K-Meleon

K-Meleon

K-Meleon 74 showing Wikimedia meta's Main Page
Developer(s)	Christophe Thibault, Dorian Boissonnade, et al.
Initial release	August 21, 2000 (2000-08-21)
Repository	sourceforge.net/p/kmeleon/source/ci/default/tree/
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Web browser Feed reader
License	GPL
Website	kmeleon.sourceforge.net

K-Meleon is an open-source web browser for the Microsoft Windows platform. Based on the same Gecko layout engine as Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey, K-Meleon's design goal is to provide a fast and reliable web browser while providing a highly customizable interface and using system resources efficiently. It is released under the GNU General Public License.

Development and specifications

K-Meleon uses the native Windows application programming interface (API) to create its user interface instead of Mozilla's cross-platform XML User Interface Language (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). Omitting XUL makes K-Meleon less resource-intensive than other Gecko-based browsers on Windows.

The first version, K-Meleon 0.1, was originally written by Christophe Thibault and released to the public on August 21, 2000. Dorian Boissonnade eventually took over as the primary developer of the project, and continues to maintain the project to date.

After many major release versions from 0.1 to 0.9.x, K-Meleon 1.0 introduced major modifications. The most notable change was the main K-Meleon code being updated to accommodate the Gecko 1.8.0.x rendering engine, as used in the latest releases of Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey. This update to the layout engine brought significant improvements to security and usability, including support for favicons and multi-user environments. Some themes and macros from version 0.9 were still compatible with 1.0, although the macro system was updated.

The macro system was updated further in K-Meleon 1.1, which was based on the Gecko 1.8.1 rendering engine that was used in Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and SeaMonkey 1.1.

A true tabbed interface was introduced in version 1.5. Prior to this update, multiple web pages were only accessible within the same browser window using the included but optional "layers" plugin, which enabled a toolbar containing buttons representing each open page in a way that functionally mimicked tabbed browsing in every way other than appearance. These open pages were called "layers" instead of tabs.

In 2010, K-Meleon was one of the twelve browsers offered to European Economic Area users of Microsoft Windows.

As of 2012, the project was incorrectly reported as being on indefinite hold, presumably due to the fact that Mozilla stopped providing an embeddable version of the Gecko engine. This has since been clarified, as development continued.

In late 2013, the K-Meleon group began developing new versions based on Mozilla's XULRunner 24 runtime environment in place of the discontinued Gecko Runtime Environment. K-Meleon 74 is the first release under development using updated versions of this environment.

Customization

K-Meleon has a highly flexible interface design. All the menus and toolbar buttons can be customized using text-format configuration files. This feature is useful in environments where the browser must be customized for general public use, such as in a public library or Internet cafe. Although individual toolbars can be repositioned, users must edit toolbar configuration files to make any changes to button layouts as there is no graphical user interface (GUI) to customize them.

The use of the native Windows interface means that K-Meleon does not support Mozilla-formatted browser 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 (using Lim Chee Aun's Phoenity by default), 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.

Release history

Color	Meaning
Red	Old release; not supported
Yellow	Old release; still supported
Green	Current stable release
Purple	Current test release
Blue	Future release

