Poll: What is Your Favorite Browser?
Today I was reading the Mozilla Developer News blog and I saw that they are done with the Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 source code. They should put the RC1 version available for public download later this month, so hopefully the final version will come up in June.
I am a Firefox fan. Not a faith based one, but a rational one. I tried most browsers out there, including all the versions of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Flock and Konqueror. Some were as fast as Firefox, but none had as many plugins and add-on.
Truth be told, I do have some memory leak problems with Firefox 2, resulting in frozen screens once in a while. But it looks like they manage to fix it in the third version of the software.
Anyway all this browser thinking got me curious about what browser you guys use. I know that many of you will need to use more than for work purposes (cross browser testing, Internet Explorer applications, etc), but what is your favorite browser for surfing the web, blogging and similar? Below you will find a poll, but feel free to drop a comment explaining why you like a certain browser over the other as well.
Daniel Scocco on May 11, 2008
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Firefox blows the other browsers out of the water. I just keep finding new addons that make my online life easier and faster.
Internet Explorer has had too many problems over the years to gain my trust back so I only use it to verify that my pages are viewable in IE as well as other browsers.
Surely firefox is just the best! IE is just another microsoft nest of bugs! I hate IE.
I prefer Firefox for its wealth of helpful plug-ins, my favorite among them: AdBlock Plus. You can guess, then, that I don’t run ads on my blog.
I just recently switched from IE to Firefox, and I must say, I wish I had done it a long time ago. The functionality just seems so much better. I guess I should try some other browsers as well!
RC
@Kathy, yes I don’t think I would be able to live without my Firefox plugins as well.
@RC, Internet Explorer has far too many standard compatibility issues. IE 7 is pretty fast, but still it lacks in the other features.
I use Firefox but I found recently it tends to crash more. Could be too many plugins, I still prefer it though. The right click to search with your default browser for highlighted keywords is a massive timesaver. Much love to the Fox.
I use
telnet, you insensitive clod!In fairness, Internet Explorer is OK. Microsoft managed to be at least less stupid with IE7 than with their past releases. Since Vista Ultimate was installed on my system, I’d been using IE7–until Firefox 3 beta came along. I downloaded that, and it never crashed once. Firefox is the shizzle-wizzle.
@Jeremy, Telnet is terrible even to play MUDs
.
You can watch Star Wars on telnet. Seriously.
$ telnet towel.blinkenlights.nlOnly Firefox
I’ve been using FireFox for ages and I’m glad I am.
IE is…poo
I really like firefox because of the flexibility. I would maybe use Safari though if it would have the same flexibility in terms of add-ons. Safari is just a bit more integrated into OS X
I used FireFox for quite a long time, loved the ability that all of the add-ons brought to the party, but in the end, it was nearly unusable for me. I could work for 30 minute at most before it would hang or crash. Safari is fast and I rarely have problems. I miss the add-ons a bit, but in the end, Safari does the job that FireFox couldn’t.
Opera ist still the best (and fastest) brother on earth. I miss a lot of functions in FF, which are normal in Opera. (In FF you have to use a lot of extensions for it –> slow)
@ Daniel: it’s more than safe to jump on the Firefox 3 wagon already. I’ve been using it since beta 1, and at the moment (beta 5) it is almost flawless for me. Plugins are either already made compatible or you can do so yourself in 99% of the cases (it’s dead simple too; check it out at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Edit.....patibility).
The memory leak problem is either gone or significantly decreases, the stability is overwhelming, and its speed is gorgeous.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html
I use safari on OSX, fire fox is a lcose second. Ther should have been a primary, and secondary choice
Been using Firefox3 B5 and loving it, strangely much faster and more robust than Firefox2 was for me. I do use Webkit as well, but FF is key for me. Webdeveloper, Tamper Data and Firebug are indispensible to me.
I have been using Firefox for just a year now and love it! Other than the obvious benefits of lots of add-ons and flexibility, I like that I can set up a different profile for each family member. This way my six year old can sign on and see PBS Kids as his home page, with bookmarks in the toolbar for important sites like Thomas (the Tank Engine), Bob (the Builder) and Nick (Jr.) Of course, he could surf the internet, but he doesn’t know that yet!
Hello Daniel,
I have to say that I have heard lots of good things about Firefox but I use IE more than it and also IE is my favourite browser. I have both on my PC but most of my work is done on IE. May be I will opt for FF when the version 3 finally become available.
ie i know firefox is better but i am just use to ie
I mostly use Firefox, and love the plugins, but I love OmniWeb for the Mac. Not every site renders perfectly (although strangely, there are some sites it’s much easier to view in OW than FF).
