Best browser?

HiDDeNMisT

HiDDeNMisT

Posts: 220   +14
With all the up and coming new browsers I want to read everyone's opinion.

Which Internet browser do you think is the best and why?
 
I like Opera because it seems to have a lot of the features people get extensions for in firefox. I've also used it for over 10 years, so it feels natural to me. There are a lot of complaints from people that don't know any better that Opera doesn't have decent ad blocking - thats kind of true - there isn't "adblock plus" for Opera, but its extremely easy to find a "urlfilter.ini" that is the same blocklist.

Another great thing is Opera Link, so you can use Opera on any OS and still have your bookmarks and passwords sync'd.

Yes, you can do all this with Firefox and extensions, but why when something else does it automatically and is a smaller install.
 
I see.

I myself have never used Opera. When I first started with computers, I was actually using AOL Online to connect using dial-up. Then I started using IE when I figured that IE was better then AOL.

But then I found Firefox and I have been using it ever since.
 
Really depends on what you think are valuable features in a browser.
I think IE 8 is very good, IE 9 better in some ways, in that I like the Bing bar, I always look for any new e-mail notification as soon as it launches. Very stable, quick launch of favourites along the top, and always launches correct width on my screen.
Firefox seems a bit faster to render web pages, but I don't think the toolbar layout is as easy to use as IE9.
But I use it often, and always try the latest stable version to find out what has changed. No complaints really though, it works well.
Chrome is said to be fastest, but 2 problems with my setup,
1) It takes about 10 seconds to set itself up and show the home page.
2) Every page is always way too narrow to suit my Dell 19" widescreen, and I need to 'ctrl + ' it up to fit my screen, every time I use it. (I may have missed a trick there, maybe my fault.)
Opera is different to the others, and needs practice, but when I use it I like the speed-dial page, and I do use it from a flash stick on other PC's I work on. Worth trying out for a time to really make a judgement.
Main thing about the latest browsers, is that you get more web page, less toolbars.
Really pays off to get use to using tabs, not long ago we had to launch a new browser to keep 2 pages open !
 
Yeah I still remember those days. I myself have to check out Opera but ever since I found firefox I kind of lost all repect for thr IE browser I guess I have to try out thr new one to see how gokd it is.

One of the main reason I like firefox over IE is that from my experience IE has less security then firefox. I may be wrong but that's pretty much a heavy reason why I'm so dependent on it.
 
I admit I used to be a FireFox fanboi. But since 4.0, i've noticed it drop in speed. It isn't as fast as it used to be. I ditched IE a LONG time ago, played around with IE9 but didn't care for it. I've played around with Opera as well (I loved it when it's built-in voice commands actually worked), but when push comes to shove, Chrome is currently my browser of choice.

With FireFox, though, I do like the tab groups idea, but I think it could be better. It'd be nicer if it gave you a list of the groups when you click the little arrow (instead, it just shows you the tabs in the group). It's still a nice feature, though. And I have noticed a slight increase in speed, so I may end up reverting back to FF pretty soon. The thing I like about it is that it saves my unpinned tabs. So I can close the browser down and when I come back, everything is still there. With chrome, I lose those unpinned tabs....now i'm talking myself back into FF, lol. Chrome does give me room in the tab area than FF does, though. But with the grouped tabs feature, it's not as big of a problem unless i'm constantly switching back and forth between tabs, in which case it's annoying going from one group the the next.............ignore me, i'm just talking to myself now, lol.
 
LOL @ matrix86 "ignore me, i'm just talking to myself now"

The last time I used Chrome it was when it first came out. I didn't like it and kept using firefox. I do hear that Chrome and Firefox are fighting for the number 2 spot so i guess ill check it out.
 
Yeah, sorry bout that. Sometimes, I don't really think about things a lot until someone asks me a question, then once I get started, all those missing thoughts come rushing in at once and next thing you know, i'm having a conversation with myself and the person on the other end is looking at me like ".....um........am I still part of the conversation?" :p I really gotta work on that, i'm a very disorganized person upstairs, lol. I'm not stupid or slow, just very disorganized....

But yeah, Chrome and FF are fighting. Opera doesn't have a very large user base because most people only hear of Chrome, FF, and IE, leaving Opera out in the desert (poor Opera). Chrome has been gaining usage while FF has been declining. If they can get their speeds back up (which they seem to be doing), I can see people coming back to it. Currently, though, it is the most customizable of all the browsers. MANY more themes and add-ons. But you gotta remember that themes and add-ons do slow down browsers.
 
SNGX1275 said:
I like Opera because it seems to have a lot of the features people get extensions for in firefox.
Click to expand...

Except they don't do a proper extension for Xmarks, which is a crying shame as I quite like Opera. :(

So I use Google Chrome these days. I was a Firefox guy for many years, but had massive issues with the browser a while back with constant crashing, so moved to Google Chrome.

Maybe one day I'll go back to Firefox, but for now I find Chrome fits the way I use my browser much better.
 
