Which Browser?

Back in the early 90's you had only a few browser choices. Most people used the default AOL browser because it was already there. Others used Internet Explorer, and another group used Netscape Navigator. That was about it as far as choices went. IE and Netscape had the largest share of users in the mid to late 90's. The browser war was on, with each side inventing standards not supported by the other. Surfing the web had almost become a nightmare. Some sites were IE friendly, others were Netscape friendly. You almost had to use two browsers to experience everything, and that sucked.

Finally the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C was formed and web standards implemented and the rest is history. Slow moving history as the standards always seem to be slowly implemented due to the lack of people upgrading. Why do they not upgrade right away? Why do some people still insist on using IE6 even though it is many many years old? Netscape Navigator has died, or transformed rather in to Firefox, IE is still around and dominant, while a batch of new browsers has emerged. Which one do you use? Which one is the best? At this stage of the game, the best is most likely a matter of opinion.

Since IE has been in the game for quite some time I'll start with them. I don't use it. I stopped using IE several years ago when Firefox was born and never looked back. Newer versions are typical Microsoft. Copy, copy, copy. Nothing new, no trend setting. Like a 2nd rate designer using played out trends Microsoft just doesn't seem to know how to innovate. Sure, corporations love them because they work with their infrastructure but so would many of the other alternatives if given the chance. At one time I really liked IE, until I started designing web sites. They are the worst for implementing web standards, and even when they do it is still wrong. Oddly enough, most of the population still uses this browser so all the above is really just my opinion.

Next I'll go to Firefox because it has been my go to browser for quite some time now. The fact it was more secure from spyware, the add ons, the themes, and those awesome tabs made it an instant hit in my eyes. Lately it has become a bit bloated and is in need of an overhaul. My second favorite feature was the bookmarks bar. With a slick little add on I could shrink the bookmark down to just a favicon. I could have 25 links across the top and not even be half way across my screen. The fact I could add folders to the bar only increased the amount of visible bookmarks and is much more convenient than the bookmark menu. I also loved how FF dealt with saving my passwords to sites so I didn't have to remember them anymore. Then I bought a MacBook Pro and things changed for me.

Safari is where I'll go next. I've always hated Safari. The bare bones "chrome" look, no add ons, the way it displayed fonts compared to other browsers. I just didn't care for it much. But when I got my Mac and Safari 4 I thought what the heck, I'll try it out. Somehow it slowly grew on me and I found myself using it more than Firefox. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because much of what I liked in FF now was included in Safari. Rather than a bulky plus sign for new tabs, I just have to double click. I like that feature. Two things I do not like! I hate where Safari put the refresh button. Why is it separate from the rest of the navigation and way on the end of the URL bar? I also wish that I could favicon only the links in the bookmark bar. Anyway, now I found myself using both browsers at the same time. One for certain sites and tasks, the other for different sites and tasks. It seemed to be working out fine, until a friend showed me the Mac build site for Google Chrome...

Downloading Google Chrome was exciting. I had been wanting to try it out for quite awhile. Favorite feature, one box at the top of the screen for everything. Searches, URL's, whatever. Very slick, speedy, and handy. It was also fast. I could click on FF, Safari, and then Chrome. Chrome would be open by 5 or more seconds faster even though it was the last one clicked. It included most of the features I loved about FF and Safari, with a few tricks of its own. Plus it is speedy. The only reason I don't use it exclusively is because it is still a build, not even a beta so quite buggy and not full featured yet. I can not wait until it is.

So now I use three browsers, often all at once. Then Opera comes out with Opera 10. I had tried Opera before but didn't care for it. It wasn't as customizable as FF and using it seemed awkward to me. Version 10 is much better and adds some new features not seen on the other browsers. The thumbnail view is cool at first, but then to me anyway becomes a who cares feature. I don't need it. Some things I do not like at all are biggies in my book and put it in the bottom of the list for browsers I like. Well, above IE which I can't use on a Mac now anyway. The fact the tabs are on top is weird. Why put them so high. It makes switching with a mouse more of a burden than it should be. Sure, it is only like a half an inch further up, but it is further than I want to go. Second, it doesn't recognize the track pad gestures on my Mac. When I swipe three fingers to the left, I expect to go back a page. In Opera 10, nothing. So far it is the only browser to not support this feature. So after using it only a day I'm not fond of it at all. It does have quite a few widgets though. For those that like to collect them, Opera 10 is worth checking out.

So for now I guess I'll keep bouncing around with FF, Safari, and Chrome. I'm pretty sure Chrome will be my browser of choice once it is finalized for Mac. For now, I'm undecided on which browser is my favorite. Let me hear your thoughts on what you use and why.