Public Discussion: Comparing the 4 Top Internet Browsers for Windows

[Elemental_Elf]

I would like to have an open and frank discussion concerning the (now) 4 major internet browsers for Windows - Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and Chrome. Why not start off with a few questions:

What have been your experiences with each browser?
Which do you like best? Least?
In your opinion, which browser is the fastest? The slowest?
Which browser has the most features that YOU use regularly and/or enjoy?
Which looks the coolest?
Which browser, and its accompanying philosophy and/or corporate philosophy do you enjoy most? Least?

[Jharviss]

I've used Firefox for quite sometime now and am quite happy with it. I use IE rather often, however, since all of my school computers have it and I use it when I'm at my desk.

Currently, I would vote toward Firefox being the best.  I rather dislike IE. I've only used Safari a very little and don't feel qualified to say anything about it.  IE tends to follow Firefox's cues and never seems to do them as well. I feel like Firefox looks better, is easier to navigate, and is much faster. I also feel more protected when I use Firefox.

I didn't know about Chrome until you created this post, and I'm writing this message in Google Chrome. It's pretty sleek and I like the options I've read about. I'll get back to you in a couple days with an updated opinion. ^_^

[Ninja D!]

I prefer Firefox because you can download just about any kind of add on you want and it blocks viruses.

IE killed my computer with viruses.  Sarfari is just weak.  Chrime is, in fact, a pokeball of some kind.

[Steel General]

Of the ones I've used (FF & IE) Firefox seems to be the better browser, though the latest release (3?) seems to have a few minor problems.

IE is fine for the most part.
 
I have never used Safari or Chrome though I'd be willing to give them a shot for a good enough reason.

[brainface]

What, has no one even heard of Opera anymore? Jesus. Seriously, who runs windows Safari?

I stopped using firefox when I realized the only extension I used was flashkill. Opera looks good, runs fast enough, and has voice commands (no i don't actually use those :)). I've used the pretty awesome delicious extension on the new firefox though and might be tempted to go back (extensions are fairly weak on opera--again though, I've not been using any, so it hasn't really mattered).

[snakefing]

What, no love for Opera? (Have to say, I've never used it myself.)

I do like Firefox because of the plugins. I use NoScript, NoRef, and AdBlock myself. Some people who keep like 30-50 tabs open report issues with memory or CPU usage. (That's where NoScript comes in handy, because it blocks Flash and other things that really use a lot of CPU, until you actually want to see it. Also, Firefox runs on my Linux box, pretty well most of the time. You can't say that about Internet Explorer.

The latest version of IE seems like it will be a very good browser too. IE version 6 and less just stunk. But Microsoft has the time and resources to keep at it and eventually get it right. Security-wise, IE is improving but Microsoft's insistence on merging IE with the rest of the OS inherently means a higher risk to your computer if IE is compromised.

I haven't tried Chrome yet, but apparently Google has focused on an efficient implementation of Javascript to aid their desktop-on-the-web applications. (On the other hand, I'm not really convinced that Javascript is the future of distributed applications.) Other than that, it is pretty similar to Firefox in size and performance.

I used Safari on my Mac, it is fine. But I did run into a higher number of sites that just wouldn't work with it. Presumably they've fixed a lot of that, but I haven't come up with a good reason to try it.

[brainface]

oH god--I forgot to mention, the worst thing about firefox--if you get stuck in a javascript loop (not that hard if you're debugging js pages) it's pretty much impossible to get out. Opera? Opera has a button that says "Stop unresponsive script?"

Someone here may know a way around that in firefox, but that won't get me back the time I've already lost. :)

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I know that the javascript loop has crashed my browser many times, but on the other hand, brain knows very well that it's possibly just my crappy laptop's fault.

I think it is important for me to say that I use Firefox 2 (2.15 or something), because Firefox 3 murdered my computer :(  Seriously, I lost all bookmarks (they simply disappeared, no html file or anything), none of the extensions worked (even the ones that said "Firefox 3 compatible"), and none of my cookies would keep (I had to log in to every single page, every single time I visited, no matter how many times I clicked "Save Page Information," or "Remember Me," or "Stop dropping my frakkin login information.").

I tried Opera, but couldn't really get the hang of its layout - maybe that could be fixed with a simple new theme, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

IE6 is just ridiculous, I've never tried IE7 (because 6 is so ridiculous, figure it's a waste of time).

