Xtravo Explorer is an Internet Explorer-based browser available as a free download from Jawoc.com and also from popular software download sites such as Download.com and Softpedia.com.

What sets this apart is the fact that it is developed by a young Pakistan-based programmer, Sheikh Imran. Xtravo Explorer requires Microsoft .Net Framework to be installed as a prerequisite. The interface of this browser is neat
with only three main menus item — first one for opening windows, tabs and printing, etc; second one is for management of favourites; and third is Options. The first item under Options is Internet Options that should be familiar to any Internet Explorer user. The second item here is Xtravo's own settings. The user can define popup blocker settings, including exceptions and actions to be performed when a popup is blocked, e.g. playing a sound or showing an information bar.

Additional Settings tabs allow users to set default behaviour when the browser is loaded, suppression of Java Script errors, along with others. Site blocking features allow added sites to be blocked from being accessed, while downloading can be restricted and prompt level can be set — for every download or to continue the activity in background. Lastly, phishing filter can be set and known phishing sites can be added in the list. These are the main menu items of Xtravo. Let us now explore the interface and other options available in this new browser.

Interface

One of the noticeable things for any ardent web user in Xtravo interface is that the status bar by default displays element tags. This means, if user takes the mouse to a text entry field — say a search text box in a search engine page — relevant HTML tag is displayed at the bottom right corner of the window. This can be a good learning point for those starting web designing.

The next interface item that catches attention is the Menu Bar and accessibility of menus right from the Toolbar where Address Bar is located. This conserves screen real-estate as in other browsers, Address Bar takes up nearly the entire screen width. In Xtravo, back and forward button appear on left of the Address Bar, and on the right there's new tab, Refresh, Stop and Home buttons. On the far right side, there are shortcuts for RSS feed reader, print options, page info and options.

RSS feed reader

Xtravo's RSS viewer is one simple reader that saves the users from the hassle of installing a separate application. The interface is clean and clutter free as feeds are displayed along with title, description and date of publication.
Clicking a title displays summary text in the pane below, much like the classical email reading pane. There are a few feeds already provided, and looking at the categories of built-in feeds, one gets the feel that it has been setup by someone who is an avid Microsoft technology programmer. Users can add new feeds using the Add Feed button and organise them using Add Group button.

Page options

This is where original Xtravo options and its new features reside. First is Grab All Images option — something for which there are third-party extensions available in other browsers, but it is a built-in functionality here.

 Image Grabber dialog box displays a Save to Path browse button to select a folder, along with a checkbox to open the saved folder after images have been downloaded. It takes a while, depending upon the number and size of images being downloaded and a progress bar keeps user informed about the images as they are fetched along with filenames. A minimise button here could have allowed users to browse the web while the downloading gets done.
Another interesting option here is Document Explorer. This is useful for those who would like to see how web pages are designed and what goes on behind the well-formatted web pages. Document Explorer breaks the web page down to its constituents in a three-pane tab.

The first panel is document outline where all the tags and sub-tags are displayed which enclose a web page. For example, starting with Body tag, all the images tags, divisions and bullet items are displayed. The actual page is displayed on the middle pane, while on the right pane detailed properties of the selected page item are displayed. For example, inner text, outer text, etc., can be changed to reflect the changes back in the page, and on-page items can be disabled using the Enabled dropdown.

There are minor user interface improvements that can be worked upon while Xtravo is still in its Beta. At times, the menu caption items disappear, text formatting and case selection needs to be touched up a little for example, captions “Remove ALL” and “Rss” can be turned to sentence case and capitals respectively, alignment of buttons in Settings menu tabs can be made consistent, occasional unhandled exceptions can be tested and worked on, while the user should be prompted to go Online if IE has been set to work in Offline Mode as without that intimation, hyperlinks do not work in Xtravo and mouse cursor changes to unavailable pointer, etc.

All in all, Xtravo is good effort that has been picked up major software download sites and has gathered good reviews.