6 of one, as each has its own pros and cons, but if it doesn’t offend your sensibilities to pay for a browser ($15) OmniWeb is worth taking a look at, this coming from a long-time Firefox fan.
It seems firefox has no competition.
IE is not an option, period.
Most of the real competitors are good enough to keep me satisfied, but I like Opera best. But, that said, I use firefox, mostly, because of Firebug.
Now I’m pretty excited about Opera Dragonfly, I think it might be my chance to turn to Opera as my main browser.
I use Maxthon: lots of plug-ins, and it uses IE’s graphic engine so all the sites are shown correctly
firefox gets my vote, and it seems almost everyone elses too
I have been using the new “social media” browser, Flock, for the past month or so. For me, on a Mac, it’s far superior than Safari and Firefox. It runs as quickly but it gives you many, many more features to allow you collect up sites and it was designed for those who frequent social media sites. It is one of those: “you have to see it in action” to get the full idea of its capabilities. (No, I don’t work for Flock or own any Flock stock.)
Opera is my primary browser of choice. A lot of the features that come standard with Opera have to be added on via plugins with FireFox, which can bring the open source Gecko-based browser to a screeching halt if you’re not careful.
And yes, Opera can be extended, though not in the way Firefox can, which believe it or not, I actually consider to be a good thing, especially on quality control issues.
I use Firefox as my primary browser. I love the power of plugins, although it might get “dangerous” if you are not careful. I hate the memory usage issues. Firefox sometimes goes crazy when I open Gmail: it starts consuming memory until it reaches about 1.2 GB! (A screenshot is at http://twitpic.com/ugc) I hope such issues will be resolved in the final release of Firefox 3.
I think I’ll give Opera 9.5 a try once the final release is out.
FLOCK.com!
It’s built on Firefox, but it has social networking features built in. And yes, you can use your old Firefox extensions.
I have always used IE. even though it lacks a lot of features, but still i prefer it. The other browser which i prefer is Safari.
@Farfield, same here.
@Keith, give a try to Firefox 3, most of the crash problems are gone for me.
@Tobbi, I tried Opera in my Linux machine, and it was not half as fast as Firefox. I guess it depends on the OS also.
@Inge Janse, I am using Firefox 3 already on my Laptop, but forgot to upgrade on my Linux machine. Will do soon.
@Felix, yes I am loving FF3 also.
@WheresThebox, apart from the fact that is much more secure of a browser when you have other people using your PC also.
@Siddharth, yeah definitely give it a try to Firefox 3 when it comes out (or even now!).
@Sarah, I really wouldn’t pay $15 for a browser when you have such a good free alternative around. Must be a tough market for them
,
@Pchere, yeah they are growing month after month.
@Guilerme, I heard about Dragon Fly, looks like a gift for Opera users.
@Stan, I gave flock a brief try sometime ago, but I should do it again to see if I like it. My problem was that it was not as fast as FF in linux.
1. Maxthon for general browsing/downloading multimedia websites. It has all feautures I want without any extension.
2. Opera for “read only” purpose
because Maxthon(IE) and Firefox can’t handle massive tabs as well as Opera. Opera is the last browser to freeze when I open too many tabs, and it’s fast too.
I use firefox only when I need its extensions (Web Dev Toolbar, Firebug, etc.)
Flock when I want to upload multiple pictures to photobucket
There’re time when Firefox was my primary browser though, at that time Maxthon became somewhat unstable and lack of some feautures it has nowadays.(web sniffer for download multimedia), float button for easily saving image, screencapture)
When Maxthon was more stable, and I can’t stand Firefox memory leak, so I switched. (before that, Maxthon is primary, firefox is secondary, no opera yet)
I may switch again after Firefox 3 is released. (I tried it before but don’t like it)
The way Maxthon handle tabs and lost sessions is better than Opera and Firefox2(with many extensions), imho.
Firefox 3 - 50% of the time…because I can’t use any plugins
Firefox 2 - 49% of the time…for my useful plugins
IE 7 - 1% of the time - when Firefox doesn’t work for some reason
speed, security, stability - don’t see any reason why opera shouldn’t be my nr1. sure, ff3 seems to be a good deal faster than ff2. so what? opera 9.5 is coming…
As a freelancer, I just can’t understand how anyone would use any other browser than Firefox! It’s by far the best! I am so surprised anyone would choose IE. Who in their right mind would prefer IE?
Hi, i really like your site layout. I will continue reading here, so i subscribed! Maybe you could check out my site, and even subscribe if you like. Thanks, Zach.