No idea what Chrome/Chrime is.

[Eladris]

I use Firefox 3 and choose Firefox for a number of reasons:
 - Firebug 1.2.0: JavaScript debugger which I find invaluable while developing.
 - Customizable search plug-ins (Wowhead, Wikipedia, Google being my top 3).
 - Responsive and competitive development community.
 - Easy skinning.
 - Generally designed with a low memory footprint and streamlined user experience in mind.

I have to develop for IE7 as its the only browser officially supported for my company (I only work on our Intranet, thank god).  It's not terrible, you just need to know its quirks.  I dislike the aesthetics and its error handling and display are lame.

I have used Opera on my Mac.  I was neither impressed nor disappointed; it offers a nice, simple experience with no bells or whistles.

From what I hear, Google is a mess, though I've not tried it: won't work with my company's proxy settings.  Barf.

[Nomadic]

I use to use IE but that was the older versions and I did not like them. Firefox though has been a real blessing as a programmer many of the add-ons have been wonderfully useful. Things like server spy, web palette grabbers, and cookie editors have made my life alot easier in graphics and programming work.

Other add-ons such as adblock and cooliris likewise serve a purpose. Beyond all this Firefox just runs faster for me.

[Snargash Moonclaw]

I'm currently running FF 3.0.1 and have had no problems. I have it heavily extended - I would have a long hard time rebuilding the full implementation if I ever had to; something I eventually will when I finally dump Windows XP for Linux. I've got a lot of search and bookmark extensions and tend to run w/4-10 tabs open: MyYahoo homepage, iGoogle page, here and the wiki as minima, often a second tab w/a different page of either or both (forum/wiki) to cut&paste, w/1-4 wikipedia pages often loaded and frequently 1-2 search pages up: mostly I'm writing and/or researching for writing. I've really had no problems with 12-16 tabs. JS debugging doesn't matter, although I have gotten an occasional dialog box re: "Unresponsive script on the page" - almost always a javascript some site is using, and the dialog selections have never crashed. (I don't think I've encountered the situation since upgrading from the last 2.x, so not sure about current handling.)

I won't run Internet Exploder, nor will I waste a single moment on a site that requires it. I downloaded Chrome the other day when I pulled up my iGoogle page and the "announcement" made it look like simply a Google Search extension. When I realized they had actually installed another browser on my system I promptly uninstalled it - which caused IE to pop up with a questionnaire page as to why I didn't like Chrome, in spite of the fact that FF is my default browser. Had they used, rather than bypassed, my default browser I would have gladly told them why, instead I simply closed IE immediately. (Although I'm running XP, about the only Microshaft programs I allow it to use are MediaPlayer and MediaCenter - everything else is shareware, almost all of which runs well, if not better, in Linux versions.)

For those doing a lot of research and documentation type stuff with FF this page  100_firefox_addons_for_librarians suggests some excellent extensions. (A few links are out of date.)

[Johnny Wraith]

I use Opera for my day-to-day. Mouse Gestures FTW. I've downloaded an add-on for firefox to do the same but I don't like it as much. Plus I love Opera's Speed Dial, the transfers tab, the way you can do stuff like 'g something' and it googles 'something', Opera can be used as a bit torrent... Yeah, I love Opera above all others.

My problem with Opera would be that it doesn't open all pages properly. But that's ok, I can live with that.

For work though (www.gm.com <-- that's all me ;) Not alone, but yeah) I use firefox because of Firebug, YSlow and colorzilla. When I develop pages I do it in Firefox so obviously I hate IE for doing some things differently. IE 7 isn't so bad though... IE 6 is the devil and there's no browser I hate more. (Borders are NOT part of the total width -_-)

I only use Safari or the IEs to make sure things look good there but for nothing more than that. My only problem with Safari so far was this one time I wanted to load an xml through javascript and realized that Safari doesn't understand the load command...

If I could, I'd make people use only 1 browser... Whichever you want... but just pick 1... lol. That or a standarization of the way browsers read the code. But... I doubt I'll ever experience that joy... -_-

[Snargash Moonclaw]

Copied from my LiveJournal Friend's Page today - funny coincidence. . .

