Internet Browsers - Which one should I use?
- Details
- Created on Friday, 24 June 2011 17:04
- Written by Luuk Postuma
There are a number of popular but different internet browsers out there, including:
- Internet Explorer
- Mozilla Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Safari (used predominantly by Mac's)
- Opera (used predominantly by Mac's)
So, the question is, which one is best for you?
To some extent, the answer is user preference. Many of my clients are extremely used to Internet Explorer, and tend to stay with it. However, I do encourage them to try either Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
Why? Well, just because Internet Explorer comes installed on pretty much every new PC, that doesn't mean it is the best. In fact, as a web developer, Internet Explorer is a bane of my work, as most pages I write work fine in Firefox, Chrome and Safari, but requires additional tweaking to work properly in Internet Explorer. This is because Microsoft loves to do things their own way, and don't necessarily conform to generally accepted standards. They like to set their own standards.
As a result, if you are using Internet Explorer version 8 or 9, you may have to use Compatibility Mode to view a site properly. (To do this, press ALT to reveal the menu, then go to Tools | Compatibility View Settings.)
You may also be surprised to learn these statistics! As of May 2011, browser usage globally is as follows:
| Browser | Global Usage |
| Mozilla Firefox | 42.4% |
| Google Chrome | 25.9% |
| Internet Explorer | 24.9% |
| Safari | 4.0% |
| Opera | 2.4% |
(Source: W3Schools.com)
Mozilla Firefox can be downloaded from www.mozilla.org.
Google Chrome can be downloaded from www.google.com/chrome.
