Internet Explorer V’s Mozilla Firefox V’s Google Chrome

Historically businesses and individuals would use whichever web browser software came pre-installed on their machine but now that the new release of windows 7 the widest used operating system does not come preinstalled with web browsing software, it will display a ballot box where you choose which web browser you would like to use.

When it comes to IT and all it entails the saying “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” is very apt. But we believe that businesses should be more aware of their options and hope our thoughts will add to your confidence in making a choice rather than just settling for your existing browser.

To make this more interesting and for different points of view, we have asked Karla our Office manager who is completely non technical and also Craig our Senior technician who thankfully for us is very technical, to review three of the top browsers and to let you know what they thought.

We chose to investigate and report on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.

Karla

Firstly I would like to say that until this newsletter I had never used a browser other than Internet Explorer and I am not in any way technically minded and it never occurred to me there were others. With this in mind I tried and tested the three browsers. I found free downloads of the browsers and in no time at all I had three different browsers on my PC.

Initially I was out of my comfort zone with Firefox and Chrome simply because I had never used them before and things were in different places. Once I started using them I found very little difference in what they do. I found that when Google Chrome displayed pages many of them didn’t look right. I am told (by the guys here) that web pages are normally designed for IE and different browsers display them differently however I didn’t have these problems with Firefox. I found that Chrome was much harder to navigate and seemed to missing certain aspects or they were much harder to find than in IE. I found Firefox very good and much easier to find my way around than Chrome. Firefox was different too but in a good way. It was very well laid out and if I wanted to find something or make it do something it was clear how I would do this.

Both Chrome and Firefox had on first glance less features than IE, however on closer inspection they were just hidden in menus or drop downs. Admittedly Chrome hid them better! I think this move in both browsers was a good one as it kept the menu or title bar clear to see the more important things like the pages I have open. Tabbed browsing and favourites are my two most used features of browsing and I found Firefox excellent on both. However Chrome I was not as impressed with, I would have preferred Chrome to be more obvious about where features were, Firefox was much easier to navigate.

In summary I think that Internet Explorer is adequate as I never knew there was even another world of browsers out there so it can’t be that bad, but who wants adequate when you have good or great? I would recommend giving Firefox a try, quite simply, it works and it works well. I found it slightly faster than IE and it has some great features. Personally I will be switching now to Firefox and would urge you to do the same.

Craig

I have used IE previously, but I currently use Firefox and it is by choice. I first tried Firefox a number of years back and found it to be faster and more reliable with improved security. A great feature that I see benefit in as an IT professional, is the security feature which if you click on the icon to the left of the URL will show you security details of the page you are visiting. When you click “more information” it is really clear what information the site is using about you which can help you identify potentially dangerous sites. Another great feature is the customization possibilities with Firefox 3.0. There are add-ons for everything from external download managers to language translators. These are very useful and I regularly use them they are easy to install.

In the event of a browser crash or accidental shutdown, you are given the option to restore all the tabs and pages that you had open before the browser prematurely closed. This feature alone makes Firefox very attractive. Firefox has enhanced capability allowing you to easily subscribe to RSS news feeds.

I did have a quick look at Chrome but felt there were still items that needed alot of work before it is put into the same league as Firefox and IE. It lacked for me certain vital elements and until these are corrected or developed it is not a browser i will be using in the near future. Google have however released Google Chrome Frame intended for developers and testing at the moment, for the more brave among you follow this link http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/

I would recommend you switch to Firefox and never look back. It is simple to download and install follow link http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

Overall it looks like Firefox is the clear winner as always dont be afraid of asking the questions to find out how your systems or PC can best serve you or your business.