Feature Comparison

A lot goes into making an IME a seamless experience. Here’s how the AVIM extension and its competitors stack up:

Options: Show minor IMEs

Feature	Vietnamese IME extensions
Feature	AVIM 20080728.450	Mudim 0.8.159	CHIM 1.0	VietInput 1.0.2	VinaMoziE 2.7	Vietnamese Portable 1.0	My AVIM 20061001	Instcode CHIM 1.0
Last release	March 5^th, 2011	December 6^th, 2010	July 9^th, 2006	March 15^th, 2010	June 30^th, 2003	January 15^th, 2008	June 7^th, 2007	December 12^th, 2006
Download size	60.3 kB	30.7 kB	9.7 kB	14.5 kB	20.7 kB	11.6 kB	18.4 kB	10.6 kB
Size after installation	97.9 kB	67.2 kB	10.2 kB	22.6 kB	62.0 kB	32.7 kB	33.2 kB	11.2 kB
Screen area	0–592 px	768 px	4,246 px	0 px	6,924 px	?	6,120 px	3,153.6 px
Interface languages	de, en, es, nl, vi	en	en	en	en+vi	en	en	vi
Price	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
License	MIT	GPL 3	GPL 2	CPOL 1.02	GPL	(Permissive)	(Permissive)	GPL 2
Input engine	AVIM 20080728	CHIM 0.9.3	CHIM 0.9.2	VietUni 1.7	Viettyping 10.0	AVIM 20061001	AVIM 20061001	CHIM 0.9.2
Architecture	Context-sensitive	Input buffer	Input buffer	Context-sensitive	Context-sensitive	Context-sensitive	Context-sensitive	Input buffer
Mozilla-based applications
Mozilla Firefox	2.0–4.0.`x`	1.0–4.0b7	1.0–2.0	No	No	1.5–2.0.0.`x`	1.5–2.0.0.`x`	2.0–3.0
Mozilla Thunderbird	2.0–3.3	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Mozilla Sunbird	0.4–1.0	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Firefox Mobile (Fennec)	0.7–4.0b3	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Mozilla Prism	0.9–1.0.0.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
SeaMonkey	1.1–2.1	No	No	No	1.`x`	No	No	No
Mozilla Suite	No	No	No	No	1.`x`	No	No	No
Flock	1.2–2.6.`x`	0.7–2.0.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No
Songbird	0.2.5–1.9.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Netscape Navigator (Netscape Browser)	9.`x`	8.0–9.`x`	8.`x`	No	6.0–7.`x`	8.0–9.`x`	8.0–9.`x`	9.`x`
Netscape Messenger (Netscape Mail & Newsgroups)	9.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Postbox	1–2.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Eudora OSE (Penelope)	8.0–1.0.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Komodo IDE, Komodo Edit	4.0–6.1.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Spicebird	0.4–0.8	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Instantbird	0.1.2–0.3.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Wyzo	3.`x`	0.1–3.0.`x`	0.1–0.5	No	No	0.1–0.5.`x`	0.1–0.5.`x`	0.5–3.0
Celtx	2.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
SamePlace	0.9.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
BlueGriffon	0.1–0.9	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
TwitFactory	1.`x`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Other applications
Google Chrome, Chromium	No	No	No	4.0+	No	No	No	No
Input methods
Telex	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Except in Mac OS X
VNI	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
VIQR (`+` variant)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Except in Mac OS X
VIQR (`*` variant)	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Except in Mac OS X
Combinations	Telex + VNI + VIQR⁺ + VIQR^*	Telex + VNI	No	No	Telex + VNI + VIQR⁺ + VIQR^*	Telex + VNI	No	No
Auto-detect mode	No	No UI	No	No	No	No	No	No
Input method features
Configurable combination input method	Yes	No	No combinations	No combinations	No	No	No combinations	No combinations
Suppresses dead keys	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Multiline text only	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shifts diacritics backwards (`Viet^.`)	`Việt`	`Việt`	`Viet^.`	`Việt`	`Việt`	`Việt`	`Việt`	`Viet^.`
Duplicates diacritics backwards (truong+`)	`trường`	`trường`	truong+`	`trường`	`trường`	`trường`	`trường`	truong+`
Shifts diacritics forwards (`to'an`)	`toán`	`toán`	`tóan`	`tóan`	`toán`	`toán`	`toán`	`tóan`
Duplicates diacritics forwards (`tru+ong`)	`trưong`	`trương`	`trưong`	`trưong`	`trưong`	`trưong`	`trưong`	`trưong`
Attaches diacritics to existing words	Yes	Must retype word	Must retype word	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Must retype word
Overrides diacritics (ma'`?~.)	`mạ`	`mạ`	`mạ`	`mạ`	`mạ`	`mạ`	`mạ`	`mạ`
Deletes diacritics (`cho+?--` or `chowrzz`)	`cho`	Telex, VNI only	Telex, VNI only	`chơz`	`chơ-`	`cho`	`cho`	`cho`
Deletes diacritics (`Shift`+`Backspace`)	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Escapes dead keys in VIQR (`Ddu'ng\.`)	`Đúng.`	`Đúng\.`	`Đúng\.`	VIQR not supported	`Đúng.`	`Đúng.`	VIQR not supported	VIQR not supported
Escapes dead keys by repetition (`Sai..`)	`Sai.`	`Sai.`	`Sai.`	`Sai.`	`Sai.`	`Sai.`	`Sai.`	`Sai.`
Cancels words (using `Ctrl`)	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ignores certain textboxes	Yes	Location Bar only	No	No	No	No	No	No
Combining diacritics for abbreviations	`Ng̃`	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Đồng sign (₫)	After numbers	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Vietnamese next to CJK text	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Respects `ime-mode` CSS property	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Annoyances
Interferes with `Ctrl`+`Backspace`	No	Stops working	Stops working	No	Stops working	No	No	Stops working
Single-line textboxes scroll to beginning when adding diacritics	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Multiline textboxes scroll to top when adding diacritics	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Interferes with undo/redo	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
All text is selected when undoing	No	Yes	Yes	Unable to undo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Caret jumps to the end when redoing	No	Yes	Yes	Unable to redo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Diacritics lost when redoing in rich text editor	No	Yes	Rich text editing not supported	Unable to redo	Rich text editing not supported	Yes	Yes	Rich text editing not supported
