Comparison of layout engines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Contents

[edit] General information

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

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 N/A iCab
KHTML KDE GNU LGPL Konqueror
Presto Opera Software N/A Opera
Prince XML YesLogic Pty Ltd N/A Prince XML
Robin Ritlabs N/A The Bat!
Tasman Microsoft N/A Microsoft Entourage
Trident Microsoft N/A Internet Explorer
WebKit (Based on KHTML) Apple Inc. GNU LGPL Safari

[edit] Release history

A brief overview of the release history.

First public release First stable release Latest stable release
Date Version Date Version Date Version
Gecko December 7, 1998 "Preview" March 19, 1999 M3 March 25, 2008 1.8.1.13
GtkHTML 2000  ? 2000  ? January 14, 2008 3.17.5
iCab 1998  ? 1998  ? December 31, 2007 3.0.5[1]
KHTML October 2000  ? October 2000  ? March 5, 2008 4.0.2
Presto November 13, 2002 7.0 beta 1 January 28, 2003 7.0 April 3, 2008 9.27[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 December 27, 2006 3.95
Tasman March 27, 2000 0 March 27, 2000 0 May 11, 2004 1.0
Trident April 1997 I October 1997 I October 18, 2006 V
WebKit January 7, 2003 48 June 23, 2003 85 March 18, 2008 525

[edit] Operating system support

The operating systems the engines can run on without emulation.

Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix
Gecko Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
GtkHTML No No Yes Yes Yes
iCab No Yes 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 No No No Dropped
WebKit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
  • Although dropped in current version, older versions of the Gecko layout engine for Mac OS 9 are still available for download from Netscape's Archived Products site.
  • 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

  1. ^ iCab 4 Abandons Support for the Classic Mac OS, retrieved 20080117
  2. ^ 9.27 - Desktop Team - by Opera Desktop Team, retrieved 20080525

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Layout engines
List of layout engines
Amaya · Boxely · Gecko · GtkHTML · Gzilla · iCab · KHTML · Mariner · NetSurf · Robin · Tasman · Tkhtml · Trident · Presto · Prince · WebKit
Comparison of layout engines
Languages