New Browser Time

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I searched this board for topics involving browsers and didn't come up with anything more recent than 2008, so ... new thread.

I've recently been (nearly) convinced by a well-informed sounding guy that I should dump Internet Explorer, so can anybody tell me why I should switch to Chrome or Firefox? You can make a case for the others too if you want but I gather that Chrome and Firefox are the leaders now.

Any input you can give is much appreciated.

p.s. - I know how these threads often go so if we could avoid the "you are the stupidest person on the earth if you use Chrome" / "no you are an utter and complete idiot for using Firefox" stuff, that would be great too. In other words, don't worry about convincing anybody that they're wrong and just focus on why you're right.

 

I haven't played around with IE9 much, but the biggest advantages I've had for Firefox are the plugins that let you do things I can't figure out how to do in IE. Adblock Plus blocks lots of ads, Greasemonkey and Stylish can modify lots of websites to either reduce ads or give better color schemes among other things, YesScript blocks annoying and dangerous scripts (as does NoScript, but it's a choice of a blacklist or a whitelist), RightToClick allows you to override the sites that prevent you from copying and pasting text or right-clicking on an image to access the context menu. Re-agination lets you load sites that insist on breaking tings up into small chunks to display more ads all at once. Then there is "NoSquint" which ties into the biggest advantage of Firefox and Chrome. The ability to easily set font sizes. Firefox gives you a "minimum font size" that while a bit buggy (Chrome is based on the same code and works identically) and makes it easy to select what size font you want on the screen without distorting the site. IE only gives you "smallest, small, normal, bigger, biggest", but Firefox lets you specify exactly what you want as well as a MINIMUM size. NoSquint also helps work around the sites that insist on smaller text and lets you easily zoom the sites and remembers the setting for each site, so you don't have to constantly adjust the size as you surf. IE only lets you zoom the whole page, which also inflates the graphics and makes you scroll horizontally. Firefox can change just the text size and will automatically reflow the text so you don't have to do horizontal scrolling.

As for Firefox vs Chrome, Firefox has more features and is more customizable. Chrome is more for the "unwashed masses" who never use anything but the defaults and want something very simple to use. Also more plugins are available for Firefox than Chrome. That said, Chrome is probably easier to use because it's a stripped-down version of Firefox. It is based on the same Firefox code base, as is Netscape these days. In fact, many plugins will work with all of them.

 

Chrome is the fastest browser by an absolute mile. Go for that.

 

Any of the major browsers should be good enough nowadays for normal use. So it is more down to personal preference. Try them out and see which you like best. Just remember to keep it updated no matter which you use. Personally I use Opera for the majority of browsing and Internet Explorer on Windows or Firefox on Linux for a select few sites. Also, Chromium is Chrome with the Google part removed if you are worried about that.

 

There we go. You've managed to convert at least one person. Adblocker has now been deactivated. I would love it if it could be set just to block pop up and noisy adds (not that these tend to be a problem with SP particularly).

 

To continue with the off-topic. I agree. I'm even dumb enough that I never click the "skip this ad now" button on Youtube videos as if you skip the ad the content maker doesn't get his cut from Youtube.

My only exception to that is the stupid Ron Paul ads that are 11 and 17 minutes. Who on God's Green earth is willing to sit though a 17 minute ad to watch a 3 minute video?

Back on topic. I still use IE9. My reasons are simple. I'm lazy and see no real reason to update. Every website I go to (except the boards and their silly mood things) never seems to have a problem with it. I always crack up when people tell me how fast Chrome is. I have never had to leave my computer and get a sandwich while waiting for a page to load.

 

Thanks for all the input thus far. I have indeed installed both (Chrome and Firefox) and done some comparisons ... I seem to like Chrome better initially, though Firefox for me seems marginally faster. (Makes me wonder how much speed really varies depending on systems.) Firefox lost points for saying that it would port over my old bookmarks but not doing that (unless they're hidden in the cludgy bookmarks section somehwere, but then I don't really want to spend lots of time hunting for bookmarks, I just want to click them, so bad Firefox) and doing some weird thing where if you press that tabs button you can't go back (in any readily apparent fashion) and have to quit and relaunch the browser. That's probably not really so but the point is I don't want to have to figure that kind of crap out, lol. Browsers should be simple.

@Tal - what are the privacy dangers with Chrome specifically? I'm not logged on to Google or anything. Are they secretly monitoring my browsing activity and sending reports to the Feds?

@Snook - I thought that too but I'm told IE carries a heavy payload along with it, resulting in slower load times and generally more sluggish performance. After comparing all three I can see a significant difference ... IE sometimes wouldn't launch for me until after as much as 8 or 9 seconds had passed (though this could vary dramatically, which itself is kind of irritating), while Chrome will go in maybe 4 and Firefox in maybe 3. 4 or 5 seconds isn't going to make a big difference in your life ... until you multiply it by 365 x however many times you launch a browser in a day. Regular page loads (clicking links, etc.) are faster too.

 

Just give it a try for a while, 2 weeks or so maybe, then try and go back to your usual browser. You will see what they mean.

 

Interesting ... I read each of those and it still looks like being logged on is the main threat. e.g. -

I get that much (and I'm not a Google member), but how can an IP address translate into a specific identity if you haven't identified yourself? It would seem that the best it could do is say "this computer," and more likely something less threatening like "this range of IP addresses for this provider located in this city."

In other words, anyone could be operating any given computer, so if I search for "spanking lesbians" in Google at 2:00 a.m. while not logged on or sex talk my married girlfriend on Yahoo Messenger at 2:45, how will the Google know it's me? (Assuming I stick with the code name "honeybunny" and don't call her Rachel Drosworski.)

 

I use Safari on my iPad and iMac.

 

Thanks. I agree that Google knowing what my IP address is doing doesn't bother me that much.

 

Chrome screws your search results and ads displayed, including banner ads, depending on your searches ... recently I had Chrome display only travel website ads after I did a search for flights ... this continued till I restarted my PC. Else I don't care.

Chrome is basically a fast to use browser.
You don't have to worry about updates as it auto-updates. And I have not heard of any horror stories like the Firefox 3.6 to 4.0 debacle.
And no suddenly finding that your extension or app stopped working after an update because the creator could not get his head around the 4 versions at the same time within a 6 week time-frame craziness that is Firefox right now.
The fact that each tab, extension and app loads as a separate process makes killing individual items lots easier in Chrome.

Firefox I basically use for any online transactions etc as the extensions I have loaded on that provide better security. I simply decided not to load these extensions on Chrome.

If you are using a Mac OS device, don't bother with anything other than Safari. Other browsers work kinda nerfed on a Mac. Also Safari is great if it is critical for you in that after any accidental closure (PC restart) all tabs will reopen perfectly. Found it a but weird and slow tho.

 

I much prefer the old look of Firefox compared to the new minimum look that all the browsers are striving for so I have a theme and I have firefox v10 set tup with the old look which makes accessing everything a lot easier for me compared to the dang minimum look look they throw down your throat. I have Menu bar, navigation bar, addon bar selected and tabs on top unselected in the right click menu in the bar space.