Browser Choice – Microsoft Required to Offer EU Users Their Options

Per the Microsoft Website:

Because the vast majority of computer users use a Windows operating system on their computers and Internet Explorer comes with it as a default, it was deemed that MS has an unfair advantage over other Internet Browsers. The interesting thing is that IE comes free as do the other browsers, so I wonder what’s the big deal? Users with more experience will have already found that they have options and would have already made their preferences.

As a web designer I have a number of web browsers installed so that I can test designs on each, as there may be vast differences in how a page looks, so here’s my take on the browsers I’ve used:

– Internet Explorer http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx: been using it from the beginning, but it is no longer my preferred browser. I stuck with it for awhile thinking that that the others that came along were just hype, but I did find that IE was a little less useful; but over the years Microsoft has added many of the features that the ‘new kids on the block’ offer:

* tabbed browsing to move between open pages more easily

* add-ons to customise your browsing experience, but the number of add-ons are not as extensive as with others

* a button to the right of the address bar to click to make the page look as it would in other browsers – because, as many developers claim, pages don’t ‘render’ as well in Internet Explorer as they do in other browsers (this appeared in Internet Explorer 7, but I assume Internet Explorer 8 does this automatically)

* there has been many security issues that result in update after update that don’t seem to effect the other main browsers as often

-Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html: This was the next generation of Netscape Navigator. When Firefox came out lots of “techies” switched over, but I waited to see if there really was much a difference and there was:

* tabbed browsing made it easier to move from open page to page — and I usually have a lot of pages open

* extensions (add-ons, plugins, whatever you want to call them) provided me with lots of tools, from those to easily check on search engine ranking factors to the ability to tweet directly from the address bar and other less techie things that I haven’t bothered to add on

* less security issues that there seemed to be with Internet Explorer

So I used Firefox for years, but about a year ago I started to get fed up with how slow it was to open when I first logged into the computer, so I uninstalled any ‘unneccesary’ plugins, but it was still slow. Then came Google Chrome.

– Google Chrome http://www.google.com/chrome: I unashamedly love just about everything Google, but I did have my reservations when they brought out their own web browser – were they just reacting because people were thinking that FireFox was so amazing and they needed to get back to the top of the pile again; wasn’t being top of search enough? Yet again, my role as a web designer did require me to try out all browsers that were getting any use, and yes I was curious, so I ventured into the world of Chrome and found:

* tabbed browsing, which has become standard in most browsers

* easy search of Google from the address bar, which is so convenient

* integration with many Google user features (like Bookmarks) which was very good for a Google head such as myself

* extensions were not available until recently, so that was downside compared to Firefox, but now there are a number of extensions

* amazing speed – upon first opening and in browsing from page to page. I do worry that adding extensions will impact on speed, but so far so good.

* there are still some web applications that don’t run as well on Chrome, like the iContact email advanced newsletter editor, in time all sites will ensure that all applications can run on Chrome as well as Firefox and Internet Explorer

Google Chrome is now the browser I use most often because of the speed, ease of searching and integration with Google account features, but I do have a secondary browser that I use when I go into Social Media hyperdrive, Flock.

– Flock http://www.flock.com/: Firefox on Social Media Steroids. I found flock when I was looking for a way to monitor my social media networks more efficiently. Flock provides:

* tabbed browsing (ok that’s a given now)

* side panel where you can monitor all major social network accounts except for LinkedIn (still a bit of a sore point with me) — and only one account on each network so limited if you must monitor more than one Twitter account, etc. I find that not all the accounts update quickly, but they are continually improving on this

* integrated RSS Feed Reader which I find easier to use than Google Reader (if you don’t use a feed reader stay tuned for a post I am going to be putting up about how useful they are and check out this Wikipedia page that explains what they are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregator). You can also easily group your feeds by topic and navigate via that helpful side bar

* many FireFox plugins are compatible with Flock, at least all the ones I use all are

* speed is not great, as it really is FireFox at the core

The slowness is one reason why I still mainly use Chrome, but I also find that it’s really easy to get sucked into a Social Media black hole, so limit my use of Flock to the blocks of time I’ve allocated for Social Media monitoring.

– Safari http://www.apple.com/safari/download/: the Apple browser that comes with their computers by default. I don’t use it that often, but I do need to check all new designs on it because it does ‘render’ pages a bit differently and I do not want to forget about the Safari users of the World. It has most of the features that commonly come with the top browsers these days, but I don’t know about if you can add-on with extensions/plugins. I do know that everything looks a bit smaller!

So I hope you find my short and informal study on the matter helpful and choose the browser that suits you the best, or go the multi-browser way that I do. Keep in mind that browsers do use a lot of your computer’s resources and having a number open at a time can slow down the computer’s performance and perhaps cause crashing in over burdened computers.

Happy browsing – and remember to always install any updates provided for the browsers to ensure security!