How to Choose your Web Browser

Tools of the Trade!

If you like surfing the web, catching a few waves about the peninsulas of the vast ‘net, your web browser is your trusty surf board!

Web browsers are what you use on a daily basis to surf the Internet and if you are reading this, chances are you are using a web browser right now, this very second. As you build your website with the BlueVoda website builder, for hosting with VodaHost web hosting, one of your major goals is to cater to the web browsers that your visitors are using. The job of your web browser as it were is to find web pages (and their constituent files) on the Internet and display the information contained within to the user in the form of a web page of the kind that you are reading right now.

Knowing your web browsers (as well as roughly how many people use each browser) is vitally important if you are building a website. You may wish to check the compatibility of your web page with each of the major browsers, for example, so you can get some idea of how your visitors are seeing your website.

While the original browser war, between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator were long ago won by “IE”, a new browser wars has popped up with several contenders (and in a broader scope, very many) vying to be the worlds next most used browser and these are no longer limited to a desktop computers or a laptop, either.

On a personal note, I find it surprising to some degree that Internet Explorer has clung on to the top market share. This may change over the coming months and years with the emergence of the Android and iOS operating systems and the web browsers that these have included (on your Android smart phone, iPhone, iPod etc.)

Web browsers have come a long way and run a lot faster than they did just a few years ago. Aside from running faster and loading web pages quicker, these browsers often offer plenty of different features that can be used to the users advantage. If you enjoy surfing the net on a daily basis, you would benefit greatly in knowing which web browsers are the absolute best.

However, if you are a web designer or website builder, the major browsers below should all be installed on your system, and your website pages should be checked for compatibility with each of them.

Here are our takes to help you make your choice:

BROWSER SHOOTOUT 2012 (THE MAJOR BROWSERS)

INTERNET EXPLORER
Learn more: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/products/ie/home
Score: 3/5
My thoughts: It comes installed as the default web browser on every Windows system in the world and this gives Internet Explorer a huge share of the market. Internet Explorer is one of the oldest web browsers on the Internet, having been around for more than fifteen years now. Within the past fifteen years, many changes have been made to Internet Explore to keep up with the demands of users everywhere. From added features and faster loading time, Internet Explorer 9 is an updated version of the traditional Internet Explorer and it runs faster than it once did several years ago. Internet Explorer 9 comes equipped with an updated search box, add-ons, plenty of extra features, and tabs for browsing. If you were tired of using your outdated older version of Internet Explorer, it may be time for an upgrade to Internet Explorer 9. Users are already raving over the fast loading time for web pages and the extra features that have been added on. Internet Explorer fans seem to love this updated version of the traditional web browser.

SAFARI
Learn more: http://www.apple.com/safari/
Score: 3/5
My thoughts: Safari, much like Internet Explorer, has been around for quite some time. While Safari has been around for a while, it is typically less popular than Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome. However, Safari recently released a new upgraded edition, Safari 5 which is jam packed with tons of cool features that users will love. HTML support is provided on Safari and web browsing is fast and easy to do. Extensions can be added onto Safari 5 at your convenience. While it may not be the first choice or the most popular choice, Safari 5 is bringing a lot to the table and is definitely one of the best web browsers on the Internet at this point.

CHROME
Learn more: http://www.google.com/chrome
Score: 4/5
My thoughts: Google Chrome is another one of the best web browsers available. It can be used on computer with Windows 7, Windows XP and Vista. Google Chrome makes Internet browsing simple and fast. The browsing is so quick and pages load at an extremely fast pace. This is the perfect web browser for people who hate waiting for pages to load. Google Chrome also provides its users with an added sense of security that prevents fishing from taking place. If you have had already experienced some security problems in the past while browsing the Internet, you could benefit greatly from switching over to Google Chrome for the added security that you desire.

FIREFOX
Learn more: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
Score: 5/5
My thoughts: Firefox is one of the best web browsers on the Internet, hands down. Downloading Firefox is absolutely free which means there is no cost to you to use this excellent web browsing program. Aside from being free, the web browser runs fast and loads web pages at a rapid speed. This is important for most website users. When the pages of a website take such a long time to load, users will become annoyed and frustrated. Firefox removes the possibility of frustration by providing fast and easy web browsing for all of its users. Firefox comes equipped with a search box that is simple to use, just about anyone can do it. You can also add on a bunch of different features and change the color skin of your web browser. These are just some of the really cool features that come along with Firefox.

OPERA
Learn more: http://www.opera.com/
Score: 4/5
My thoughts: Opera is one of the pioneers among web browsers. Started out in 1994 as a research project within Telenor, Norway’s leading telecom. Within a year, Opera Software ASA was launched as an independent development company. Today, Opera is headquartered in Norway, with over 700 employees in offices around the world. Opera is adapted to a wide range of platforms, operating systems and embedded Internet products — including Mac, PC and Linux computers, tablets, mobile phones and PDAs. As a result, the Opera browser is the choice of some of the world’s most demanding and knowledgeable users. In an interesting turn of events both Firefox and Opera appeared higher up Google’s search results than Chrome when I last went searching for it … hmmm …

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WINNER: FIREFOX

If you are a web designer and need fast, easy and secure browing that offers all the features that the web offers, you need look no further than Firefox. It is a fantastic web browser.

