Browser Choice

Browser choice is always an interesting thing to watch. Like picking a manufacturer of cars or televisions it really comes down to the individual. The only advantage is browsers are free, so you can have as many as you like!

Apple attracts its usual fanboy loyalty, Safari is used by most. This includes iPhone users too. On their phones people in general do not move away from the inbuilt browser.

Add to the list Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer and you have an almost complete list. 20 years ago you would have included Netscape. Those 5 browsers pretty much cover the past and present of how people surf the web.

I use Firefox, but in general I do not want to know what browser I am using. I remove most of the toolbars and pick the smallest navigation buttons I can. I want my screen area to be as big as possible for the sites I am looking at. I do not want a bling or retro themed look.

As Internet Explorer 6 slowly dies off the top 4 browsers pretty much show the web in the same way. So it is down to brand loyalty and addons to sway your decision.

Let's take a moment though to mark Internet Explorer 6. IE6 was written at a time when Microsoft believed it wrote the standards for computing. They would happily ignore any worldwide governing body if they wanted, and ride rough shot over the rules. So IE6 didn't follow the rules of the web. At first Microsoft could get away with this, as websites were very basic and most people used Microsoft products. The web though brings together all computers, and standards have to be followed. IE6 really embarrassed its creators when it came to sites designed using CSS. CSS is a design option which makes creating a consistent looking site very easy. Unfortunately with IE6 this meant consistently bad looking sites! Microsoft tried to move on from it but this has proved difficult with so many companies locked into Windows XP, and with it IE6. Now with Windows 7 becoming the corporate standard we are seeing the death of IE6, slowly.

One site I like to visit is web statCounter for my browser statistics. It gives an idea of how popular the different browsers are, as well as other things like screen size. This site showed the battle between IE and Firefox, and Firefox seemed to be heading towards pole position. Then Google arrived with Chrome, and as Twitter would say #GameChanger.

As Google moved from just Internet searching to YouTube, email, online documents, maps, an operating system and their browser they have gained quite a following. With their massive advertising budget they quickly became the number one browser. It helps that Chrome is a very nice browser. It works to follow the web standards and tries to enhance your online experience.