Poll: Which browser should I use?

[loc978]

I like to have Chromium (like Chrome, but nicely tweaked by the open source community), Firefox, and Opera installed on all of my systems. I generally use Chromium for regular browsing, Firefox for picking apart code and filesystems, and Opera for a debug program if I can't get a site to load properly.

So... other? Nah, Chromeium.

IE's last worthwhile iteration was v.6. It actually had a slim memory profile if you tweaked it right.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I've used Firefox foe years, but recently, it just started to get slower and slower until it just started crashing my computer.

Now I uses Chrome and I'm impressed with how slick it feels. It's faster and just feels less cluttered than Firefox.

 

[DoPo]

Well, I can't speak of IE9, as I haven't used it enough. And I don't care about it. But I don't use IE due to bad history - you should be glad that the World Wide Web survived, grew and evolved despite the existence of Internet Explorer. And even then, IE has been a hindrance, maybe not a significant one but a hindrance nonetheless to the improvement of the WWW. Furthermore, IE has historically allowed very few freedoms - remove it and something breaks. Moreover, just its presence on the system is a security issue and could be a target even if you didn't use the browser. Well, keeping it up to date is a solution but it's getting ridiculous - constantly applying patches to something you don't even use. And then there is the fact that IE is so slow to go with changes and improvements that have been out there for so much time. It almost seems that IE is reluctant to be better.

I myself use Firefox. I love the ability to customise it. And Open Source is a plus. Now, I may be talking out of my ass here, but I don't think IE offers a good selection of addons. Just googled "ie addons" and nothing in the top 3 pages was about getting them - just general information about what addons are and such, I didn't look further down, maybe there was an addon repository/collection or something there but the fact that it's not in the top 3 speaks loads. Anyway, back to FF (and actually third party browsers in general) - it's faster to adapt to the Web, it's faster to implement the standards, it's faster to fix security issues. More flexible, more adaptable, faster developing - I'd say those are the signs of a better browser.

I don't know what you use your browser for but either Firefox or Chrome (or Chromium, if you wish) are all good. I haven't used Opera much but I would also recommend it. Safari is...well, it has some bad history too but it's not such a bad browser. From what I've heard, though, it doesn't have a huge advantage having it on a non-Mac. Well, I actually like WebKit (what's in the core of Safari) but Chrome also uses it, so whatever.

Firefox offers huge customizability, thousands of addons (plus, has FireFTP - the best FTP client I've used so far. And it's an addon for a browser), and just other options you can tweak. If you want to do work with the browser, FF probably has the tools for it - Firebug is (I think) still the best web developer help out there.

Chrome cuts down on the customisation but it makes it up in speed - speed of use and speed of browsing. FF tends to be a bit, well, let's say it straight, somewhat bloated at times. Chrome is trimmed down, fast and it still has a good number of addons. It's pretty sweet, it's my "backup" browser.

Opera...well, I don't really know much, but from what I do, a significant number of the UI innovations come from it and are adapted to the other browsers (tabbed browsing, I believe comes from there. Now Opera supports tabs within tabs). Also, addons. They are there, I don't know how many but I am led to believe they are enough.

 

[Dangit2019]

I use Chrome, but if you don't want it I suggest Firefox. Firefox, you might like it more because of it's interface basically being IE (only faster), but Chrome is what I use for pure simplicity. It's crashed on me twice, and each time, it rebooted everything and I haven't had any other problems to speak of.

 

[-Ezio-]

anything but IE. ANYTHING.

i like Firefox. chrome always runs slow for me.

 

[Ironside]

IE9 is great despite what most people seem to say. I tried Chrome and found it horrible to use, firefox was way too slow for me - don't know why, but it took forever to load pages, safari is awful and i've never used Opera.

 

[Cazza]

I only changed from IE to Firefox because IE wouldn't tab. Does IE tab these days?

 

[Jzcaesar]

I first used chrome because chrome got rid of an extra useless bar on top of the window, so that I have more space to view the website. I guess I got used to it.

Now I use chrome because of the url bar acting as a search bar for various websites. So now, instead of going to wikipedia (or amazon, or various other websites), I start typing in 'wiki-', chrome autocompletes wikipedia.org, and then I hit tab and start typing in my search.

Does IE9 or the latest firefox do this? I actually have no idea.

 

[SciMal]

Never used Opera, never used Safari, and won't trust Chrome until some more standards for privacy are released. Especially after the recent private info debacle Google found themselves in.

