Internet Explorer shell

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (November 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (November 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

An Internet Explorer shell is a class of computer program (web browser or otherwise) that uses the Internet Explorer browser engine, known as MSHTML and previously Trident. This engine is closed-source, but Microsoft has exposed an application programming interface (API) that permits the developers to instantiate either MSHTML or a full-fledged chromeless Internet Explorer (known as the WebBrowser control) within the graphical user interface of their software.^[1]

These applications supplement some of the usual user interface components of Internet Explorer (IE) for browsing, adding features such as popup blocking and tabbed browsing. For example, MSN Explorer can be considered an Internet Explorer shell, in that it is essentially an expansion of IE with added MSN-related functionality. A more complete list of MSHTML-based browsers can be found under the list of web browsers.

Actively maintained:

• IE Tab
• Lunascape
• Maxthon^[2] (formerly MyIE2)^[3]
• MSN Explorer
• Sleipnir
• SlimBrowser
• Tencent Traveler

Discontinued:

• AOL Explorer^[4]
• Deepnet Explorer
• GreenBrowser
• NeoPlanet
• NetCaptor^[3]
• Netscape Browser 8.x^[5]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Other applications that are not primarily for web browsing, such as Intuit's Quicken and QuickBooks, AOL, Winamp, and RealPlayer, use the rendering engine to provide a limited-functionality "mini" browser within their own user interfaces.

On Windows, components of Internet Explorer are also used in Windows Explorer, the operating system shell that provides the default file system browsing and desktop services. For example, folder views in Windows Explorer on versions of Windows prior to Windows XP utilize IE's DHTML processing abilities; they are essentially little web pages. Active Desktop technology is another example.

MSHTML was, until Outlook 2007, also used to render HTML portions of email messages in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express email clients (Outlook 2007 now uses Microsoft Word to render HTML e-mail). This integration is an often-exploited "back door", since the Internet Explorer components make available more of the functionality within the HTML code.

Microsoft Windows also supports HTML Applications, computer programs written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript and bear a .hta filename extension. They run with HTML Application Host, which is a plain Internet Explorer shell without any GUI elements around it.

• Browser Helper Object: another way of customizing Internet Explorer's look and feel