Sleipnir is an interesting take on the standard web browser. It has been designed to surf the web with numerous tabs open simultaneously, rather than having to navigate forwards and backwards in a single, combined view.
Sleipnir has removed the the URL bar that is normally located in a browser’s main interface. There is, however, a small search box on the right-hand side of the tiny slim controls, that sits upon the main window. The design idea is very simple really; you are either navigating to already bookmarked websites, or you’re navigating via searches.
Key Features include:
- WebKit base.
- Support for HD Retina* displays.
- Additional search services support.
- WebKit and OS X security.
- Sync bookmarks with iOS devices.
In order to navigate the web, Sleipnir displays a horizontally scrolling selection of thumbnail tabs. By rolling over each tab with your cursor, you are shown the tab’s name and the option to close it. You can also drag tabs on one another, in order to group them together.
For web searching, as soon as you type in a subject, you are given results from the search engine of your choice (configurable in Preferences). By hitting tab, you can look up that same term on Amazon, eBay, Wikipedia, or any site you wish.
Sleipnir does have a few nice features tucked away, such as gesture support for tabs; to close a tab simply use an L-shaped swipe, to reopen a closed tab, use a square-esq shaped U, or you can reload a page by drawing a circle. These do require some more work, but in testing seemed to function fairly well.
Overall,Sleipnir is a refreshing change to the standard web browser that we are normally presented with. The search facility is really fast and the user interface is really well presented and is not hard to navigate, it just takes a little time to get used to. Where the browser does suffer slightly is with performance. In testing it was found lacking in a speed and some pages did not respond as they should. Also, if you are trying any processor intensive tasks, then Sleipnir for Mac may struggle.
*For Retina display supported Mac computers.