FireFox has gotten fat and slow. The BEST part is AdBlock Plus for FireFox. It rocks the house. However, it takes twice as long to start up as IE9 on my comp, takes longer to load webpages, and every now and then I'll stumble upon a page that works in IE9 that doesn't in FireFox.

So I use IE9. It's not the most cutting edge browser, but it handles privacy well, it has all of the basic functions (Tabs, Favorite's Bar, Search Bar...), and I don't require any fancy visuals/skins to make me feel better about surfing the internet.

 

[hermes]

Chrome work really well, although I would still keep a IE installed and updated for pages that don't support the alternative.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Chrome or Firefox, I prefer Firefox myself but I started having issues with it and Youtube so I've been using Chrome, no complaints and works well.

 

[T3hSource]

Anything,but IE.I recommend Opera,but that's personal preference.Chrome is very simplistic and easy to use,Firefox on the other hand is also satisfactory and it has customization,however it can be a resource hog,always has been since 3.0.
How about this,go to a website where someone has given a complete rundown of pros and cons of each browser and decide which one will satisfy your needs.

 

[Nyaliva]

I use Chrome, but if you don't want it I suggest Firefox. Firefox, you might like it more because of it's interface basically being IE (only faster), but Chrome is what I use for pure simplicity. It's crashed on me twice, and each time, it rebooted everything and I haven't had any other problems to speak of.

Actually, I recently found out Firefox is the default browser for my computers at uni, but they all have internet explorer available and prominent on the desktop so I always assumed that was the default. Seriously, I never noticed.

I first used chrome because chrome got rid of an extra useless bar on top of the window, so that I have more space to view the website. I guess I got used to it.

Now I use chrome because of the url bar acting as a search bar for various websites. So now, instead of going to wikipedia (or amazon, or various other websites), I start typing in 'wiki-', chrome autocompletes wikipedia.org, and then I hit tab and start typing in my search.

Does IE9 or the latest firefox do this? I actually have no idea.

Yeah, I've even heard people say other browsers have all these extras but IE9 has all of them as well; the tabs, the auto-type, the quick links to oft used websites in your new tabs etc.

So I suppose it really wouldn't matter what I changed to because they all copy each other in their design, although I was wondering if there was a browser which was different in this respect and made better by it.

Also, ignorance time, I wasn't aware Chromium was like an open source version of Chrome. If I got that would I have to update it often or anything that I wouldn't have to do with Chrome? Chrome seems to be the one to go with but...I dunno...I want something...that's not Chrome...

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Use either Firefox or Chrome. I prefer Chrome but I really do think it is a matter of preference between the two. The problems with IE are numerous, though IE 9 is actually miles ahead of every other IE version I still feel it's somewhat lacking. IE often has issues rendering CSS3,HTML5, and anything that isn't coded to the old non-webkit specifications, which is a lot of things. It also loads slower than... everything else. Beyond that IE 9 has fixed essentially every problem IE had, but it still lacks good plugin/extension/ tab management support, which leaves it lagging behind every other browser.

 

[Verzin]

IE is actually the most privacy respecting of the internet browsers. however, imo Firefox and Chrome are the most useful and intuitive. Firefox is best for technical people imo because of the add-on capabilities. Very customizable. Very useful

 

[Canadamus Prime]

That's really up to you. Even IE is pretty decent these days, not at all like it used to be. Personally I like to use Firefox, but that's mostly because of the Addon That Shall Not Be Named.

 

[evilneko]

Why not all of them?

No really, why not? True, I use Opera mostly, but I also use every single other browser on that list, and even some that are not (K-Meleon). (Well, except Chrome. I use a Chromium-derivative called Iron, close enough)

 

[Sougo]

Theres probably nothing that internet explorer CAN'T do, as far as browsers are concerned.

The problem is that internet explorer does it slower and often lacks extensions, and tends to consume a lot more memory and processing power than the other browsers. So basically, its just more tedious than the others, which is why people have moved on from it.

I use opera, firefox and chrome ... whichever I feel like opening at the moment. They all feel the same more or less. I tried IE recently as well but it was definitely working a lot slower than the others.

 

[C2Ultima]

As a Mac user, the default is Safari. It's not a bad program (you can get it on Windows BTW), but after a while, I switched to Chrome, which I think works better.

 

[PlatinumRenegade]

I personally recommend Google Chrome because it's a light weight browser and runs good on some of the older computers. I also like it for it's simplistic design so there is not a bunch of clutter on the screen.

Although I prefer Google Chrome, there is nothing wrong with Firefox and it is a equally well made browser.