Free Source Code Browser

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffJune 1, 2007The viewing area of most browsers continues to shrink as ever-expanding toolbars try to be all things to all surfers. But this browser takes a different route, offering fewer buttons for a niche crowd interested in source code and images. Free Source Code Browser has a refreshingly minimalist interface: a viewing window, a URL field, three tabs, and a few essential buttons: Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh, and Up Directory. There's (gasp!) not even a search engine field. The three tabs are the focus of this tool: Browser, Source Code, and Images. The first tab works like any other browser window. The Source Code tab displays the HTML for the open page, and the Images tab shows that page's graphics. In our tests, this browser worked quickly and quite satisfactorily. In one instance, it inexplicably shut itself down when visiting an Internet e-mail site, but this event didn't reoccur. We liked that we could add the program to Internet Explorer's Tools menu with just one click; selecting the eponymous command in IE launched Free Source Code Browser. However, we were disappointed that it didn't open with IE's current page, but at our default home page. Removing the tool from IE's menu was also accomplished with a single click. Free Source Code Browser is a nice change for surfers tired of giving up viewing real estate to toolbars and buttons. And it's easy to use and add to IE. It's free, and that's cheap enough for burgeoning Web designers and other interested parties to keep around.