Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The war of Browsers: Firefox 3, IE8, Safari 4, Chrome 2, Opera 10

May 9, 2009 · Article by Sriraj · Leave a Comment 

IE 8 Vs Firefox 3 Vs Chrome Vs Safari 4 Vs Opera 10, the war is on. The place of supremacy seems to have got on to the developers of the above browsers in the recent past with a stream of new Browsers being introduced. While the search giant Google came up with its first browser Chrome, Microsoft and Apple have upgrades their existing browsers to IE8 and Safari 4 respectively adding a whole lot of new features.

The war between these giants even got hotter after the release of Windows 7 RC by Microsoft which according to the competitors gives advantage to IE8 over other browsers. But sitting calmly with little buzz and fuss is the Firefox of Mozilla which seems and looks to be the choice of browser to experienced web surfers. Although Internet Explorer in undoubtedly the most used browser with majority of it being IE6 whose compatibility issues are well know, Firefox seems to be quickly increasing its user base ever since Firefox 3 was launched.firefox

Here are few reasons why Firefox should be your choice too:

Quick installation

The latest version of Firefox , FireFox 3.0.10 is just about 7 MB which didn’t take even 2 minutes to download, get installed and go running. Chrome first downloads a binary file which is about 600 KB which in turn downloads the actual browser whose size is unknown but surely takes a longer time than Firefox. IE8 is of 17MB and does take some time to download and get installed. Forget about Safari, it takes hell lot of more time.

User interface and compatibility

Firefox has to be the least talked about browser when it comes to compatibility issues as it is almost compatible with all types of web pages. Chrome is comparatively new and even then, I experienced quite a few crashes in these few days of its use. IE8 has got a new compatibility switch tool which displays a web page in compatible mode when it cannot open the page as such. Even then, it feels a bit clumsy.

When it comes to the look and user interface, the first look of Firefox may seem a bit dull but its unlimited add-on’s and themes can make it the most beautiful browser, even beautiful than the gorgeous Safari. Infact, the safari look can be brought to Firefox by using one of the personas of Firefox.

Speed dials

If you love the speed dial feature of opera or the most visited feature of Chrome, you can get than in Firefox using the Google toolbar for FF.

firefox-quick-launch-bookmarks

Speed

Apple claims that its new browser Safari 4 as the world fastest browser but I didn’t feel that speed at any time. In all my experience on the Web, Google’s Chrome was the fastest to load majority of the web pages, closely followed by Firefox and then IE8/7 follow and Safari being the slowest of all.

Heaven for developers

The developer tools present in Firefox are way too ahead of those present in the rest of the lot. It is so easy to find out a link when you look into the source code of a website which is very difficult with other browsers especially Internet Explorer.

Download Firefox now and surf safe.

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