Lag per character when editing 50 kB of text	≈0 ms	>500 ms	>500 ms	≈0 ms	≈250 ms	>500 ms	>500 ms	>500 ms
Causes JavaScript errors	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Spelling features
Spelling rules enforced	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Old-style diacritic placement	Yes	Yes	Spelling not enforced	Spelling not enforced	Yes	Yes	Yes	Spelling not enforced
New-style diacritic placement	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
Exceptions for informal spellings	`dz`, `f`	No			No	No	No
User interface features
Add-on Bar button	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Broken in Mac OS X	Yes	Yes
Menu	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Toolbar buttons	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Preferences window	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
Keyboard shortcuts	Yes	Broken in Mac OS X	Broken in Mac OS X	Yes	Only in textboxes	Broken in Mac OS X	Broken in Mac OS X	Broken in Mac OS X
Preferences take effect throughout the application	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Preferences across sessions	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Controls can be hidden	Yes	No	No	No controls	No	No	No	No
Status bar panel skins	No	Simple, Solid, Light	No	No controls	No	No	No	No
Compatible with autocompletion in textboxes	Yes	No	No	No	Dead keys appear	No	No	No
Firefox windows and dialog boxes
Browser windows	Yes	Yes	Except search box	Firefox not supported	Firefox not supported	Yes	Yes	Yes
JavaScript dialogs (`prompt()`)	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
HTTP authentication dialogs	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Open Web Location dialog	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Library	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Add Bookmark panel	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Bookmark All Tabs dialog	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Bookmark Properties dialog	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Page Source window	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Downloads window	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Add-ons window	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Error Console	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Options dialog (Preferences window)	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Report a Broken Web Site dialog	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Create Profile wizard	No	No	No			No	No	No
Flock-specific windows and dialog boxes
Blog Editor window	Yes	No	Flock not supported	Flock not supported	Flock not supported	Flock not supported	Flock not supported	Flock not supported
Image Properties dialog	Yes	No
Photo Uploader window	Yes	No
SeaMonkey windows and dialog boxes
Navigator windows	Yes	SeaMonkey not supported	SeaMonkey not supported	SeaMonkey not supported	Except Sidebar	SeaMonkey not supported	SeaMonkey not supported	SeaMonkey not supported
JavaScript dialogs (`prompt()`)	Yes				No
HTTP authentication dialogs	Yes				No
Open Web Location dialog (Navigator)	Yes				No
Find in This Page dialog	Yes				Yes
Bookmark Manager window	Yes				No
File Bookmark dialog (Navigator)	Yes				No
Bookmark Properties dialog (Navigator)	Yes				No
Image Manager window	Yes				No
Popup Manager window	Yes				No
Form Manager Editor dialog	Yes				No
Messenger windows	Yes				Yes
Compose windows (Messenger)	Yes				Except Sidebar
Composer windows	Yes				Except Sidebar
Address Book window	Yes				Yes
New Card dialog	Yes				Yes
Mailing List dialog	Yes				No
Error Console	Yes				No
Preferences window	Yes				No
Create Profile wizard	Yes				No
Help window	Yes				No
Report a Broken Web Site dialog	Yes				No
Chrome windows and dialog boxes
Browser windows	Chrome not supported	Chrome not supported	Chrome not supported	Except secure pages	Chrome not supported	Chrome not supported	Chrome not supported	Chrome not supported
JavaScript dialogs (`prompt()`)				No
HTTP authentication dialogs				No
Add Bookmark panel				No
Bookmark All Tabs dialog				No
Bookmark Properties dialog				No
Preferences dialog				No
Supported extensions
ChatZilla	Yes	No	No	Unavailable	Yes	No	No	No
ColorZilla	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
Console²	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
Deepest Sender	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
DOM Inspector	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
Facebook Toolbar	Yes	Yes	Yes		Unavailable	Yes	Yes	Yes
Firebug	Yes	No	No	Yes		No	No	No
googlebar	Yes	No	No	Unavailable		No	No	No
Google Toolbar	Yes	No	No	Unavailable		No	No	No
iMacros	Yes	Sidebar only	Sidebar only	No		Sidebar only	Sidebar only	Sidebar only
IME and DiMENSiON	Yes	No	No	Unavailable		No	No	No
JavaScript Debugger (Venkman)	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
Mozilla XForms	Yes	No	No		Unavailable	No	No	No
Nightly Tester Tools	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
Pencil	Yes	No	No		Unavailable	No	No	No
Prism for Firefox	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
pyshell for PyXPCOMExt	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Quick Locale Switcher	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
ReminderFox	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
Sage-Too	Yes	No	No		Unavailable	No	No	No
ScrapBook	Yes	Yes	Yes		Unavailable	Yes	Yes	Yes
ScribeFire	Yes	Except separate window	Except separate window		Except separate window	Except separate window	Except separate window	Except separate window
SQLite Manager	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
StumbleUpon	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Vietnamese Dictionary	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unavailable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Vietnamese Language Pack	Yes	Interface in English	Interface in English		Unavailable	Interface in English	Interface in English	Yes
