Tested: Five Web browsers you've never heard of

Version tested: 2.2 (Build 090226)
Operating systems: Mac OS X
Javascript benchmark: 880ms (Exceptional)
Acid3 results: 98/100
Homepage: http://shiira.jp/en.php

Even for an underdog browser, fans of OS X's Shiira browser seem few and far between in terms of how many of them complain we don't write about it. So we gave it the benefit of our considerable doubt and really liked what we saw.

Shiira looks like an older version of Apple's Safari, but has a few notable differences that may encourage users to try it. One is its version of OS X's Expose feature, but for Web pages. Expose on the Mac displays all open windows and applications on screen at once so you can easily switch between programs. Shiira does the same thing with all open browser tabs.

Another feature of Shiira worth mentioning is its tabbed browsing. Tabs sit on the bottom of the screen by default, and are presented as screengrabs of each open tab rather than just text. (Opera does this too.)

Shiira is an attractive, well-designed browser with a user interface many OS X users will find familiar. It's also lightning fast at handling Javascript -- one of the fastest we've ever tested, in fact.

Sadly, it's riddled with bugs. The current full release wouldn't run on our Mac, and although the latest developmental build would, it suffered frequent crashes, making it hard to recommend. But it's one to watch, providing the Japanese dev team can make it more stable.