Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 33 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals

Hail an iCab

Hail an iCab — We generally don’t comment on preview releases of software in TidBITS, but we’ll make an exception for iCab, a new Web browser from a German programming team led by Alexander Clauss and derived from a project for Atari systems. Available for PowerPC-based Macs, iCab features svelte system requirements, needing under 2 MB of disk space, less than 2 MB of RAM (with Virtual Memory or RAM Doubler; 4 MB without), and System 7.5 or higher. But that’s just the beginning: iCab offers support for HTML 4.0, Java applets via Apple’s Macintosh Runtime for Java (see TidBITS-467), sound and music via QuickTime, and support for contextual menus and Mac OS 8.5 features like Navigation Services – all with sprightly performance. iCab also offers features missing in the gorillas of the Web browsing world, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator (see TidBITS-465), including HTML error checking; a search feature that can hunt through local files, current Web pages, or send queries to remote search engines; connection logging; password and cookie management; and a sure-to-be-controversial image filter that can be used to block Web advertisements.

<https://tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05282>

<https://tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05255>

iCab is a little rough around the edges – it often wraps text oddly, doesn’t yet support JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets, or browser plug-ins (so far as I can determine), seems to have trouble with some HTML forms, and isn’t particularly stable on my Macs – but neither are any other Web browsers. Preview releases of iCab that should run through mid-April are available in German and (just recently) English; each is about an 800K download. The final version of iCab should be shareware priced at about U.S. $30. [GD]

<http://www.icab.de/>

<http://www.icab.de/iCab_US.sit>


Subscribe today so you don’t miss any TidBITS articles!

Every week you’ll get tech tips, in-depth reviews, and insightful news analysis for discerning Apple users. For over 33 years, we’ve published professional, member-supported tech journalism that makes you smarter.

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. The Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.