the internet (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm).

Given that, Maxthon should have roughly 5% of the usage shares of web browsers, but it isn't even mentioned anywhere. Is it because Wikipedia needs updating, or it's counted in the IE shares, or the downloads stats are faulty, etc.? If the latter, how would we find out?Tergadare (talk) 23:24, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Mostly counted in IE shares ( http://www.useragentstring.com/pages/Maxthon/ ) , somewhat like Opera used to be by default. 85.194.193.95 (talk) 07:13, 14 July 2008 (UTC)