Along with my core production suite of OS X Web browser tools — Opera, Chrome, and Firefox, I like to keep up to speed on developments in alternative browsers, so I usually keep a recent update of Stainless, Raven or Roccat up and running to experiment with. All of these apps have their strong points, but I haven’t found any of them quite adequate for the workaday production browsing I do with the big-name programs.A recent newcomer to the OS X Web browser “B-team,” with aspirations to move up, is Sleipnir, which is also available in an iOS version that I’ll get to in a bit, but first to the OS X version. I’ve been using the Sleipnir Premium Black Edition over the past couple of weeks for tasks that usually go to one or another of my usual production browsers, and the more I use it, the more I like it. It takes more getting used to than is usual with a different browser, but some (although not all) of it’s unique features make good sense. The odd name, incidentally, refers to Odin’s eight-legged horse in Old Norse mythology.A note about that Premium Black Edition, which is available from the Sleipnir Website, but not at the Mac App Store. Because, Sleipnir’s developers explain, they have unfortunately been obliged to remove some basic functions in the Mac App Store version of the browser due to restrictions imposed by Apple. Charles wright's original 1935 font. Donning my editorialist’s hat for a moment, I would like to say that this is a prima facie example of why I am not a fan if the App Store modus of software distribution, which cannot help but lead to a general dumbing-down and lowest-common-denominator homogenization of the Mac OS software experience.Happily, you can download the unexpurgated premium Black Edition that has no restrictions, and includes special web creation tools from the developer’s Website.

Sleipnir is one you can choose for completely reliable web browsing. Sleipnir stands out for its customizable capability using plugins. Advanced users will fall in love with all they can do to this browser that has been subjected to a hard testing bench: the Asian community. Customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Sleipnir. Download Sleipnir for macOS 10.13 or later and enjoy it on your Mac.

I wish all third-party software developers offered similar flexibility, at least for free software like browsers.Off soapbox.Moving along, if you’re like me, one of the first things you’ll notice about Sleipnir is that it has no visible URL address field. Press Command T to summon a new tab and you get your homepage, in my case Google Search. In order to type or paste in a URL, you have to bring up Sleipnir’s hidden address field by pressing Command L. Seems gratuitously clumsy and cumbersome to me for a function I use a lot, and it’s the Sleipnir idiosyncrasy I like least. It doesn’t really even save much screen real estate.I also find the thumbnail tabs in Sleipnir more difficult to identify and distinguish from one another than in, say, Opera, Firefox, or Chrome tabs. It can be tricky to tell various open tabs apart, and to quickly identify just which tab corresponds to the page you’re looking at, although there is an arrow pointer to help you with the latter. I’m also not a fan of the tab Close (x) button only appearing on mouse-over, as opposed to being constantly visible as they are with Opera — the mode I prefer for quick efficiency.Speaking of efficiency, there’s no progress bar for page loads or stop/reload button.

You have to use a circular motion gestures (two fingers) to toggle page reloads, which is I guess OK if you like gesture control. I don’t, and unless you have a laptop with a multitouch trackpad or a Magic Mouse, you’re stuck with the awkward body-English of holding the right mouse button down while you make the gesture motion. It works, but I find it annoying.Not annoying are using the pinch gesture for the “Tiled Tabs” feature to display all open tab windows and groups (see below) Expose-style, and swipe-navigating through open tabs, once you get in the habit, and several other gestures are supported for other functions.Interface response (in OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard on a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with 4 GB of RAM) can be sluggish when executing tasks like for example opening or closing tabs and switching among open tabs, especially if the application has been running for a while. Perhaps memory optimization could still use some work.So, what do I like about Sleipnir?

Well, it’s gratifyingly speedy loading Web pages (it’s based on Apple’s Safari WebKit), and at least at first after it’s started up, it’s one of the fastest Web browsers I’ve used. Unfortunately, extended uptime seems to take its toll on page load liveliness as well.However, Sleipnir is quite stable, and and it hasn’t crashed even under moderately heavy tasking stress like many open tabs simultaneously loading in the background.Another Sleipnir innovation is Tab Groups, of which you can configure up to six. You can name these groups and clicking on a thumbnail will select that tab group, where you can create new tabs, view currently open tabs in browser mode, or click and drag a tab to a different group. Because of this facility, Sleipnir doesn’t support opening multiple browser windows, which takes some getting used to, but makes logical sense. You’re limited six tab groups, but Indon’t recall ever routinely keeping more than three browser windows open at a time anyway.Another Sleipnir benefit is Fenrir Pass, a free cloud service that lets you sync bookmarks automatically with Sleipnir Mobile for iPhone / iPad and Sleipnir Mobile for Android.

You can access to your Bookmarks anytime from outside and/or home, and sync Sleipnir Bookmarks with iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows.I know my criticisms must make it sound like I’m not much off fan of Sleipnir for OS X, but actually I’m both intrigued and impressed by this browser. It really is different, and in a good way in many respects. The developers seems to be genuinely interested in innovating to improve the browser experience and incorporating fresh ideas. In some instances they’re a bit wide of the mark, but this is going to be a fascinating browser to watch as the early rough edges get polished off.