Why I use firefox? Because firefox: makes surfing the web faster, find stuff easier, simplified privacy, better bookmarks and history, accessible, intelligent, responsive, modern and user friendly download manager, customizable and extendable. Firefox will KISS (Keep It Simple and Straight-Forward) you better than others.
I am not a people who work with computer at all. I just wanna say that opera mini is my favourite browser on my mobile. i can not imagine how is live without this mini browser. even when i am going to rest room, i bring this browser to surf the net..
I love firefox because the browser is being updated regularly with lots of useful addons. I have been a firefox fan for years and i used to recommend firefox to my near and dear ones.
http://www.simplewayoflife.net
I used to use Firefox, but recently switched to Maxthon.
Maxthon was faster, handled tabs / close sessions better, uses IE engine, and reopens accidentally closed tabs — all without any plugins. With Firefox, I needed to add a bunch of plugins. There’s a huge memory leak and the browser crashes quite often. In addition, some pages I access often can’t be opened in Firefox. That’s why I switched to Maxthon.
My only disappoint with Maxthon is that it doesn’t have as many plugins such as the Del.ico.us toolbar like Firefox, but otherwise, it’s a faster and more stable browser.
Maybe I’ll switch back to Firefox after Firefox 3 comes out. We’ll see how fast and stable it is.
I use Flock at work and Firefox 2 at home so I guess I have to vote twice
I use FireFox as well. There are just too many Add-Ons that I use every day that I couldnt live without, and they arent available in other browsers.
I have been making a list of the Plug-ins that I use.
http://silencematters.com/2008.....s-add-ons/
6% internet explorer? really…come on guys !
(it should be 0%)
Thank you for giving me the push to try Firefox again! I had tried it a couple of years ago, but had some problems so I went back to IE. After reading all the comments for this post, I decided to try Firefox 3 Beta 5 and I love it. I can’t believe how fast it is compared to IE. Great post!
I’ve been happiest with Firefox, but occasionally switch over to IE for pages that don’t display correctly in Firefox. It drives me crazy that so many sites and blogs don’t seem to design their pages to work properly in Firefox. Even some large web companies have pages that don’t display well in Firefox–overlapping text is a problem I often run into on certain sites.
But I especially hate it when after I’ve clicked a link to another page and then I come back to the original page, instead of being taken back to the part of the page where I clicked on the link, I’m taken back to the top of the original page and I have to scroll down again to where I was before clicking the link. Very annoying. So I really appreciate blogs and websites that do it right and take me back to the spot where I was before.
The latest firefox 3 beta 5 which so flexible. Firefox is totally secured. This is one step ahead of the all others browsers.
Honestly Firefox is the best I’ve used. But IE is a habit that’s hard to break. For so long, it was a habit to click on IE whenever I needed the web that I still instinctively do it. Sadly, it freezes and crashes a lot and every time I ask myself why I don’t just use Firefox in the first place
@SE7EN, I need to try Maxthon one of these days, I keep hearing good things about it.
@Aseem, my browsing pattern is kind similar to yours indeed
.
@ph, Opera is dead slow for me on Linux, so not sure.
@Chase, people take time to chase, and virtually 90% of the people out there were using to IE at least once in their lives.
@AG Syam, I agree. Once you find your way around the Firefox features and plugins it just bumps your productivity.
@caTcode, mobile browsing is a whole new game, I am curious to see what browser will take the pie there.
@Susan, glad to know you are liking Maxthon. As I told Se7en, I think I will give it a try at least to know what is it about.
@amoena, Flock promised a lot, but I could not find real value on its “social” features.
@Adam, for each his own
.
@Melodee, yeah Firefox 3 is amazing.
@Corey, same here. My bank does not let me login if I am using Firefox. Pretty annoying.
@Karthik, definitely, and I think FF3 will bring even more users to the Mozilla house.
firefox is simply the best!!! fullstop.
After my IE7 crashed my comuter for the second time in the row, I went for hunt on the most suitable replacement browser. After several test runs, I stopped on Maxthon. I am using it for almost 2 years now, and quite satisfied with its performance.
I’m using Flock as well. I love it and find its extra features to be extremely valuable. It’s like Firefox on steroids!
Interesting to see that IE is third and Safari is second.
Firefox Rules!
Firefox of course
I generally use IE. It’s as fast and ease, although it tend to be blocked every time my vista decide to update itself.
I only use FF when downloading something from youtube (I love the video download add-on).
Safari was my second choise when my firewall blocks IE and FF (it tends to happen a lot to me), but I am begining to fall in love with Opera.