Browsers, In Your Opinion The Best?

[LegallyHigh 0]

Since the World Wide Web was created there has been a need for software to navigate it. Since the first Browser, Netscape, many others have followed including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Products such as Opera and Firefox. So I was wondering which Browser do you guys favor. Currently, I have three browsers installed on each of my three machines (Two desktops, One Laptop). These browsers include Mozilla's Firefox, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (It came with the Machines since I run Windows), and Apple's Safari Browser which I let install with I-Tunes. In my opinion Firefox is the quickest. However, that seems to have come with a price as Firefox hogs the system's CPU and Memory. This isn't a problem on my main computer (the Downstairs Desktop), however, since the other two computers are older they to freeze up when too many tabs are open. Also, the loading time can take quite a while on the older computers to even get Firefox up and ready to browse. One more not on Firefox is that when I am browsing some sites it just freezes up, however I think this may because of a Plugin Conflict, and not the direct fault of Mozilla. Now, Internet Explorer, I have a lot of experience with this browser since it is an old time standard. Though Internet Explorer has never been the quickest browser for me it does load up fast on the older computers, and is usually reliable since it doesn't freeze. However, it did take me a while to get used to Internet Explorer's new interface (from Version 6 to 7), 7 is just as good if not better, since now instead of using windows you can take advantage of tabs as many other browsers have done recently. The third browser of my use Safari, is new to me. It took me a while to get used to since it is a product of Apple. To close tabs you have to click on the left of the Tab instead of the right as in IE (Internet Explorer) and Firefox. I think the speed of Safari is somewhere between Firefox and Internet Explorer, not quite as fast as Firefox, but a bit quicker than Internet Explorer. In my opinion Safari looks nicer than the other browsers in terms of looks. The only complaint I have about Safari is the lack of Remember Password Feature. And though I do agree that this feature is sometimes invasive of Privacy, I love the feature as it makes things a lot easier. Actually, I'm sure there is a plugin or some optional setting that allows Password saving I just haven't looked into it yet, but I would rather Password Saving be present in the default settings of Safari. Over the times I have tried other browser including Opera and Netscape, however I don't have enough experience with the present versions of these browsers to say anything positive or negative. I have in the past also used a Cube Browser which was actually pretty nice. Instead of tabs at the top the Browser in full was a cube so there were six pages you could have up at the same time and just rotate the cube if you wanted to switch pages. Well, that is about all I know in terms of Browsers, what do you guys think is the best present browser.

[faulty.lee 0]

For me, firefox rocks !!! Especially version 3. Much faster javascript and overall performance. The new bookmark system and the "awesomebar" - the new title which allow searching of url and page title from your history. It's just awesome. Memory wise, yes it still takes up alot, but some your minimize it, it will minimize it's memory usage immediately as well. For me, when opened up to 20+ tabs, it took up 250MB, yes quite a lot, but when minimized, it went down to 60MB. When you restore, it will just at goes back to around 80~100MB. Well it still depend on what kind of pages are you visiting. If all 30 tabs are youtube, then it will be definitely more than 300MB

[wutske 0]

I have use the most common browsers available today (Opera, Firefox, IE6, IE7 and Safari) and I still prefer Opera above all the rest. It might be a bit slower at cold starts, but I'm willing to wait a few seconds for getting a faster internet experience and a quick and responsive application. The slowest of them all is Internet Explorer, it sometimes feels like I'm still using a dial up modem when I work with it, it startsup very fast, but it's has some annoying things (the yellow bar and the stupid (slow) page that tells me that my settings are so called 'unsafe'). IE is imho the least safe browser available.Next on my list is Safari, I respect that it's a port from MacOS so I do understand it's a bit slower and less stable, but it's a nice and ratheer good looking, basic browser. I only don't understand why it has to use such weird fonts...Second last is firefox, it's a realy advanced browser with a lot of potential and it's a real good browser for developing website (because of the plugins), but I don't want to use it as my default browser since it's UI is not as responsive as it should be (especialy if a lot of plugins are installed). My all time favourite is Opera, I've been using it since it still had advertisements in the top bar . A few years ago it was already a mature browser that was more strict when it came to rendering webpages. It might not be the quickest starter and the memory usage isn't the lowest possible, but the UI is fast and everything works together like a well oiled machine. I also like the completeness if it, browsing, mailing, rss-feeds and widgets. I also like the way Opera is adding development tools into it's browser ps. LegallyHigh, Opera is not a Mozilla product, it's a Netscape product as is the Mozilla browser product line.

