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Browser Roll Call

08:30 / 16.01.06

i've been fucking around with CSS and HTML recently, and road testing all my various creations in all the browsers at my disposal.

doing this is necessary, they say, as different browsers interpret code differently. most of the problems, however, come from the popular use of IE, and microsoft's strange reluctance to conform to the standards everyone else seems happy to comply with(maybe you cant really say one company is causing all your headaches as a web designer, but that's certainly how i feel).

my own personal choice of browser has been firefox, mozilla's hippest product. i have been using it for about a year now, and have been pretty satisfied. most of the issues i have had have been through my own error or stupidity, and it seems to render all sites well.
(i have noticed some screen names breaking the line of barbelith on firefox that dont with others, but that's about it)

in my messing i have spent a limited go on almost all browsers. in doing so i have come to realise that opera is probably just as good as mozilla, if a little faster and with less adaptibility. i'll prolly stick with mozilla because of the web developer add on, but there isnt much in it.
to be honest, if i hadnt started playing with CSS and had a horrible virus experience i can imagine i might still be using explorer.

so.

what do you use?
do you have to make do with what is installed on a machine that isnt yours?
if you chose it, why do you use the browser you do?
is it convenience?
is it the browser of your father and his father before him?
does it have unique functionality that you cant do without?

tell us all what your favourite is and why, and then maybe we can tell each other how stupid we are for using the wrong one.

14:35 / 16.01.06

so no one else cares, then?

14:46 / 16.01.06

I'm not particularly sophisticated in such things, but after all the anti-IE* comments on Barbelith, I finally switched to Firefox. In fact I think Cube installed it when he networked our computers at home. Tabbed browsing was cool. But it kept crashing on me and junking my bookmarks which fucked me right off.

Someone here mentioned Opera so I gave it a shot and it's worked like a dream ever since. Tabbed browsing with no crashing. And I don't get problems with usernames fucking up my Barb-viewing.

All work computers have IE so I use that here. I'm not bothered enough to change it.

* Didn't I read on Barbelith that just by having IE on your computer you are still at risk anyway? So why do people cite security as a reason to use another browser? Or am I missing something?

15:13 / 16.01.06

the people who say so are not quite as up on the facts as they seem.
mozilla and opera are far from fsafe, although they are safer.

the problem with IE is that some scripts are written to take advantage of code that is peculiar to microsoft and that they are often embedded into websites so that visiting them triggers the pain.

visiting them on something other than IE will mean that they never come into contact.

some viruses are designed to get into your system and then fuck you up frrom the inside using loopholes in explorer. those ones that can get in on other things will still be able to take advantage of your having IE on your machine.

so safer, but not safe.
even if you delete IE you will only be fsafer, not safe.

many of my trojans came in through kazaa lite and the problem was then exacerbated by my use of MS products, rather than arriving through browsing.

15:28 / 16.01.06

I mainly use Safari, Apple's bespoke web browser and have few complaints with it... Firefox is my back up browser - useful to help manage multiple accounts using cookies...

I too get right fucked off with lazy twats like the people behind Odeon's web presence who code their wares to only work on IE (a browser that is no longer available for the mac). Still, Fuck 'em. Thanks to their lazy incompetence I seldom see films Odeon cinemas...

All Acting Regiment

16:54 / 16.01.06

Firefox. Haven't (touch wood) had the crashing problem more than once in all of about two years of using it. It loads things faster and better, and if it can't, it finds out how, automatic style. Also you can type, say, "Sausages" into the search bar and *PING* it'll go straight to a usually very useful sausages website. I like it.

18:03 / 16.01.06

I use Firefox on OSX, and I have few problems, although it has crashed a few times - it's not bug-free.

There are a few things that make me prefer it over Safari, and the main one is tabbed browsing. Before I moved to a Mac, I used Linux, and Firefox was my browser of choice there too, as it was when I used my Windows partition.

I may switch to Safari since it appears to be more stable, and a bit quicker at loading pages.

18:19 / 16.01.06

I use Safari at home and Firefox at work, but haven't been completely pleased with either. But both are better than IE, def. In fact, since my mac's IE is so old, it just doesn't work on many sites.

(Can you readily get rid of IE on a machine if you use other MSWord products? I haven't tried, because I was thinking the MS programs were still all tightly knit, and wouldn't let me get rid of it. Because I really have to use MSword and Excel for work, on both home and work computers, no way around it. Can I just delete IE from my Macs?)

18:26 / 16.01.06

You can't remove IE from a Windows machine, but it might be possible to remove it from a Mac.

I'd try, anyway. I hate the damn thing, but have to use it at work since we run an old version of Windows.

18:28 / 16.01.06

I use Firefox, both at home and at when at work, where I install it if necessary. The tabbed browsing really sells it for me, as does the google toolbar, which is far superior to the IE version. I had some trouble with it eating my bookmarks at work (never at home), but I put that down to the IT department, who are always screwing with my settings.
Firefox runs faster, crashes less and it's not by Microsoft. I've not tried safari or opera, though some of my more techie friends recommend them.