 Google Chrome: Some observations...
Some of this comes from my R & D department, but I can confirm all of it, as I've spent the last several hours tinkering. The review:


The Good


1) It's Fast
2) clicking on + new tab button gives web history of sites you visited in thumbnails. Great for going back to sites. Add gives you search bar for your history.
3) Stable so far 3 hours and dozen's of sites visited including MySpace and YouTube. No problems. I've been going for 6 and it's FAR more stable than FF, with the added bonus that it doesn't have memory leak that FF has suffered from for a LONG time. I use that weakness to limit my surfing and quit browsing when it makes my machine unstable.....not the best method, but it DOES make me quit after a while, which is good
4) Did I say it is fast! renders pages 2x faster than Firefox 2 and faster than Firefox 3.
5) Integrated address bar / search bar. Just click in address bar and type your search criteria and get the standard Google results page. A bigger plus, you don't actually have to use JUST Google for searching. If you go into options, you'll find ALL of the search engines that you had in FireFox.......IF you allowed Chrome to import your FF stuff.
6) Will import all your bookmarks from IE or Firefox.


The Bad


1) Middle click a link will open to new tab but you have to manually select the new tab instead of automatically selecting new tab. Hope they fix this issue.
2) You don't get to decide where it installs. It install in a weird ass location. "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" ALL Google apps do this, now,
3) No themes or extensions yet like Ad-blocking? Honestly, I doubt that there will be ad-blocking. After all, how does Google make their money?
4) It is still Beta though a very good beta with no crashes yet. Seems to use as much ram as firefox does. As it generates multiple Chrome's.exe as running tasks that add up to about the same as firefox.
5) No Bookmarks management or menu so bookmarks stay on the bar. These are an ABSOLUTE must, with the number of bookmarks I tend to accumulate, thus, I don't consider it ready for primary use. It also lacks a statusbar at the bottom, something I rely heavily on when diagnosing browser issues.
6) Expect specially trashy sites like E-Bay and other's to be problematic until updates roll out.


Personally, the new extra functionality can be a bit gimmicky. For instance, if you right click on a tab, you'll see an option for a "Task Manager". This is NOT the Windows TM, but Chrome's own (which I can't say that I'm fond of, because, like Windows' own, it insists on staying on top of everything, even though this is a completely useless waste of space). There a link on the little window that pops up that gives you "Stats for Nerds". I like this, because it gives you a fantastic comparison of what your browsers are doing and how much resources they happen to be using. Unfortunately, it also confirms much of the above.


In the final analysis, it seems that Google pages load a little faster than anything else (which makes me suspect that it's operating much like Opera, in that requests for pages outside the Google-Sphere go through Google's own server, another way that Google can track what you are doing. I don't mind this, but aren't people tracked ENOUGH?), and as such, I'll likely continue to use FireFox (Horribly bloated in version 3, but more stable if you're using a LOT of tabs) as my primary browser (mainly because it doesn't spawn a billion instances and taking up even more valuable real estate in RAM, like Chrome or IE). I'll use Chrome for strictly Google things, Opera as a backup, SeaMonkey to tinker with (SeaMonkey has possibilities, but has a LOOOOONG way to go. About the only advantage it has is that it is at least as fast as Chrome on EVERY page.) and IE only when I absolutely have to (there are certain things that do require it), but primarily, still FireFox.

[Jharviss]

I've used Chrome a little bit and so far the only problem I have with it is that I can't open all of my bookmarks in tabs simultaneously. That was something I relied on in Firefox.  I open my browser and immediately go to my bookmarks and open them all.  Insanely useful.

Maybe it's just me.  Maybe it's just me that wants that option in Chrome. Otherwise I'm enjoying it.

[Elemental_Elf]

Firefox: Simply the best, period. No browser compares to its combination of speed, reliability, price and customize-ability.

IE: I used to be a fan, if only out of ignorance of the competition. IE is a good, basic browser but it has so many problems, not least of which is the fact that it is unreliable. There's little customize-ability and the whole Microsoft ethos is off putting.

Safari: I hate the way it looks. I can barely tolerate iTunes, I refuse to use the same skin for hours on end. Granted I could change it but I just don't like it.

Opera: Tried it for a while before I found Firefox. Its nice but I just prefer Firefox.

Chrome: Ok, its new and has many little annoying bugs but the lack of a Scroll Button is a serious flaw in my opinion. Its just so annoying not to have that feature. I will keep an eye on Chrome and try it again when they update it next.