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

I wouldn't go as far as labeling any of the mainstream browsers as the Best. Each of them out-do the others on some respect. When I tried Netscape, it seemed highly bloated with all kinds of features and had a terrible startup time. Firefox seems to be the one most techies (and even basic computer users; these days) love. Said to be the most secure browser, it also has an extensive support for extensibility; thanks to the addons. Opera, for me is the fastest browser. It uses persistent connections so that connections don't have to be made again, when surfing through a site's pages. The actual advantage this has on the page load time is not consistent as some servers don't allow persistent connections. Also, its not clear if images are loaded through "keep-alive" headers. The real edge Opera has over the other browsers is in its lightning fast page renderer engine. This becomes evident when loading bigger pages. Personally, I have stuck to Internet Explorer ever since version 7 came out as it finally incorporated Tabbed browsing. Other common features such as Search Providers also come in handy. The Clear-Type text goes really easy on the eyes and strange as it may sound, it is one of the primary reasons that I use IE. I am not sure which other browsers support this but Firefox's text certainly appear with jagged edges. I use Firefox along with Firebug when analysing HTML code and debugging JavaScript; especially, the Inspect option which allows you to view the DOM structure of the page and which CSS properties are being applied to the tags.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

You have to remember he carefully chose to put best in your opinion in the title Where we use the web so frequently (well most of us do) the personal preferences of web browsing play a huge role in which web browser we now feel is the best. Personally I have stuck with firefox a long time but am actually planning to give opera another shot just to see if it can convince me to change with any of the updates it has made since my last test drive. IE still has yet to be able to win me back but opera was never really neglected by me it simply always got edged out by firefox so I'd always have it around but rarely or never use it. Now that the majority of browser have adopted the latest batch of new trends one of the companies might need to think up some creative new innovations to stand out from the pack.

[Miles 0]

In my opinion, opera is the best. I at first used Internet Explorer 6 when I started using the internet, as I did not know of any other browsers. I then switched to firefox which I found a very good browser, however, in October 2007, it glitched up and opened the floodgates to hundreds of infections into my machine. I took a desperate measure at that time, using a windows XP restore CD at risk of losing everything, including my data partition, fortunately that didn't happen, anyway, I stopped using firefox after this, and tried the then-new safari for windows browser, which was irritating and constantly changed the window size, along with other irritations. I then downloaded opera, which I found the perfect browser, and have been using for 9 months, on both my windows and linux partitions.

[toby 0]

I have Opera 9.27 and IE 8. Opera ftw, ff ftl.

[skedad 0]

Currently, I am using Mozilla Firefox, and I am very impressed. I have always used Microsoft Internet Explorer, but only when Firefox is not accessible. I have only used Netscape a few times, but that was before I had my own access or my own computer. It seemed fine, but I was still novice at using the world wide web at the time.I have Explorer by default, but would love to devolve back to Explorer 6... I think this newest installment was trying to be different and to mimic Firefox... It works fine, but I have had to reopen my IE browser many times just to get it to work without bugs.Firefox is my default browser right now. I do notice that it does take up a lot of memory and space, but I do think it is well worth it. As long as new TABS are used and not windows opened, it will only add a little bit of memory to each new tab. But if another window is opened, then I do start to notice a slower computer. But I still recommend it... that, and it is fun to customize Firefox like themes and add ons.Like the post above, I also have Apple Safari installed on my PC, because it came with iTunes update. I am not really sure how it works, because I don't really use it. I make my webpages, and I will preview it in Safari, but that is about it. If it is being commonly used with iTunes, then I will try to at least make it accessible on my webpages... but it seems to already work well with my other browsers.Opera has been brought up many times on the web. I have not installed it, but I have read up on a few reviews. If I were to try collecting browsers as a hobby, I guess I would try to install it too.... I do know of yet another browser, but it slips my mind... Maxton!!?? I may be confusing it with the harddrive Maxtor. But I think it is not as widely used, or I would remember the name better.So I will continue to use Firefox, and sometimes Explorer... unless there will come a time when a new browser comes along and blows them out of the water!- skedad -

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I rather use Mozilla Firefox. However, it's not the best browser because it's so bloated and slow. Opera's rendering engine is mediocre at best, but fast. Safari is great, but the problem is that not a lot of people support the browser since not a lot of people write support for KHTML/WebKit.If people start supporting WebKit, I'd move my main browser there.xboxrulz

[toby 0]

Skedad, Opera is really worth trying, and its so small.Xboxrules, the current beta (9.50) has a different rendering engine.