02:37 / 17.01.06

Firefox all the way. Tabs are great, but the real selling point for me is the extensions. You can add browsing features at will, and with 1.5 you can add as many as you want without it getting flakey.

Oh and RSS live bookmarks are fantastic. Although I STILL can't get Barbelith to load. No idea why....?

Opera seemed a little lightweight to me, and IE is a joke. Why anyone would stick with IE is completely beyond me.

08:04 / 17.01.06

The extensions on Firefox are the icing on the cake, I don't know what I'd do without the Web Developer and Del.icio.us extensions, not to mention I must not fear!

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:18 / 17.01.06

Firefox. I didn't have the crashing problem AT ALL until I read about it on Barbelith, then it suddenly started happening all the time.
Since installing 1.07 on my new PC, though, everything's been reeeeeeaalll groooovy.

08:28 / 17.01.06

Firefox all the way. For exactly the reasons you stated; css and the web developer plugin (press ctrl + shift + f: this is the "most amazing thing").

03:07 / 18.01.06

There are a few things that make me prefer it over Safari, and the main one is tabbed browsing.
I don't use Safari anymore because I can't update it on an OS 10.2.8 (which irritates me exceedingly), but I always had tabs on Safari. It was just a matter of changing some preferences somewhere.

Now I use Opera, which is too slow, or Firefox, which is nice, but I cannot move across tabs without using the mouse, and I have better things to do than pick up my entire hand and move it over nine inches.

01:46 / 20.01.06

I started out on Netscape, then Mozilla, Firebird, Firefox versions 0.0whatever up till 1.5 now. So I'm obviously biased. I think it loads pages faster, has fewer incompatibilities and page-load problems than anything else. (For those pesky IE-only pages, there's the View-as-IE extension for people running under Windows or MacOS.) The extensions are, indeed, magnificent. I couldn't live without Adblock.

IE, any incarnation, is the pits. Trundles forEVER loading pages, has stupid defaults that display everything in huge type, whispers info to Bill, and on and on and on. And, of course, is a sitting duck for viruses because if they closed the loopholes, it would no longer be able to whisper to Bill.

I used Opera briefly back when it first started. I was turned off by its klunky screen layout then. No doubt, it's improved.

Safari's name seems to come up a lot in incompatibility lists, which has put me off trying it.

02:53 / 20.01.06

I'm with the Firefox crowd, too. Used IE before, then I tried Firefox and I never looked back.
Firefox just works for me. Only crashed once or twice. No bookmark problems. Tabs. Gotta love the tabs. I have 8 open right now.

09:38 / 20.01.06

I actually prefer Opera or Camino as a browser, but I'm using Firefox for two reasons:

1. It's not Opera's fault (well, it is sometimes; usually isn't Opera's fault) but some rather nifty web apps like Gmail and Writely don't work with it.

2. I like to be able to bookmark stuff at work and have it appear at home, as well as access my home bookmarks from work, and none of the web bookmarking systems I've tried have really been satisfactory - but with Firefox I can use the Bookmarks Synchroniser extension. (Although it doesn't work automatically on my home Mac, I have to sync by clicking a button.)

Goodness Gracious Meme

10:00 / 20.01.06

but I cannot move across tabs without using the mouse, and I have better things to do than pick up my entire hand and move it over nine inches.

Do you mean 'switch between tabs'?

In which case: ctrl + page up or page down.

Mozilla, mainly because people who know more about computers tell me to, and I use gmail alot. Had no problems with crashing *touches wood* at all. And tabs are teh rox0r.

Goodness Gracious Meme

10:06 / 20.01.06

and damn you, invisible_al, as I'm about to spend waaaay too much time peering at mozilla extensions.

A fall of geckos

13:17 / 20.01.06

I've been using firefox for some time now, and have reached the point where having to use IE (at work, or in web cafes etc) irritates the hell out of me.

So I found a portable version that runs rather nicely from a USB key.

14:32 / 20.01.06

I use both Netscape Navigator 7.2 (about to upgrade to version 8 by the time I hit "post reply" and IE at home.

I mainly switched to Navigator (which is built by mozzilla I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) because my main e-mail addresses are with netscape and IE was giving me problems accessing them. The tabs are fantastic, especially when you're roaming through online communitie and can have a main window and other windows of interest open in the same browser.

But I've found for some sites Navigator has issues (such as Lycos where another of my e-mail accounts is) so retain IE.

Plus as a good little web designer I also have copies of mozilla and firefox on my laptop to check cross platform performance too.

15:38 / 20.01.06

I switched from IE to Firefox per Barbelith recommendations some time ago, but it started to crash and grew worse and worse until I could barely use it. Then I tried Opera and that was great for about two days and then even worse than Firefox. So I'm back to IE. I miss the tabbed browsing, but at least it fucking works! No problems for the last few months.

16:42 / 20.01.06

In which case: ctrl + page up or page down.
thanks