Comments on: Which Web Browser Do You Use and Why?

By: Sythe

Sythe — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:05:39 +0000

Have you ever used Flock?
Flock is the “ultimate social browser”!
Every single social-networking add-on from Firefox, plus a smooth easy-to-use theme,it’s very fast and even contains a sophisticated password saver.
Compared to Firefox, if you:
A:Are a web socialite.
B:Don’t really need fancy themes…
C:Want an awesome start page.
Then you should use Flock.

(I use Firefox, but the Flock start-page is still tempting me…)

By: Steven Finch

Steven Finch — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:24:58 +0000

@miniskirtus how come Flock is great for social networking and blogging?

By: MiniSkirtus

MiniSkirtus — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:09:42 +0000

I’ve been testing some since my Firefox started crashing on me so much. Now I use Opera and Flock. Flock is fantastic for social networking and blogging.

By: Mobiles NZ

Mobiles NZ — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:10:18 +0000

I use IE for everyday browsing, I find it quick to use.

I use Firefox for more web development with SEO plugins.

By: DG

DG — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:49:26 +0000

Opera really is the best, but it was the target of M$’s vitriol. Most sites that are “optimized for IE” are really just optimized not to work with Opera.

All the coolest things in the world of browsers these days was developed first by and implemented in Opera. It’s still the only browser with true multi-threading tabbed browsing, which it developed in 1995 (try resizing tabbed windows in Firefox, tee-hee). Chrome, still in beta, now does it. Mouse gestures was developed and comes standard in Opera, it requires an add-in in Firefox. Resizing a page is as easy as clicking the + or – key, no shift+ or CTRl+, just a quick click on the + is all you need, click the * to restore to standard size…etc., etc.,.. the notes functionality in Opera is great when you’re clipping a bunch of texts from various pages to build an email or fill in a form or whatever…

Having said that, like beta vs VHS or M$ vs Mac, or McDonald’s vs other hamburger joints, the market winner doesn’t always come down to quality. Marketing, business model, anti-competitive behaviours are all a part of the mix.

Which isn’t to suggest Firefox uses anti-competitive behaviour like, um, other browsers. Firefox brings a user experience that is easy (Opera isn’t as easy if you’re not at least mildly technical) and is thinner (many things that are in Opera standard require an add-in in Firefox, which is not bad – sometimes you don’t want what you don’t need, and this keeps Firefox relatively thinner).

I used Opera until it became frustrating to arrive at yet another site “optimized for IE”. Started using Firefox but now it’s acting flaky (it will dump my proxy setting for no apparent reason and change my settings; questions at the Firefox support forum have gone largely unanswered; that’s another thing, the Opera community is very adept at getting you answers that work; I haven’t been able to enjoy the same level of acumen amongst the Firefox crowd; but then, again, the Opera community is a tad more tech savvy, no disrespect to the Firefox crowd, but anything that is aimed at the masses can’t be too hard, right? If it were, it wouldn’t appeal to the masses.

So, I’m now looking for a browser that is stable, feature-rich, and not IE… which is what brought me to this conversation.

By: Steven Finch

Steven Finch — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:28:53 +0000

Firefox seems to already be a long way ahead of all other browsers. Mainly because of extensions and simplicity. Any other reasons?

By: Panther

Panther — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:46:33 +0000

Firefox all the way, even on a Mac. I enjoy the extensions and it’s a less of a hassle when creating websites.

By: Mac

Mac — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:07:23 +0000

I like to run internet explorer on my mac because it’s fun cleaning off the virii.

By: brian

brian — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:25:51 +0000

I’ve got Macs at work (both jobs, in fact) and home and I prefer Safari because of a few features I’ve really gotten used to that FF doesn’t have and since it’s more Mac-like in a million little ways that matter to me. (FF3 fixes a few things but there’s still a long way to go.) I use Firefox for sites that require it (like Google Notebook) and I test sites I build with it and I like the fact that it has lots of extensions but I hardly use any so it’s just not that big of a deal to me. People always rave about AdBlock but a custom /etc/hosts file from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm blocks most ads–enough to keep me happy.

By: Miles

Miles — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:48:32 +0000

WebKit all the way. Safari feels pokey in comparison.

By: Steven Finch

Steven Finch — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:46:33 +0000

@Jen How come you use Opera. What is so good about it?

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:36:22 +0000

Opera, and FF3 for stuff Opera doesn’t handle well (such as Google Reader).

By: George

George — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:07:56 +0000

Firefox 3 is my favorite, but I use both firefox 3 and IE.

By: Mike Panic

Mike Panic — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:29:54 +0000

Firefox 3 on XP at work, Firefox 2 at home on Mac.

We have a store wide policy at work to only use Firefox, mainly because of all the security issues with IE. I’ve been using Firefox since v1.something at home and the only real time I used Safari on my Mac was the first day to download Firefox.

For me, once I started to use tabs, it was the end of IE, even though IE7 now finally supports them, it’s too late. I use too many Firefox add-ons that I really like to give them all up. The reason I still use Firefox 2 at home on my Mac is that not all the add-ons I use are fully supported yet, so I can wait a bit longer.