[Mordent 0]

Firefox is, if given the option, the browser I'd use all the time. In some cases (public or facility based computers, for example) this isn't possible, as they've only got Internet Explorer on them, so I tolerate it. I honestly can't see any real reason why someone would choose IE over FF, though, the latter having far more features and customisability than the former. Sure, it uses a little more memory and hogs a few more of the CPU's cycles, but when the machine I use for high-intensity gaming and so on is the same one I use for web browsing (and I don't tend to be doing both at once ) it handles fine. On slower systems I could understand the reasoning behind making that a fairly important negative factor in weighing up the two, but I can't really comment on that aspect.

 

One comment I should add is that I've never actually used Opera or Netscape (or pretty much any other browser you care to mention), so I'm not even going to try to compare what I hear about them to my first-hand knowledge of FF and IE.

 

Perhaps the most important aspect of FF to a web developer is the fact that it renders pages as the standards tell it to. While there'll always be a few minor discrepancies between the exact conversion of CSS to pretty pages, FF does have a damned good go at it, whereas IE says something along the lines of "web standards? They're the things all the other browsers stick to", promptly shreds all copies it has of them, ignores what every other browser is doing and then - and only then - decides to make its own mind up about how things should work and look. For some reason (perhaps the whole "it being distributed with every copy of Windows" thing ) it's commonly used, so developers have to deal with the mutations it can suddenly decide to make to the page you've designed that looks just perfect in FF, Opera and Safari.

 

From that perspective, as all the pages I make are "personal" (i.e. designed for a select group of people that I at least vaguely know) I can choose to say "tested in Firefox, any freakouts IE has with it aren't my problem", which is a luxury a vast majority of developers lack.

 

So anyway, overall I honestly can't see any reason why I would use Internet Explorer instead of Firefox, although I understand the memory and CPU requirements argument that people take. Of course, saying that is perhaps similar to saying that you play a game that's not as good as another one, but requires less in the graphics department: your system can't handle it, so you can't upgrade.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

Since my last post I've installed the latest Opera (non beta) and have enjoyed it. I know that firefox has been annoying me lately because I like to leave my computer on with the browser almost always open with multiple tabs. In firefox this spells an enourmous amount of ram being used within a day or two if you don't retsrat the browser on occasion. As far as I can tell opera is keeping ram usage to a reasonable level which is something I've been hoping for. I think I'll be trying the opera beta out soon to see what kind of changes they've made.

[LegallyHigh 0]

Yeah, Safari is weird about the fonts, I don't see why they replace the Page Set font to begin with, but other than that I still install using Safari to browse. Also, it looks like I'm going to have to try out Opera, it seems like it might be worthy of a good browser. However, my Upstairs computers are only running on 1 GHZ Pentium 3 Processors, so, if it is a bit of a memory hog it wouldn't be practical for them to use.

[wutske 0]

I rather use Mozilla Firefox. However, it's not the best browser because it's so bloated and slow. Opera's rendering engine is mediocre at best, but fast. Safari is great, but the problem is that not a lot of people support the browser since not a lot of people write support for KHTML/WebKit.
If people start supporting WebKit, I'd move my main browser there.

xboxrulz

I have never had any problems with Opera's rendering engine. Only pages that are written extremely bad (ie. frontpage websites) don't show up properly, but hey ... that's not Opera's fault .

@Jeigh: don't forget to try out Opera 9.5 beta

[Quatrux 4]

I mainly browse with Opera, it's always running when my computer is on, if we're talking about Windows and as I am used to it I like it, never browse with IE, the only thing I do with it is test some webpage or go to a page which only works with IE, but usually I leave those pages for someone else to watch and of course it's used to update windows.. :)I agree that Safari is a great browser, on Linux I prefer Konqueror above all, but on Windows version of Safari, I just test the page, because of the GUI, I never really like Apple GUI, I rather see a webkit browser with a GUI written with QT that it would look like Opera or at least like Firefox..Firefox 3 beta is really promising, because it's so fast, just hope it will stay so fast when the final version will come, because the more features and add-ons and stuff it has, the slower it is.