AVIM for Firefox

Feature Comparison

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

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Feature Vietnamese IME extensions
AVIM 20080728.336 Mudim 0.8.158 CHIM 1.0 VinaMoziE 2.7 Vietnamese Portable 1.0 My AVIM 20061001 Instcode CHIM 1.0
Last release March 7th, 2010 July 12th, 2009 July 9th, 2006 June 30th, 2003 January 15th, 2008 June 7th, 2007 December 12th, 2006
Download size 50.2 kB 30.1 kB 9.7 kB 20.7 kB 11.6 kB 18.4 kB 10.6 kB
Size after installation 84.7 kB 67.2 kB 10.2 kB 62.0 kB 32.7 kB 33.2 kB 11.2 kB
Screen area 0–592 px 768 px 4,246 px 6,924 px ? 6,120 px 3,153.6 px
Interface languages de, en, es, fr, vi, zh en en en+vi en en vi
Price Free Free Free Free Free Free Free
License MIT GPL 3 GPL 2 GPL (Permissive) (Permissive) GPL 2
Input engine AVIM 20080728 CHIM 0.9.3 CHIM 0.9.2 Viettyping 10.0 AVIM 20061001 AVIM 20061001 CHIM 0.9.2
Architecture Context-sensitive Input buffer Input buffer Context-sensitive Context-sensitive Context-sensitive Input buffer
Applications
Mozilla Firefox 3.0–3.7 1.0–3.5.x 1.0–2.0 No 1.5–2.0.0.x 1.5–2.0.0.x 2.0–3.0
Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0–3.1 No No No No No No
Mozilla Sunbird 1.0 No No No No No No
Mozilla Fennec 0.7–1.1 No No No No No No
Mozilla Prism 0.9–1.0.0.x No No No No No No
SeaMonkey 2.0–2.1 No No 1.x No No No
Mozilla Suite No No No 1.x No No No
Flock 2.0–2.5.x 1.0–2.0.x No No No No No
Songbird 0.3–1.4.x No No No No No No
Netscape (Suite, Browser, Navigator) No 8.0–9.x 8.x 6.0–7.x 8.0–9.x 8.0–9.x 9.x
Postbox 1.x No No No No No No
Eudora (Penelope) 8.0.x No No No No No No
Komodo IDE, Komodo Edit 5.0.0–6.0.x No No No No No No
Spicebird 0.7–0.8 No No No No No No
Instantbird 0.1.2–0.2 No No No No No No
Wyzo 3.x 0.1–3.0.x 0.1–0.5 No 0.1–0.5.x 0.1–0.5.x 0.5–3.0
Celtx 2.x No No No No No No
SamePlace 0.9.x No No No No No No
BlueGriffon 0.1 No No No No No No
TwitFactory 1.x No No No No No No
Input methods
Telex Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Except in Mac OS X
VNI Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VIQR (+ variant) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Except in Mac OS X
VIQR (* variant) Yes No No Yes Yes No Except in Mac OS X
Combinations Telex + VNI + VIQR+ + VIQR* Telex + VNI No Telex + VNI + VIQR+ + VIQR* Telex + VNI No No
Auto-detect mode No No UI No No No No No
Input method features
Configurable combination input method Yes No No combinations No No No combinations No combinations
Dead keys suppressed Yes Yes Yes Multiline text only Yes Yes Yes
Diacritics shifted backwards (Viet^.) Việt Việt Viet^. Việt Việt Việt Viet^.
Diacritics duplicated backwards (truong+`) trường trường truong+` trường trường trường truong+`
Diacritics shifted forwards (to'an) toán toán tóan toán toán toán tóan
Diacritics duplicated forwards (tru+ong) trưong trương trưong trưong trưong trưong trưong
Diacritics attached to existing words Yes Must retype word Must retype word Yes Yes Yes Must retype word
Overridden diacritics (ma'`?~.) mạ mạ mạ mạ mạ mạ mạ
Erased diacritics (cho+?--) cho Telex, VNI only Telex, VNI only chơ- cho cho cho
Escaped dead keys in VIQR (Ddu'ng\.) Đúng. Đúng\. Đúng\. Đúng. Đúng. VIQR not supported VIQR not supported
Escaped dead keys by repetition (Sai..) Sai. Sai. Sai. Sai. Sai. Sai. Sai.
Canceled words (using Ctrl) No Yes No No No No No
Ignored textboxes Yes Location Bar only No No No No No
Combining diacritics for abbreviations Ng̃ No No No No No No
Đồng sign (₫) After numbers No No No No No No
Vietnamese next to CJK text Yes No Yes No No No No
Respects ime-mode CSS property Yes No No No No No No
Annoyances
Interferes with Ctrl+Backspace No Stops working Stops working Stops working No No Stops working
Single-line textboxes scroll to beginning when adding diacritics No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Multiline textboxes scroll to top when adding diacritics No No No No No No No
All text is selected when undoing No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Caret jumps to the end when redoing No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Diacritics lost when redoing in rich text editor No Yes Rich text editing not supported 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 ≈250 ms >500 ms >500 ms >500 ms
Causes JavaScript errors No Yes No No No No No
