Internet Browsers

As a web developer, I am suppose to test all my internet applications on as many web browsers as I possibly can, which can be a headache, but definitely something that is needed to be done.

What web browser(s) are your favorites, as for myself, I'm a Firefox and Opera guy at heart, even if I'm working on the Mac platform. Hey now, why not Internet Explorer? I'll get to that in just a moment but I would like to point out the reasons why Firefox and Opera are great browsers.

First we'll do Firefox; Reason one, it's really fast and never degrades as you visit thousands of web pages and build up a nice pot of cache. Reason two, the updates are always coming even if they're for an add-on. Reason three, an idiot can install it, use it, update it, and customize it the way they feel is needed. Reason four, you can easily get rid of any wanted junk that any installer puts on Firefox. Reason five, pretty much a given on all browsers but I like the dragging and dropping of tabs. That should be enough to explain why Firefox is my number one choice no matter what platform I'm working on.

Now for Opera; Reason one, frankly I absolutely love the feature called speed dial where you can set up web sites that you are constantly visiting, and with one click on a screen captured image, your at the web site you always end up during your day. Reason two, tab previews, I like that you can hold your cursor over any open tab to get a preview of the contents of that tab. Very handy when you have 20 tabs open. Reason three, is that Opera just has a very clean GUI that makes you feel comfortable. Reason four, is that they are always releasing updates as well. Reason five, all I have to say is that when I first started using Opera I loved it but it was way too buggy on PC, but with a couple update releases, I feel good enough to call Opera my secondary browser.

Now, about Internet Explorer, I keep trying to find a reason of why this browser still even exists. It still has the exact same issues it's had since IE5 and probably earlier versions. It's horribly slow, bogs down every system I use it with and the everyday user has trouble using it. I even dread opening IE when I have to test an application because I already know that what I'm working on is going to have issues with only IE. People cant possibly be using IE because of Microsoft is always updating it. There rarely ever update IE, only push out newer versions with more worthless features than before along with the same annoying issues. Please Microsoft, see the problems and listen to what the consumer has to say for a change.

Finally for a very quick rundown of other web browsers:
Safari - Good not great
Google Chrome - Safari/Opera but pretty cool
Flock - Its Firefox with unnecessary stuff
Avant - Don't waste your time and bandwidth
Maxthon - Another don't do it

- Pete