Welcome to the second part of this two-part series about using the triple-engine browser Lunascape to view web pages using four of the more popular browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari) in one browser.
In Part I, we covered installing Lunascape, importing settings and profiles, selecting the default rendering engine, turning off the RSS ticker, and changing the settings for opening new tabs.
In this post, we are going to discuss more about working with the rendering engines, installing the WebKit engine, installing Firefox add-ons, changing settings and the design, working with tabs, and even downloading a version of Lunascape for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
Make sure you have downloaded and installed Lunascape and followed the steps in Part I prior to following the steps in this post.
Download Lunascape from
Select a Different Rendering Engine for the Current Tab
To select a different rendering engine for the currently active tab, right-click on the name of the engine on the right side of the Address bar. Select the desired engine from the drop-down menu. If you want to use a different default engine, select Change Default Engine.
Associate a Web Page with a Specific Rendering Engine
Lunascape also allows you to associate a specific web page with a specific rendering engine. For example, if you wanted to always open Help Desk Geek using the Gecko engine, select Associate Page with Engine from the drop-down menu pictured above. You can specify to use This Host, This Page, This Address, or User Settings to indicate what part of the URL to associate with the engine. Select the desire default engine for the URL from the Engine to use drop-down list.
NOTE: We discovered that we had to remove the asterisks at either end of the URL for this to work.
Install the WebKit Engine Plugin
The first time you select WebKit as the engine to use for the current tab, the following dialog box displays. The WebKit engine plugin is not installed by default when you install Lunascape. Click Yes to download and install the WebKit engine plugin.
If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue.
NOTE: Again, you may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings. See our post, Windows 7 – How to configure UAC (User Account Control), for more information.
The progress of the installation of the WebKit engine plugin displays. Once the installation is finished, you may select WebKit from the engine drop-down list on the right side of the Address bar, as mentioned earlier.
Show the Menu Bar
The Menu Bar in Lunascape is not displayed by default. You can press Alt to temporarily access the Menu Bar. However, if you want to permanently display the Menu Bar, right-click on the Address bar and select Menu Bar from the popup menu.
Install and Manage Firefox Add-ons
You can easily add Firefox add-ons to Lunascape. To do so, select Add-ons | Gecko Add-on Manager from the Tools menu.
The familiar Add-ons dialog box displays allowing you to search for, install, and manage Firefox add-ons.
NOTE: There are a lot of Firefox add-ons that work in Lunascape; however, there are some add-ons that are known not to work in Lunascape. The list is a work-in-progress and add-ons will be added to and removed from the list as applicable.
You can install add-ons for any of the four browsers supported by the rendering engines in Lunascape. However, browser-specific add-ons, such as ones for Firefox, only work in tabs using the appropriate rendering engine for each browser. For example, if you install the NoScript Firefox add-on, it will only be available for use on tabs where the Gecko engine is the selected rendering engine.
There is a web page for Lunascape plugins that will work in all three rendering engines. However, there does not seem to be any available at this time. The only thing available on the web page is a script for building Lunascape plugins.
Change Settings
After you install a Firefox add-on, the Settings sidebar may display. Use this sidebar to change many settings for Lunascape. To close the sidebar, click the X button in the upper, right corner of the sidebar.
You can also change settings for Lunascape by clicking the Lunascape Settings button (the wrench button) on the toolbar.
The Lunascape Settings dialog box displays containing some of the same settings available on the Settings sidebar, and some different ones.
Change the Design
Lunascape provides different designs to customize the look of the browser. To change the design, click the Change design button on the toolbar and select a pre-installed design. Use the Optional Design Skins option to visit a web page where you can download and install additional skins.
Close Tabs
Lunascape contains a powerful, tabbed interface. You can easily close one or more tabs using a button on the toolbar. The Close Tab button allows you to close the current tab, all tabs, all inactive tabs, or all tabs on the right or left of the current tab.
Tile and Cascade Tabs
The Triple Engine technology in Lunascape allows you to test easily check browser compatibility for a website in one browser. You can open the same website on three different tabs, select a different rendering engine for each tab and view the tabs side by side, by selecting Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically from the Cascade View drop-down menu on the toolbar. You can also Cascade the open tabs.
Get Lunascape for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
Lunascape is also available for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad for free as iLunascape 2 Lite. It provides online bookmarks syncing, powerful tabbed browsing, sharing through Facebook, Twitter, and email, and optimized screen space. You can also download web sites, files and images and view them in the iLunascape application. See the iLunascape 2 Lite for iPhone web page for more information.
Wrap Up
In this post, we covered more about working with the rendering engines, installing the WebKit engine, installing Firefox add-ons, changing settings and the design, working with tabs, and even downloading a version of Lunascape for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
In Part I of this series, we covered installing Lunascape, importing settings and profiles, selecting the default rendering engine, turning off the RSS ticker, and changing the settings for opening new tabs.
Lunascape has many useful and powerful features available. Play around with the various menu options, toolbars, sidebars, and options to get the most out of Lunascape. For more information about using Lunascape, see the Lunascape Help web site.
by Lori Kaufman