K-Meleon

K-Meleon is a free and open-source, lightweight web browser for Microsoft Windows. Unlike cross-platform browsers, it uses the native Windows API to create its user interface. Early versions of K-Meleon render web pages with Gecko, Mozilla's browser layout engine. The Firefox web browser and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client also use Gecko. K-Meleon became a popular browser for Windows and was available as an optional default browser in Europe via BrowserChoice.eu. After Mozilla deprecated embedding Gecko, K-Meleon continued to use it for several years. Current versions of K-Meleon use the Goanna layout engine. Goanna is a fork of Gecko created for the Pale Moon browser. K-Meleon began with the goal of being faster and lighter than Mozilla's original internet suite. Until 2011, K-Meleon embedded Gecko in a stripped-down interface. Throughout its lifespan, K-Meleon has required small amounts of memory. K-Meleon 76 supports platforms no longer supported by Mozilla after the Firefox Quantum rewrite, like Windows XP and Windows Vista. Customization is another primary design goal of K-Meleon. Users can change the toolbars, menus, and keyboard shortcuts from text-based . Besides conventional extensions, K-Meleon also supports macros. Macros are small, human-readable extensions. Users can examine, write, or edit them in a text editor. K-Meleon's custom configuration files can trigger macros. Due to its adaptability, K-Meleon was recommended for internet cafes and libraries in the early 2000s. Christophe Thibault started the K-Meleon project in the 2000s, when many new browsers launched. To open-source their once-dominant Netscape Communicator internet suite, Netscape founded the Mozilla project. K-Meleon was one of several browsers to use Mozilla's Gecko web engine in a stripped-down interface. The Mozilla Application Suite used Gecko both to render pages and create the user interface. Christophe Thibault designed K-Meleon to combine Gecko with native Windows interface elements.