Spelling features
Spelling rules enforced Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
Old-style diacritic placement Yes Yes 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
Status bar panel Yes Yes Yes Yes Broken in Mac OS X Yes Yes
Menu Yes No No No No No No
Toolbar buttons Yes No No No No No No
Preferences window Yes No No Yes No No No
Keyboard shortcuts Yes Broken in Mac OS X Broken in Mac OS X 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
Preferences across sessions Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Status bar panel can be hidden Yes No No No No No No
Status bar panel skins No Simple, Solid, Light No No No No No
Compatible with autocompletion in textboxes Yes No No Dead keys appear No No No
Firefox windows and dialog boxes
Browser windows Yes Yes Except search box 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
Image Properties dialog Yes No
Photo Uploader window Yes No
SeaMonkey windows and dialog boxes
Navigator windows Yes 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
Supported extensions
ChatZilla Yes No No 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 No No No
googlebar Yes No No No No No
Google Toolbar Yes No No No No No
iMacros Yes Sidebar only Sidebar only Sidebar only Sidebar only Sidebar only
IME and DiMENSiON Yes No No 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 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 No No No No
Vietnamese Dictionary Yes Yes Yes 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 No No No
wmlbrowser Yes No No No No No No
Yahoo! Toolbar Yes Yes Yes Unavailable Yes Yes Yes
yoono Yes Yes Yes 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 Except in internal frames Yes Yes Yes
HTML password fields (<input type="password">) Optionally No No No No No No
HTML multiline text areas (<textarea>) Yes Yes Yes Except in internal frames Yes Yes Yes
HTML index search fields (<isindex>) Yes No No No No No No
XForms single-line text fields (<input>) Yes No No No No No No
XForms password fields (<secret>) Optionally No No No No No No
XForms multiline text areas (<textarea>) Yes No No No No No No
XForms combo boxes (<select1 selection="open">) Yes No No No No No No
Rich text controls
Midas (designMode) Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
contentEditable Yes No No No No No No
Plugins
Adobe Flash Player No No No No No No No
Adobe Reader No No No No No No No
Java Embedding Plugin No No No No No No No
Microsoft Silverlight Except managed code No No No No No No
SciMoz (Scintilla) Yes No No No No No No
Syntax-highlighting source code editors
Bespin Yes No No No No No No
GeSHi Yes Yes Rich text editing not supported Rich text editing not supported Yes Yes Rich text editing not supported
wikEd Yes Yes Yes Yes
Rich text editors
AreaEdit Yes Yes Rich text editing not supported Rich text editing not supported Yes Yes Rich text editing not supported
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
FCKeditor, CKeditor Yes Yes Yes Yes
FreeRichTextEditor Yes Yes Yes Yes
Google (Blogger, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sites, Knol) Yes Yes 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
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 No No Yes
CHIM Optionally Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mudim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MViet Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
VietIMEW Optionally Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
VietTyping Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
VietUni Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Vinova Optionally No No No No No No
Miscellaneous features
Automatic updates Yes Yes No No No No No
Extension icon Yes No Only when enabled No No No Only when enabled
Preferences using about:config Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Incompatible extensions detected Yes No No No No No No

Legend: Supported • Incomplete or buggy • Unsupported

This table doesn’t show how AVIM compares to true, operating system–level IMEs. That’s because Minh uses Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), and there aren’t any Vietnamese IMEs for that operating system. But if you’d like to see Unikey or SCIM included here, let Minh know which of these features they support.