Comparison of layout engines Information & Comparison of layout engines Links at HealthHaven.com

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of layout engines. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.

[edit] General information

Basic general information about the engines: creator/company, license, etc.

Engine	Creator	Software license	Leading application
Gecko	Netscape/Mozilla Foundation	MPL/GNU GPL/GNU LGPL tri-license	Mozilla Firefox
GtkHTML (Based on KHTML)	GNOME	GNU LGPL	Novell Evolution
iCab	Alexander Clauss	Proprietary	iCab
KHTML	KDE	GNU LGPL	Konqueror
Presto	Opera Software	Proprietary	Opera
Prince XML	YesLogic Pty Ltd	Proprietary	Prince XML
Robin	Ritlabs	Proprietary	The Bat!
Tasman	Microsoft	Proprietary	Microsoft Entourage
Trident	Microsoft	Proprietary	Internet Explorer
WebKit (Based on KHTML)	WebKit Foundation	GNU LGPL, BSD-style	Safari, Google Chrome

[edit] Release history

A brief overview of the release history.

Engine	First public release		First stable release		Latest stable release
Engine	Date	Version	Date	Version	Date	Version
Gecko	December 7, 1998	"Preview"	March 19, 1999	M3	December 15, 2009	1.9.1.6
GtkHTML	2000	?	2000	?	January 14, 2008	3.17.5
iCab	1998	?	1998	?	January 1, 2008	3.0.5^[1]
KHTML	October 2000	?	October 2000	?	August 4, 2009	4.3
Presto	November 13, 2002	7.0 beta 1	January 28, 2003	7.0	March 3, 2009	2.2.2
Prince XML	April, 2003	1.0	April, 2003	1.0	January, 2008	6.0
Robin	April 27, 2000	1.32	April 27, 2000	1.32	August 24, 2009	4.2.10
Tasman	March 27, 2000	0	March 27, 2000	0	May 11, 2004	1.0
Trident	April 1997	I	October 1997	I	March 19, 2009	4.0
WebKit	January 7, 2003	48	June 23, 2003	85	-	SVN version only

[edit] Operating system support

The operating systems the engines can run on without emulation.

Engine	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix
Gecko	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GtkHTML	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iCab	No	Terminated (3.03)^[1]	No	No	No
KHTML	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Presto	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prince XML	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Robin	Yes	No	No	No	No
Tasman	No	Yes	No	No	No
Trident	Yes	Dropped (4.0)	No	No	Dropped (5.0)
WebKit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Although dropped in current version, older versions of the Gecko layout engine for Mac OS 8.6 and Mac OS 9 are still available for download from Netscape's Archived Products site. An updated port of the Mozilla Application Suite for classic Mac OS systems is maintained as Classilla.
Most of WebKit runs natively on Windows, Safari 3.1 provides support for previously non-ported features such as SVG, Canvas, and plugins.

[edit] WebKit notes

Linux, Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X support are also available with Qt 4.3 in the public WebKit SVN repository.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b The iCab 4 browser uses the WebKit engine - iCab 3.0.5 was the final release of the Carbon (API)-based iCab engine "iCab 4 Abandons Support for the Classic Mac OS". http://lowendmac.com/thomas/08tt/icab-drops-classic-mac-os.html. Retrieved 2009-04-30.

[edit] See also

[iCab3-0] The iCab 4 browser uses the WebKit engine - iCab 3.0.5 was the final release of the Carbon (API)-based iCab engine "iCab 4 Abandons Support for the Classic Mac OS". http://lowendmac.com/thomas/08tt/icab-drops-classic-mac-os.html. Retrieved 2009-04-30.

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