I had to go on a course where I was using a different pc every day. The pc's in that office had IE installed, but I took a flash drive with my 'choice' software on.
I used an old version of Firefox portable 2.0, and it proved over and again, to be faster than the installed Internet Explorer. Plus as an extra, I could keep all my work off of PC's I wouldn't use again.
 
For sheer simplicity and relatively good speed IE9 along with FF5.x are the browsers I use on daily basis. I checked chrome but never really liked it since back then it was like having a 'trusted spyware' on your PC (although I've been told by some good people on this board that Google has started behaving in more 'responsible' way, but I am in no mood to trust them). By the way I do use Opera as well, but very rarely, and I think SNG is spot on with regard to its feature set right out of the box. In the end it all boils down to personal preference, as the performance differences are not too big amongst all the contenders.
 
A vote for Opera here. I am not one of those who feels screwed out of .000016 of a second if my page doesn't load the fastest ever...although Opera claims to be be the fastest anyway. A web browser is more about fit ,feel, flow, and features ( that was not an intentional alliteration)
and Opera 'flows' the best for my taste. I also use and enjoy 'Speed Dial©' a great deal. Apply V-Glass to the default browser and its makes for a pleasant and high functioning experience.
 
red1776 said:
I also use and enjoy 'Speed Dial©' a great deal. Apply V-Glass to the default browser and its makes for a pleasant and high functioning experience.
Click to expand...

I love the speed dial extension for Chrome and FF. Not so much the built-in one on Opera. The extension for the other 2 browsers is just so much more customizable, which is a big thing for me.
 
I currently have & use FF, Google Chrome & SeaMonkey. SeaMonkey is my default browser because I was having problems with FF. Both FF & SeaMonkey are in the same family. SeaMonkey loads a bit faster for me.:)
 
SNGX1275 said:
I like Opera because it seems to have a lot of the features people get extensions for in firefox. I've also used it for over 10 years, so it feels natural to me. There are a lot of complaints from people that don't know any better that Opera doesn't have decent ad blocking - thats kind of true - there isn't "adblock plus" for Opera, but its extremely easy to find a "urlfilter.ini" that is the same blocklist.
Click to expand...
The lack of "NoScript" for Opera is the deal breaker against my using it on a more or less "default" basis.

I had another bizarre issue with Opera, where it would crash my desktop graphics (Intel 915 IGP). This when I used it for downloading very large files.

The disclaimer(s):

(1) this was a much earlier version than is available. at present.

(2) Other than this particular issue, I liked it better than IE.

(3) I haven't upgraded my FF past 3.6xxx. So I don't know what happiness or sorrows are waiting for me @ Ver 4.0 or beyond
 
I had no issues with FF 4.x once it passed Beta 4/5, till the final release and now on FF 5.x.x. I didn't stuck around with FF 3.x.x because of its painfully slow start time.
 
Me personally I like Firefox, unlike other browsers firefox doesn't run on Active X or VD scripts which makes it secure against hackers. Also there is lots of plug ins with firefox such as spellcheck, font changes, spam filters and even a search engine bar at the top of the page.
 
captaincranky said:
The lack of "NoScript" for Opera is the deal breaker against my using it on a more or less "default" basis.

I had another bizarre issue with Opera, where it would crash my desktop graphics (Intel 915 IGP). This when I used it for downloading very large files.

The disclaimer(s):

(1) this was a much earlier version than is available. at present.

(2) Other than this particular issue, I liked it better than IE.

(3) I haven't upgraded my FF past 3.6xxx. So I don't know what happiness or sorrows are waiting for me @ Ver 4.0 or beyond
Click to expand...

You just rightclick anywhere on the page "edit site preferences"-> "Scripting" -> Uncheck what you want.

Opera has a nice and easy rightclick -> "block content" that can be used to block entire AD urls with wildcards or anything else like those annoying chatboxes on some pages.

Anyways I've been using Opera since the early 90's and never looked back. My backup browser is Chrome (had some stability issues with firefox) I really dislike the "there is no menus/buttons/anything" in chrome tho. It has a "iphone" feel to me where basically you have to jump through 900 hoops just to get a bookmarks menu.

Also Opera has a nice diagnostic util for developers called dragonfly that lets you debug javascript and a ton of other stuff.

It has a mail and irc client built in, torrent support built in, honestly as far as customization and features go I don't think any browser out there even comes close to Opera.
 
WOW for Opera to have such low support (rated 2%) on the charts, there sure is allot of support in this thread.
 
Thats cos only the 1337 people use Opera :p

The normal folks use IE and whatever has the prettiest adverts(Chrome)
 
lipe123 said:
You just rightclick anywhere on the page "edit site preferences"-> "Scripting" -> Uncheck what you want.

Opera has a nice and easy rightclick -> "block content" that can be used to block entire AD urls with wildcards or anything else like those annoying chatboxes on some pages.
Click to expand...

Thats not as robust as NoScript for FF. But here is an article about NotScript (NoScript like features for Opera). So that should bring script blocking close to what FF can do with NoScript.

For adblocking I use the Fanboy custom urlfilter.ini.
 
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