It can be a tough decision figuring out which web browser is best to use. All of these web browsers have positive features that just about any user would appreciate. Best of all, the creators of these browsers continue to work hard to ensure that the browsers advance along with technology and stay on.

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ROCKMELT. OH YEAH. SHINY AND NEW!

The web browsers listed above are the major browsers on the Internet. That does now, however, mean that they are the only browsers. Here, I’m going to introduce you to a new browser.

I wish to point out that the browser below is still in public beta. This means that while it is ready for release, it is in the final stages of testing and may still contain a few bugs or features that do not work quite right …

ROCKMELT
Learn more: http://www.rockmelt.com/
Score: 4/5
My thoughts: Rockmelt is a fairly new concept and attempts to combine social networking and Rockmelt has an optional Facebook sidebar for efficient communication with contacts. The sidebar also updates Facebook statuses and allows you to view your Facebook notifications. Rockmelt also integrates Twitter. Searching Google in the search bar pops-up a small drop down window with search results.

I feel it is important to point out, however, that much of the functionality that RockMelt offers is available to you by using Facebook and Twitter plug-ins, add-ons and extensions for Firefox, or the equivalent extensions for the other major browsers. That said, however, Rockmelt does see web browsing combined with social networking, which is an increasingly interesting prospect. It is also based, in a round-about way, on Google Chrome

WEB BROWSER ADD-ONS!

Web Browsers can be handy tools and you can teach them many tricks, in the form of plug-ins and add-ons. You should check what plug-ins are available for your browser, certainly with regards web development. While Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, Macromedia’s Flash player, and other common plug-ins suggest themselves the moment you encounter a site that requires them, other browser plug are harder to find.

Do a little searching and you’ll be surprised just how much functionality you ca add to your web browser, from different looks and designs to colourful tabs.

You should take care however to install add-ons from reputable sources or add-ons that you know and trust as adware and spyware can become issues.

INSPECTING YOUR CODE!

Most web browsers allow you to look at the html source code that underlies the website in question.

HTML Code can look daunting but it is useful to know a little HTML. It can offer you great insight into the way the files that comprise the internet work and can show you directly why something is or isn’t working on one of your web pages.

Act fast! Locate the “View Source” or “View Page Source” option within your web browser and start having a look at the html that makes up your favorite websites.

PROXY BROWSERS!

A proxy browser refers to any web browser used by a computer that uses a proxy server to access a website or file the user wants to see instead of connecting directly to it from the user’s computer. Proxy browsers allow users to browse the Internet anonymously. Typically, a computer sends a request for a website it wants to view and a server processes that request. Then the server sends the desired website back to the computer. With a proxy browser, a special proxy server processes the request and shows a different IP address — the number used to identify an individual computer — than the user’s actual IP address, thus blocking the website from tracing where the web page view came from.

If you are having trouble getting to your website it can be useful to visit a proxy browser and use it to load your website. One such proxy browser is:

If you find that you cannot visit your web pages, dial the address of a proxy browser into your web browser. If your web page displays normally through the proxy browser, you can be sure that . Clear the cache of your wen browser (using CCleaner is especially good at this) and try to reload the page. This is normally just right.

BROWSERS AND WEB HOSTING

In our opinion, Firefox is the best web browser to choose. Firefox has been around for quite some time now and has never failed to offer some of the fastest web page loading speeds as well as privacy and extra features. Firefox started off simple and has continued to grow while adding extra features that the users cannot seem to get enough of. In fact, Firefox has been rated the most popular web browser on the Internet.

However, while Firefox is the type of browser we would suggest, you can still benefit from trying the other web browsers too. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari are all fairly good for loading pages fast and offering a sense of added security for the users’ convenience. And it does not hurt to give Rockmelt a try either. For example, if you are the type of person who spends most of their Internet time on social networking platforms, you would probably prefer to use Rockmelt because it is mostly convenient for social networking website users.

Firefox’s promoters will brand IE as a completely behind-the-times, non-standards-supporting browser, but the standards Firefox supports haven’t yet been ratified by the organization that’s been the official keeper of the standards, the W3C. Firefox’s support for the new HTML5 <video> tag is a good example: Though the tag itself is adopted by the W3C, the Ogg Theora video codec Firefox supports with the tag is anything but.

HOW TO CHOOSE A WEB BROWSER?

One thing’s for sure: There’s absolutely no lack of choice in today’s market, with speed, site compatibility, and convenience features abounding in free browsers both from the large software companies and open source projects. There’s so much variety now the big players aren’t to your taste, there are interesting lesser-known browsers, such as the recent Japanese import, Lunascape 6, which actually combines the rendering engines of Firefox, IE, and Safari. Whichever you choose, your browsing is bound to be smoother than it was even two years ago.

If you’re an everyday user, using Google Chrome, Opera or Firefox will provide a fast and reliable surfing experience. I probably wouldn’t recommend Internet Explorer or Safari to anyone (well, certainly Windows users) … Try out Rockmelt instead. Try Maxthon or Midori or any of the other browsers. There’s a great deal of choice out there!

If you’re a web designer … use all of the MAJOR browsers and become accustomed to using add-ons (such as Firebug, for example) along with Firefox

If you’re a Mac user, on Safari’s home ground, all’s good.

Suggested reading: “The Secrets to Promoting Your Website Online” by VodaHost web hosting