What explorer do you prefer?
By Bbilal
@Bbilal (1998)
February 12, 2008 10:21am CST
Which is the explorer do you like and why? I like Firefox because it open any website very quickly. I love Firefox.
7 responses
@backstageel (51)
• Mozambique
13 Feb 08
I´m using firefox to respond this discussion and i love it so much
@jhl930 (3601)
• United States
12 Feb 08
I usually just open the regular internet explorer whenever I use the internet..I have tried firefox before and I have tried avant before too...I am just now starting to understand everything about firefox...so I may just start using firefox from now on... I have heard alot of people talk about it so far and I think i am going to try it!
@ClarusVisum (2163)
• United States
15 Feb 08
Opera is better than both Firefox and IE (Internet Explorer). :P
IE is clearly the worst of the three--worst standards adherence, worst security reputation, etc. The only thing IE has going for it is that the majority of big companies/websites/etc. still pander to IE's userbase because they are still MOST of the people online. As a result of this, it is EXTREMELY rare to find a website that doesn't render as intended for someone using IE. Even still, IE's interface is pretty crappy too, and for those users who, even though they primarily use an alternate browser, want to keep IE around for those pages that simply refuse to work right on anything other than IE, you can download a 'shell' of IE like Avant Browser, which is basically IE with a better interface and some more features.
Firefox and Opera are both great browsers compared to IE, but Opera is clearly superior to Firefox. Now, the best thing about Firefox is its extensibility (Firefox's extension system is something you will never hear Firefox fanboys shut up about:P)...which is a good thing because Firefox all by itself is actually pretty lacking in some important areas, and the extensions help 'fill the gaps'. Sometimes, Firefox ends up finally making a feature from an extension a built-in feature--for example, Firefox didn't have tabbed browsing for a long time (something that shocked me when I tried it out), and users needed an extension to have tabs. But today Firefox has finally added tabbed browsing to its normal featureset.
The BAD part about the extension system, though, is that these extensions are basically third-party applications, which means they're not connected to the browser or its developers. As a result, they can conflict with other extensions, become obsolete and/or incompatible as Firefox itself is updated to new versions, and can cause a whole host of bugs, memory problems, etc. in the browser itself if they are not developed well. Another problem is that you have to install extensions separately with each installation of the browser. If for some reason you want to reinstall Firefox, or install it on a new computer, you need to track down and install every extension you were using separately. This is a process too annoying for the average user to want to deal with.
What puts Opera a head above Firefox is that all of the extensions in Firefox that its core of users consider 'can't-live-without', are extensions whose functionality is already built into Opera right out of the 'box'! Opera has a counterpart to basically all of Firefox's most popular extensions built right in, which means that they are developed by the same people making the browser. In other words, all of the issues that extensions can cause in Firefox don't exist in Opera, because they're normal features that are developed at the same time as teh rest of the browser, and part of the unit, instead of something you add on later. And some innovative Opera features are copied and made into extensions for Firefox (such as Opera's fairly-new "speed dial" feature), but I don't know of any examples where it happened the other way around. That should tell you something in itself.;)
Even though this is true, Opera is still a smaller download than Firefox-with-no-extensions! Opera is also significantly faster than Firefox (http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html#testresults), and has better CSS and web standards support overall (in fact, there are people working for Opera who were involved with the development of CSS itself!). It also has better memory management, especially when you have a lot of tabs open, and is available for all three major OS plaforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Opera is really a diamond-in-the-rough browser that many people haven't given a fair chance. If you don't want to bother with finding, downloading, and installing a bunch of extensions, but still want a solid, fast browser packed with features, check Opera out.:) I haven't even scratched the surface of its features.
http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/features/
@monochrome_lie (407)
• Canada
12 Feb 08
I use Firefox as well. I find it to be a lot more user friendly, I love the Firefox addons which make the whole platform very flexible and it doesn't bug out nearly the way IE used to. I still need to use IE occasionally because not everything is compatible with Firefox yet but I try to use it as little as possible and some websites just aren't worth visiting to me if I have to use IE.
@sutanhartanto (4122)
• Indonesia
14 Feb 08
Recently I'm using Firefox. It is always my first browser. There is certain websites that Firefox cannot accesses properly. In that case, I use IE.
@emmyemoney (251)
• Nigeria
12 Feb 08
I do use Firefox, but i just start using crazy browser and i love it.