Introduction
You’ve been listening to me whine about changing from Internet Explorer to Firefox. In this post, I’ll give you a comparison of browsers.
Okay, you need some background knowledge to read this post first.
- Internet Explorer is widely used because it comes with your computer/notebook.
- Internet Explorer is NOT the only tool that you can use to surf
porn the web.
Browser Market Statistics
Now, here’s the browser market share (in the world, how many percentage of people uses which browser) statistics.
May 2007:
May 2008:
As you can see, Internet Explorer stands at a dominant 74%, with Firefox tailing behind at 18%. However, major usage of IE does not mean that it is good. Over the past year, 4% of the worldwide population has switched from IE to some other browsers. (Hint: Firefox.)
Here’s a web poll you might be interested in.
I snapped this image at 4.43AM on 13 June, 2008. So if you want the latest statistics, you can check it here yourself.
Alright, 55% of the entire population worldwide chose Firefox, followed by Opera, Safari, and then Internet Explorer.
Browsers’ Pros and Cons
Clockwise direction from top left: Internet Explorer 7, Safari 3.1, Opera 9.5, Firefox 3 RC2. Now, let me talk about all 4 of these browsers.
Internet Explorer 7
Above: Internet Explorer 7, the most well-known browser among the rest.
Why it rocks:
- It succeeds in annoying you and playing with your patience
- Windows Live Hotmail works correctly
- You can play catch with it
Why it sucks:
- Windows Live Hotmail loads like a snail
- A lot of porn-ads pop-up (it doesn’t suck if you like this part…)
- Not customisable
- Occasional crashes
- Slow rendering of websites
- Tries to be better than Firefox but… EPIC FAIL!
- It only runs on Windows
- Requires WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) and two restarts to install
- IT IS UNSAFE: a lot of exploits in IE. (Hackers can easily discover the flaws in IE and screw up your computer, that’s why so many of you ignorant IE users get f*cking viruses/spyware/adware/trojan).
- If you watch porn on it you’ll be discovered!
Innovative/unique features:
Safari 3.1
Above: Safari 3.1, a browser developed by Apple, and originated from Mac platforms.
Why it rocks:
- Font rendering engine is perfect (compare the fonts in the above image with the rest of the browser, the fonts displayed in Safari looks absolutely smooth/kerned and stunning.)
- Quite fast
- Simple interface
Why it sucks:
- Interface looks like poo
- Not customisable
Innovative/unique features:
- Font rendering engine is perfect (compare the fonts in the above image with the rest of the browser, the fonts displayed in Safari looks absolutely smooth/kerned and stunning.)
- Private browsing feature, whereby once activated, the history, cookies, things you fill in forms will not be recorded until deactivated.
Firefox 3 RC2
Above: Firefox 3 RC2, a browser by Mozilla, quickly gaining population amongst IE users. RC2 means release candidate 2, which means that the browser is near a release, but still in the stage where minor errors are sorted out. Firefox 3 is due to be released on June 17th.
Why it (Firefox 3, not Firefox 2) rocks:
- Very customisable and extensible with themes and add-ons
- Low memory footprint (lament terms: it won’t lag your computer)
- Faster than IE
- Large community base
- Open source (code of Firefox is open to the community, as such, bug fixes can be released fast)
- Effective pop-up blocker
- Safe, and secure
- Resumable downloading
- Saved sessions: accidentally closed your browser? Need to restart your PC? No worries, just close Firefox and when Windows/Mac restarts, you get all your tabs back from your previous session.
- Protects you: once Firefox detects a webpage that is unsafe, it informs you about it and prevents the webpage from loading.
Why it sucks:
- Default interface looks like crap (but there are themes for that)
- Options panel are hard to navigate
Innovative/unique features:
- Location bar & auto-complete: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you’re looking for. (Image below.)
- Places Organizer: view, organize and search through all of your bookmarks, tags, and browsing history with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches. Create and restore full backups whenever you want.
- Easy page bookmark.
- Improved font rendering
Above: new address bar for Firefox 3. In this example I was trying to find the Fantastic Four Youtube trailer I saw a few days back. I just type in “youtube trailer” in the address bar and there you go!
Opera 9.5
Above: Opera 9.5, released only yesterday, 12th June 2008. A less well-known browser.
Why it rocks:
- LIGHTNING fast rendering of web pages
- Customisable (via widgets)
- Great looking interface
- Easy to locate what you want to change in your Preferences window
- Fast, stable, secure
- Large community base
- Location bar & auto-complete.
- Everything else that Firefox 3 has (except for extensions)
Why it sucks:
Innovative/unique features:
- Speed-dial feature (image below.)
- Fast-forward feature (image below.)
Above: Speed dial allows you to set your favorite websites, and using CTRL+1 to CTRL+9 to load it instantaneously.
Above: The middle two buttons are back/forward buttons found in most browsers. What’s interesting is the two buttons at the site. For example when you are searching Google, instead of clicking Page 2 of the results, you can click the button on the extreme right to get to page 2.
Acid2 Test
In my final part of this post, I am going to show you a test. This test is called Acid2. From Wikipedia, Acid2 is a test suite published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to identify web page rendering flaws in web browsers and other applications that render HTML.
So, to know if a browser passes Acid2, it should look like this image:
I’ll start with Safari 3.1, followed by Firefox 3 RC2, Opera 9.5 and finally IE7.
Safari 3.1
PASS
Firefox 3 RC2
PASS
Opera 9.5
PASS
Internet Explorer 7
EPIC FAIL
CONCLUSION: Alright, only IE7 failed this test. And it failed miserably. This means that if you’re using IE7, you are f*cked up as IE7 doesn’t render your pages properly. It also means that it’s time to choose another browser.
If you’re interested, you can take the test and see for yourself!
This post on browser wars has officially ended…
But… I’d like to share with you something else…
Making Firefox 3 even better
By using add-ons! “Add-ons extend Firefox, letting you personalize your browsing experience. Take a look around and make Firefox your own.”
Here’s a list of the current add-ons that I use in Firefox 3 right now:
- Adblock Plus
Blocks any form of advertisement in websites. Speeds up your page loading times too.
- Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper
Text-ads are history. You need Adblock Plus installed to install this.
- ColorZilla
A little icon on the bottom left of Firefox allows you to point and select colors you see on a website, and get the codes (i.e. #000000) or RGB/Hue Saturation values for it.
- DownloadHelper
Download videos from sites such as YouTube.
- DownThemAll!
A faster downloader for Firefox.
- IE Tab
Sometimes when I visit people’s blogs, they can only be viewed in IE. Hence I got this tab. It lets you view a webpage in IE from within Firefox.
- Nightly Tester Tools
Allows you to use old add-ons that are incompatible with Firefox 3 but compatible with Firefox 2.
- PDF Download
Allows you to choose what you want to do with a PDF file when you click on a PDF link.
And to teach you how to install add-ons from the official Firefox add-ons page…
Follow the purple arrows.
Step 1: Click Add to Firefox.
Step 2: A notice like the one above will pop-up. Wait for the countdown to end.
Step 3: Click on Install Now, wait for installation to end, and repeat for any other add-ons.
Step 4: After installing the add-ons you want, you’ll need to restart Firefox.
GET MORE ADD-ONS BY CLICKING HERE
A fair warning though: if you install too much dubious add-ons, it’ll slow Firefox down. Since add-ons are not created by Mozilla.
Currently, I’m vambomfazzled by Opera 9.5. So I’m using that and Firefox 3 RC2 simultaneously. Okay, that’s all.