vnDict	Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes
WebChunks	Yes	No	No			No	No	No
Web Developer	Yes	No	No	Yes		No	No	No
wmlbrowser	Yes	No	No	Unavailable	No	No	No	No
Yahoo! Toolbar	Yes	Yes	Yes		Unavailable	Yes	Yes	Yes
yoono	Yes	Yes	Yes		Unavailable	Yes	Yes	Yes
Zotero	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	No
Plain text controls
HTML single-line text fields (`<input type="text">`)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Except in internal frames	Yes	Yes	Yes
HTML password fields (`<input type="password">`)	Optionally	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
HTML5 search fields (`<input type="search">`)	Yes	No	Unavailable	Yes	Unavailable	Unavailable	Unavailable	Unavailable
HTML5 URL fields (`<input type="url">`)	Yes	No		Yes
HTML5 e-mail fields (`<input type="email">`)	Yes	No		Yes
HTML multiline text areas (`<textarea>`)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Except in internal frames	Yes	Yes	Yes
HTML index search fields (`<isindex>`)	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
XForms single-line text fields (`<input>`)	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
XForms password fields (`<secret>`)	Optionally	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
XForms multiline text areas (`<textarea>`)	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
XForms combo boxes (`<select1 selection="open">`)	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Rich text controls
Midas (`designMode`)	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
`contentEditable`	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Plugins
Adobe Flash Player	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Adobe Reader	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Java Embedding Plugin	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Microsoft Silverlight	Except managed code	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
SciMoz (Scintilla)	Yes	No	No	Unavailable	No	No	No	No
Syntax-highlighting source code editors
Ace	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
GeSHi	Yes	Yes	Rich text editing not supported	Rich text editing not supported	Rich text editing not supported	Yes	Yes	Rich text editing not supported
wikEd	Yes	Yes	Rich text editing not supported	Rich text editing not supported	Rich text editing not supported	Yes	Yes	Rich text editing not supported
Rich text editors
280 Slides	Yes	No	Rich text editing not supported	Rich text editing not supported	Rich text editing not supported	No	No	Rich text editing not supported
Aloha Editor	Yes	No				No	No
AreaEdit	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
BlueShoes Wysiwyg Editor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Cross-Browser Rich Text Editor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Cute Editor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
DevEdit NX	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Dijit.Editor (Dojo)	Yes	No				No	No
EditArea	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Etherpad	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
FCKeditor, CKeditor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
FreeRichTextEditor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
goog.editor (Google Closure)	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Google Apps (Blogger, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sites, Knol)	Except text documents	Except text documents				No	No
MooEditable	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Movable Type	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Mozile	0.8 only	No				No	No
NicEdit	Yes	No				No	No
Office Web Apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
openWYSIWYG	Yes	Yes				No	No
PunyMCE	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
RTEF	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
rtePad	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
RTWedit	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
SPAW Editor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
TinyMCE	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Web Wiz Rich Text Editor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Whizzywig	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
widgEditor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
WYMeditor	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
wysiwygPro	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
Xinha	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes
YUI Rich Text Editor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Compatibility with in-page IMEs
AVIM (formerly HIM)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
CHIM	Optionally	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Google Virtual Keyboard	Yes	No	No	Overridden	No	No	No	No
Mudim	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MViet	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
VietIMEW	Optionally	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
VietTyping	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
VietUni	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Vinova	Optionally	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Miscellaneous features
Automatic updates	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Extension icon	Yes	No	Only when enabled	Yes	No	No	No	Only when enabled
Preferences using `about:config`	Yes	Yes	No	Unavailable	Yes	No	No	No
Incompatible extensions detected	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Requires restarting the application to install	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Legend: Supported • Incomplete or buggy • Unsupported

Google Virtual Keyboard 0.9.8.8 is not listed here, because it merely provides a keyboard layout to enter combining characters – it isn’t a full input method editor.