Trident Layout Engine

Trident (also known as MSHTML) is the name of the layout engine for the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer.

It was first introduced with the release of Internet Explorer version 4.0 in October 1997; it has been steadily upgraded and remains in use today. For versions 7 and 8 of Internet Explorer, Microsoft made significant changes to the Trident layout engine to improve compliance with web standards and add support for new technologies. 

With version 9 of Internet Explorer, Microsoft intends to comply with many modern web standards, and also intends to significantly update the layout engine to be more competitive and modern compared to other current layout engines.

Trident was designed as a software component to allow software developers to easily add web browsing functionality to their own applications. It presents a COM interface for accessing and editing web pages in any COM-supported environment, like C++ and .NET. 

For instance, a web browser control can be added to a C++ program and Trident can then be used to access the page currently displayed in the web browser and retrieve element values. Events from the web browser control can also be captured. Trident functionality becomes available by linking the file mshtml.dll to the software project.

Trident-based applications

All versions of Internet Explorer for Windows from 4.0 onwards use Trident, and it is also used by various other web browsers and software components (see Internet Explorer shells). In Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000, it is also used for the Windows file manager/shell, Windows Explorer. 

The Add/Remove Programs tool in Windows 2000 uses Trident to render the list of installed programs, and in Windows XP it is also used for the User Accounts Control Panel, which is an HTML Application. Trident however was not used by the Internet Explorer for Mac (which uses Tasman), nor by the early versions of Internet Explorer Mobile.

Some other Trident-based applications include:

    AOL Explorer, a web browser
    AOL Instant Messenger 6.x, which uses Trident to render conversation and profile windows, and advertisement panels
    Avant Browser
    Bento Browser (built into Winamp)
    EA Link, incompatible with Trident as of Internet Explorer 7 RC2
    Enigma, a web browser
    Google Talk, which uses Trident to render chat windows and profile cards
    GreenBrowser, which is also presented at the BrowserChoice.eu page
    IE Tab, a Firefox and Google Chrome add-on used to render pages with Trident within the Firefox or Chrome user interface.
    iTVmediaPlayer, a free premium TV desktop app, developed by BitMar Networks
    Impulse (content delivery), uses Trident to render "Explore" page, as well as several of the "Community" pages
    iRider, a web browser
    LimeWire, which renders the page 'New@Lime'
    Lunascape, developed by Lunascape Corporation
    Maxthon, which uses the Trident engine while adding features not built into IE7
    MediaBrowser, customized browsers, especially for Nintendo
    MenuBox, a web browser
    Microsoft Compiled HTML Help
    Microsoft Encarta and related products
    Microsoft InfoPath
    Microsoft Outlook which uses Trident to render HTML Messages (prior to Outlook 2007) and the "Outlook Today" screen
    Microsoft Outlook Express, which uses Trident to render HTML Messages
    Microsoft Visual InterDev 6 uses Trident in editing mode as visual HTML designer
    Microsoft Visual Studio 2002-2005 use Trident in editing mode to provide visual ASP.NET/HTML designer
    MSN Messenger, which uses it to produce Flash-based "winks" and games, and for all advertisements shown in the advertisement banner
    NeoPlanet, a web browser
    NetCaptor, a web browser
    Netscape Browser (Netscape 8), which used Trident to render web pages in IE mode
    Pyjamas, a python Widget set Toolkit. Embedding IWebBrowser2 as an Active-X component and accessing the COM interface, Pyjamas uses Trident for the Desktop version, through the python win32 "comtypes" library.
    RealNetworks
    Sleipnir, a web browser
    SlimBrowser, a web browser
    Skype, a VoIP software renders HTML data with Trident.
    TheWorld Browser, a web browser
    TomeRaider, an ebook reader
    Tencent Traveler, a web browser
    ThreeTeeth Browser, a lightweight web browser.
    UltraBrowser, a web browser
    Valve's Steam client, previous versions of which used Trident to render the "Store", "Update News" and "Community" sections as well as the Steam in-game browser and MOTD screens in Valve games. The Steam client was recently updated to use WebKit instead of Trident for these features.
    WebbIE, a web browser
    Windows Live Writer, which uses Trident for its editor.
    Windows Media Player, which uses Trident to render the "Media Information" pages.