Software Review: SeaMonkey All-In-One Web Browser

Latest release of the all-in-one Internet suite builds on the same Mozilla platform as Firefox 52.7.3 ESR, and includes HTML5, hardware acceleration and improved JavaScript speed.

When Netscape first appeared on the scene decades ago, most users were probably too thrilled to even be on the internet to worry about better ways to use it. With better advancements and a larger pool of users contributing great ideas, that excitement over the original one-size-fits-all concept of web browsing has faded. There are a lot of reasons why someone may opt to forgo the usual players in the web browser space–the IEs, Edges, and Chromes, for example–and install something that gives them a little more customization.

The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to develop the SeaMonkey all-in-one internet application suite.

Open source secret sauce

The rise of open source culture has given users a lot of choice and capability in a number of different aspects of computing, but web browsing may top the list. The Mozilla Project has opened doors not just to mainstream browsers like its flagship Firefox, but also for new browsers that users with specific wishes can incorporate.

SeaMonkey is one such browser. Seeking to be an all-in-one framework to meet multiple needs, it’s a web browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing tool at the same time. While it contains the same backend and ESR security fixes as Firefox and parts of Thunderbird’s news and mail structure, the latest version of SeaMonkey (2.49.3), it doesn’t just offer what Firefox has already built.

User profile

While you could argue that SeaMonkey is not the most face-value user friendly option for web browsers, it’s largely due to the kind of user it would attract. This might not be your go-to solution for popping online and checking your email, if that’s your basic web function. Anyone who benefits from the increased speeds and capability when working in HTML5 or JavaScript, for example, probably won’t have any problem with the steps to migrate from previous versions of SeaMonkey to this latest release.

v2.49.3 includes HTML5, hardware acceleration and improved JavaScript speed.

Feature rich

This browser is not only customizable and highly supported in both languages and operating systems, it brings a few handy features that aren’t widely available from other platforms. Perhaps the most appealing is the “open as tabs” concept of the homepage; rather than relying on a single home page to take you to your most widely used sites, SeaMonkey lets you establish a home page built on tabs. You can build your homepage based on where your work will take you the most, so that “heading home” circles you back around to those sites.

A few other more mundane but still sought after features include popup blocking, image blocking (to let you filter image content you don’t want to see), the option to see new links in your searches while you’re still typing, and more much more. Of course, things like security, password capability, and other typical browser features are included as well.

Community support

As a crowd-built and supported idea, there are bound to be a few issues. SeaMonkey’s team has posted a list of known issues and fixes, and requests that users browse that section of the site before reporting further bugs.

Try it

To try SeaMonkey 2.49.3 for yourself, download it by clicking here.