Internet Browsers- Which is the one to use?

At the time of the birth of the internet there were two main competitors for the title of Internet Browser King. There was Netscape’s Navigator and the all conquering Microsoft Internet Explorer. Microsoft managed to gain the upper hand on Netscape by including their browser within the hugely popular Windows Operating System package. Users had no need to search for another browser to use when there was one included in the box.

Fast forward a decade and the situation had changed. Netscape had undergone a mini revolution and resurfaced as Mozilla releasing it’s Firefox browser. Apple had released it’s Safari browser out into the world for cross-platform availability, Google decided to join in, releasing Google Chrome and Microsoft seemed to be trailing behind. These new breed of browsers were smoother, faster, better looking, offered more in-browser tools, they displayed websites better and were opening up big possibilities for web designers and developers to progress websites. Certainly many developers these days can sit for hours chatting about “how bad Internet Explorer 6.0 wa”s. The truth being that during the time when IE6 was released, there wasn’t a great deal of competition for the software giant. Due to this a vast majority of the internet surfing world used IE6. Unfortunately many still have not upgraded to a later version, meaning that countless hours of IE6 testing and hacks are done by developers to try and make websites accessible to all internet users.

Enough of the past… What does the current big guns of the browsing world have to offer.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0

Released in 2010, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9.0 was released to compete with the growing number of hot competitors. It is still the most popular browser out there, and without taking anything away from Microsoft, it’s mainly because of it’s continued inclusion in every copy of Windows. I would say a lot of users are either not aware of alternative browsers, scared of the change or simply cannot be bothered to make the change. Thankfully Microsoft have rolled out a cracker with IE9. Gone are the days of IE6 destroying a websites layout, IE9 gives a simple crisp navigation layout, maximizing the space for the website to be displayed. Loading times are fast and support of developing languages is good, this means more support of CSS3 & HTML5.

I am generally impressed by Microsoft’s latest swing at internet browsing, I not longer have to sway friends and family away from Internet Explorer. Let’s please just phase out IE6 Microsoft?

Google Chrome

First released in September 2008, Google’s own take at internet browsing, ‘Google Chrome’, offers the same power and browsing enjoyment that their signature search engine gives, but in a internet browser. Initially Google did not want to take part in the ‘Browser Wars’ between Microsoft and the various other ‘independent’ browsers, all fighting it out to take Microsoft’s crown. Thankfully they soon changed their minds and launched, what I would describe as, the first of the ‘Modern’ browsers. Google Chrome aims to be secure, fast, simple and stable. There are extensive differences from its peers in Chrome’s minimalistic user interface, which is very typical of modern web browsers.

Google’s ‘Omnibox’ was a simple, yet brilliant, feature. Merging the browser address bar and the search bar together, making it even faster to search via Google. Adding this to it’s simple layout meant browsing was even more enjoyable and fast.

Apple Safari

Apple’s internet browser ‘Safari’ was originally released on Mac OS X in January 2003. Since then Apple has released it for Windows (2007) and is now also the default web browser on Apple’s iPhone & iPad. The latest version Safari 5.0 offers even more performance and web capabilities. Support of HTML 5 & CSS3, and a 40% increase in JavaScript performance over version 4.0. Personally my views are… If you have a Mac, iPhone or iPad, then Safari is there ready and waiting for you. For everyone else, there are better ones out there.

Mozilla Firefox 4.0

The Firefox project began as an offshoot experiment of the Mozilla project. Originally titled Phoenix, it was renamed because of trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies. The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird free database software project. In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion with the database software. After further pressure from the database server’s development community, on February 9, 2004, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox, often referred to as simply Firefox. Version 1.0 was finally released in 2004.

Fast forward 7 years and Firefox has now become the ‘plugin’ browser, meaning that there is a vast array of plugins available to download and use for everyday internet browsing. The popular ‘Firebug’ is a Web Developers choice weapon for targeting the code of individual elements on a web page, saving countless hours of source code searching.

The best of the rest… Opera

Originally released way back in 1996, Opera currently holds 5th place in the ‘Battle of the Browsers’. Offering a clean, simple interface and fast and reliable browsing.

Critical reception of Opera has been largely positive, although it has been criticized for website compatibility issues. According to one of Opera’s competitors, this is partly because developers do not test web sites with Opera due to its lack of market share, as well as the fact that Opera renders HTML standard compliant code.

Opera is also the chosen browser for Nintendo’s Wii console.

So which one to use?

Mac, iPad & iPhone

For iPhone, iPad and Mac users, I would say stick with what you know. Safari is specifically designed and built for those platforms, and because of this are generally very good.

PC Users

For Windows users I would usually direct people towards Google Chrome, but I would now say that Internet Explorer 9.0 puts up a good argument. So if you are currently on a past version of Internet Explorer try upgrading to IE9, or if you fancy a complete change, go for Chrome.

Developers

If you are a developer you should generally have a version of the ‘top 4′ browsers to test on anyway, but I would say Firefox would be my personal browser of choice for building a website, purley because of it’s developer friendly plugins to aid testing and development.