Major version	Release version	Gecko version	Release date	Significant changes
0.1	0.1	M17	August 21, 2000	First release; mainly a rebranded WinEmbed, using the BCG Library; customizable menu and toolbar, IE Favorites support.
0.2	0.2	M18	November 26, 2000	Project hosted at SourceForge; right-click context menus; improvements and bugfixes.
	0.2.1	M18	November 27, 2000	Bugfixes.
0.3	0.3	0.8	February 13, 2001	Major rewrite using MfcEmbed instead of WinEmbed and the BCG Library; plugin support for menus and toolbars; preferences dialog; customizable menus and accelerator keys; basic authentication; page source view; option to save files to disk.
0.4	0.4	0.9	May 11, 2001	KPlugin interface, support for Netscape bookmarks and fullscreen display, macro extension and history plugin; (bitmapped) menus, accelerator keys and toolbars customizable through configuration files; cache support; support for external source code viewer; configurable cookie and image settings; possibility to disable Style Sheets, Java and JavaScript; web search.
0.5	0.5	0.9.4	September 27, 2001	Support for SSL, Wallet and external protocol handlers; customizable UserAgent string; improved Java support and profile handling; pop-up blocker; symbiotic loader; various improvements and bugfixes.
0.6	0.6	0.9.5	October 30, 2001	Toolbar plugin; improved proxy support; file upload; numerous improvements and bugfixes.
0.7	0.7	1.2b	October 31, 2002	New plugins: Layered windows ("tabbed browsing"), support for Opera bookmarks (hotlist), external program control; automatic detection of popular third party plugins; text zoom, print preview, page setup and type ahead find; skin support; various improvements and bugfixes.
	0.7.1 (0.7 SP1)		February 12, 2003	Numerous plugin improvements.
0.8	0.8	1.5	November 10, 2003	Various usability improvements.
	0.8.1		December 13, 2003	Mouse Gestures plugin; improvements and bugfixes.
	0.8.2		December 23, 2003	Improvements and bugfixes.
0.9	0.9	1.7.5	January 18, 2005	Privacy plugin, Flashblock extension and Aggreg8 RSS feed reader; new default skin (Phoenity); numerous usability improvements.
	0.9.12	1.7.12	January 10, 2006	Community-driven Gecko update; various new features (partly unique to this version).
	0.9.13	1.7.13	April 25, 2006	Community-driven Gecko update; various new features (partly unique to this version).
1.0	1.0	1.8.0.5	July 15, 2006	Full localization support, first official localization (German); find bar and improved URL bar; configurable download options, XUL-based advanced preferences panel; overall improvements for macros and menus; new default RSS/Atom feed reader (NewsFox).
	1.0.1 (1.01)	1.8.0.6	August 14, 2006	Gecko update.
	1.0.2 (1.02)	1.8.0.7	September 22, 2006	Gecko update, some improvements and bugfixes.
1.1	1.1	1.8.1.4	May 22, 2007	Multilanguage support, several official localizations; modular macros; session saver plugin; improved cookie permissions and password support; easier customization of search engines and mouse gestures; upgradable configuration of accelerator keys, menus and macros.
	1.1.1 (1.11)	1.8.1.5	July 22, 2007	Gecko update and bugfixes.
	1.1.2	1.8.1.6	August 8, 2007	Gecko update and bugfixes.
	1.1.3	1.8.1.10	November 26, 2007	Gecko update; update checker plugin.
	1.1.4	1.8.1.12	February 11, 2008	Gecko update and bugfixes.
	1.1.5	1.8.1.14	April 8, 2008	Gecko update and bugfix.
	1.1.6	1.8.1.17pre	July 18, 2008	Gecko update.
1.5	1.5.0	1.8.1.17pre	August 8, 2008	True tabs instead of layered windows; improved multilanguage support; native preferences panel replaced by XUL-based former advanced preferences panel; new configuration options; feature improvements; Unicode build for Windows NT, non-Unicode build for Windows 9X.
	1.5.1	1.8.1.17	October 16, 2008	Gecko update, improvements and bugfixes.
	1.5.2	1.8.1.19	December 25, 2008	Gecko update, improvements and bugfixes.
	1.5.3	1.8.1.21	May 8, 2009	Gecko update and bugfixes.
	1.5.4	1.8.1.24pre	March 5, 2010	Gecko update and bugfixes.
1.6	1.6.0 Alpha 4	1.9.1	May 5, 2010	Gecko update.
	1.6.0 Beta 1	1.9.1.16	November 13, 2010	Gecko update.
	1.6.0 Beta 2	1.9.1.17	December 12, 2010	Gecko update.
	1.6.0 Beta 3	1.9.1.20pre	December 12, 2011	Gecko update.
1.7	1.7.0 Alpha 2	1.9.2.14pre	December 26, 2010	Gecko update.
74	74.0	24.7.0	September 8, 2014	Gecko update, improvements and bugfixes.
75	75.0 Beta 1	31.0	November 25, 2014	Gecko update, improvements and bugfixes.
	75.0 Beta 2	31.0	January 14, 2015	Improvements and bugfixes.
	75.0 Beta 3	31.4	February 6, 2015	Gecko update, events processing changes, added navToggleJS (toggle js pref and js in all page) and pageToggleJS (toggle js in current page), Es locale, fixes from previous thread: JSBridge RemoveButton, macro setcmdicon, wrong context menu on contenteditable (mainly webmail), tab bar context menu action not working.
	75.0 Beta 3 Update 1	31.4	February 23, 2015	Some fixes for toolbars, fixed deadlock with "open with" dialog, update for addbutton, setcmdicon, setbuttonicon, about:downloads, added automatic favorites refresh (may not work all the time).
	75.0 Beta 3 Update 2	31.4	March 3, 2015	Fixed about:home memory leak, fixed missing status bar icon, macro injectJS, added "hidden" for second parameter, run the script in an hidden page, macro getpref, fixed localized prefs, fixed image in toolbars.cfg, fixed menu on toolbar when holding left button, added favorites(Refresh), added spellcheck: 2 commands, spellcheck(mouse): check word under mouse cursor, spellcheck(caret): check word at caret, fixed spellcheck in Facebook comments.
	75.0 Beta 3 Update 3	31.4	March 9, 2015	Added spellcheck command to change dictionary, fixed slow startup and other minor things.
	75.0 RC	31.5	March 14, 2015	Gecko update, fixed click not working in menu and other weird event problem, fixed being trashed when closing windows session, fixed checkbutton, add appRestart (doesn't warn if download in progress).
	75.0 RC2	31.5	March 31, 2015	Fixed session tab order, search macro, wine transparency (?), shorter privacy bar. Flash seems to block some keyboard accelerators.
	75.0 RC2 Update 1	31.5	April 3, 2015	Session fix.
	75.0 RC2 Update 2	31.5	April 9, 2015	Bugfixes, fixed a crash when locale dll are incomplete or not loaded correctly, cfg macro.

