Why Use SeaMonkey?
It was named Mozilla, but it is now SeaMonkey (name of a marine animal), the sequel
to the Internet suite with a browser, a manager of mail and chat, which also
includes a full HTML editor and a JavaScript debugger. Mozilla
now devotes her time to Firefox, Thunderbird, XUL and others.
The open source community
Seamonkey project was taken over from the former Mozilla suite on January 31, 2006.
The browser
It retains the look of the Mozilla or Netscape browser, but it is built on the newest source code of Firefox.
We can add to Seamonkey
the same extensions as Firefox, which helps to make it a tool for webmaster
and Web development.
It includes a cookie
manager that lets you view and delete cookies created when surfing with him
(but not created with other browsers).
The password manager,
also absent on Firefox, presents a list that can be edited.
The submenu "About
plug-ins" in the Help menu provides a list of plug-ins that are either installed
immediately with the browser or found on the computer and integrated into
the browser. There
are as follows:
- Silverlight 1.0
from Microsoft, the tool for the development of Web applications, or RIA.
Although the XAML
technology is concurrent of XUL on which are built Seamonkey and Firefox,
this plug-in integration gives it a unexpected recognition.
- Flash for animations.
- Real player, Shockwave and QuickTime for video and multimedia.
- Java.
- Adobe player for PDF.
Composer, the HTML page editor
A wysiwyg editor complete with a feature of upload through FTP or HTTP. Just give the login and password to put the page online once the edition is complete.
Managing table allows the insertion of rows or columns, cell merging or cutting.
Editing is synchronized in visual mode or on the HTML source code. But alternatively, unlike Dreamweaver that allows to edit in the two modes in two windows simultaneously. When one goes from one mode to another, the cursor will be at the top and not at edited code, and this is the weakness of this tool.
So this is a tool sufficient for occasional use, but not professionally.
The JavaScript debugger and other tools
It is the same as under Firefox, Venkman, and a tool similar to debuggers of classical languages such as C++. It runs on a JavaScript file in which you can install break points. At run of the script, the content of variables is displayed.
The Internet suite also includes:
- An email client manager and newsgroups manager.
- An agenda.
- A software of chat IRC (online discussion).
- A feed client.
Conclusion
SeaMonkey is different from the original Mozilla suite. Taking advantage of the progress made in Firefox, it has become more compact and faster. Its interest lies in the integration of various tools and is suitable for users involved in the Web, who want to use all the resources of the network.
- SeaMonkey. Download the Internet suite.