References: K-Meleon file releases, release notes, Wiki documentation, and forum.

Unofficial Distributions

Portable versions

Several user-created portable versions have been created since the beginning of the project, focusing on the ability to run K-Meleon from a USB flash drive or portable hard drive without saving any data on the host computer. However, with version 1.5, K-Meleon became portable by default.

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

K-MeleonCCF / K-MeleonCCF ME

K-MeleonCCF was developed by Hao Jiang, adding further features to K-Meleon. The biggest change was the use of a true tab structure, as opposed to the "layer" system used by K-Meleon at the time. Other changes included a Lua-based macro system to replace the original macros (giving greater responsiveness), and further user interface (UI) tweaks, such as a mouse-gestures plugin. Many of the changes implemented were included in later versions of K-Meleon, and with the release of K-Meleon 1.5, this included its tab support and macro plugin. Development of CCF has ceased with users being advised to move to K-Meleon 1.5 upon its release.

K-Meleon CCFME 0.08

K-MeleonCCF ME was developed as a more streamlined version of K-MeleonCCF, using fewer resources and yielding more responsiveness. This was done by omitting Mozilla's XML User Interface Language (XUL) in menus. At the time, it was the least resource-intensive browser for Windows using an up-to-date rendering engine, making it ideal for older computers or those with low amounts of RAM. It may have also been the fastest at rendering, loading pages faster than Opera.

On January 25, 2008, the unofficial K-MeleonCCF project was discontinued. However, since then, version 0.08 of CCF ME was released, and development continued on version 0.09 of CCF ME based on the Gecko 1.9 rendering engine. A beta version of 0.09 was tested to be twice as fast as Opera 9.5 at rendering JavaScript.

K-Ninja / KMLite

K-Ninja, and later KMLite, were minor modifications of K-Meleon. They were designed with less on-screen space for menus and buttons, and more for web pages. An attempt was also made to expand and reorganize the right-click context menus to make them faster and easier to use.

K-Ninja was originally developed by Mark Reaves, who maintained the project until November 29, 2005. A developer by the name "Al." eventually came to maintain the project until March 12, 2008, when development ended. The last release was K-Ninja v2.2.1 (codenamed Cydonia and based on Gecko 1.8.1.12). An experimental version using the older Gecko 1.8.0.14pre rendering engine was also developed during this time, named "Orbital."

KMLite was an attempt at rebranding K-Ninja to emphasize the fact that it was based on K-Meleon. "Lite" referred to the lightweight interface and features that KMLite shared with K-Ninja. It was based upon the K-Meleon 1.5.x codebase, which featured the Gecko 1.8.x rendering engine. KMLite also shared the plugin macro system and XUL based Preferences Panel that was part of K-Meleon 1.5. The last released of KMLite was 1.1.2, which featured Gecko v1.8.1.19. Development of KMLite ended on April 21, 2009.

NX editions

Developed and maintained by a user simply known as "Fred," NX editions are unofficial versions that are optimized for use on Linux through the use of Wine. These versions are designed to be extremely lightweight, and can also be run on Windows. Later editions used K-Meleon's 1.5.x binaries and are based on the latest Gecko trunks, mainly 1.9.x. builds. Fred's NX editions provided a "sneak preview" for the then-upcoming K-Meleon 1.6 with 1.9.x Gecko and were therefore suitable testbeds for the official K-Meleon trunk migration.

See also

• Comparison of feed aggregators
• Comparison of lightweight web browsers
• Comparison of web browsers
• List of feed aggregators
• List of web browsers

External links

• Official website