What's your primary web browser?

[1992casey]

Every once in a while, it's interesting to see what people use to browse the Web. Although you can only "vote" for one option, I'd also be interested to see what people might use as secondary browsers.

[1992casey]

I use Firefox 3.6.7 (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6;

en-US; rv:1.9.2.7) Gecko/20100713 Firefox/3.6.7) as my primary browser.

With extensions, I can customize it to have the features I like.

 

I do jump over to other browsers quite a bit, though. Lately, I've been playing a lot with SRWare Iron. Essentially, Iron is Chrome without some of the privacy concerns that Chrome has. Unfortunately, Yuku doesn't support Iron and other WebKit browsers very well.

 

I

have a lot of browsers on my system, though, including Safari, Flock,

Chrome, Camino, SeaMonkey, and Opera. At a given moment, I might fire

any one of them up.

[burniebrewer]

Firefox.

[greeg35]

Firefox at home, explorer 8 at work

[Invader3K]

I used to like Chrome, but it doesn't load enough websites that I frequent properly. Firefox FTW. I won't touch IE with a ten foot pole if I can avoid it.

[trwi7]

Explorer 8 on the desktop. Firefox on the laptop.

[Diskono]

I use Opera, but I usually keep firefox open for certain sites that don't work right (including these forums).

[hawing]

My workplace's timekeeping system works only with IE - to my dismay.

Otherwise, it's Firefox FTW for me; and Safari on the laptop only because I haven't yet felt motivated to download Firefox onto said laptop.

[rwa12]

Have been a firefox addict for a long time, recently made the transition to Chrome, and haven't looked back.

[bullox]

same as above - used Firefox for years, recently switched to Chrome and I love it. At work I'm stuck with IE6 http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

[adamb100]

Firefox. Been using it since 0.8.

[1992casey]

I beat you, Adam. I started with it back in 2003 when it was Firebird 0.7. I wonder if anyone here used it back when it was called Phoenix. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

I remember 0.8 well, though. It didn't run well for me in OS X, so I didn't upgrade until someone could recommend a nightly build that worked decently. Also, if I remember correctly, while this was the first version to use the Firefox name, some parts of the interface still referred to it as Firebird.

[jjkoestler]

I have Firefox on my PC and Safari on my Mac.

 

I've been thinking about making the switch to Chrome though. Chrome users, why do you prefer it to Firefox? (Sorry if this is too off topic).

[1992casey]

Chrome (based on Chromium) is fast, sleek, uncomplicated, elegant, and modern. It uses Apple's WebKit engine, which is pretty much cutting edge in the browser world. The main downside is that Chrome assigns you a user ID number and "phones home" to Google with information about your browsing habits. It's not the kind of tracking that advertisers use. Rather, developers want to know which features you use, e.g. the back button or whatever.

 

If the privacy aspect bothers you, SRWare Iron is exactly the same thing without Chrome's "phoning home" additions. Also, for Windows users, Comodo Dragon looks like it's worth investigating. Dragon would be the same as Chrome without "phoning home," but with some added security features. I can't say that I'm clear on what those features are, though. The Flock 3.0 beta (currently available for Windows) is also Chromium-based and offers social networking features.

 

All Chromium-based browsers let you use Google Chrome extensions, meaning that you have a lot of customization options. I have Xmarks installed in Iron, for instance. Because Xmarks is also available for other browsers, it's a great way to keep your bookmarks synchronized across computers and browsers. I also use it in Firefox and Safari. (XMarks for Safari is Mac-only; for Windows users, there's an IE version.)

 

Speaking of WebKit browsers, Safari 5's Safari Reader feature is way cool. If Safari detects that you've loaded an article, a "Reader" icon appears in your address bar. Click on it, and the text of the article "appears instantly in one continuous, clutter-free view." Other "clutter" on the page is blacked out. Additionally, if the article is spread across multiple pages, all pages are loaded in Reader.

 

A major issue with all WebKit browsers, of course, is that Yuku supports them poorly. You have to put up with a crippled post editor or jump hoops. Yuku's going to be giving us a new post editor, however, there's no timetable for its release.

[dadofandrew]

I thought just about everyone used Firefox. I guess I wasn't far off.

[Schlitz001]

Holy crap polls are back!!

[Katuluu]

Yeah I used Firefox when it was Phoenix. I was a big Netscape fan back in the day and I was ridiculously happy when someone dug it out from the rafters and gave it a nice tuneup.

[jjkoestler]

Thanks, Casey.

[1992casey]

You're welcome, jjk.

 

I was a big Netscape fan back in the day and I was ridiculously happy when someone dug it out from the rafters and gave it a nice tuneup.

 

Many fans of the old Netscape Suite are likely using SeaMonkey. It has the familiar interface and features of the older Netscapes (without being green). Unlike the older Netscapes, it's modern, fast, and secure. And because it uses the same Gecko rendering engine as Firefox, it renders pages well.

 

I thought just about everyone used Firefox. I guess I wasn't far off.

 

Small sample, of course, Al. But I'm not surprised at all that Firefox is dominating this very unscientific Brewerfan poll. I can tell by looking at the source code of the messages posted here. Yuku's post editor is (ridiculously) browser dependent. It's very easy to distinguish code produced by Gecko (Firefox and its relatives) vs. Trident (the IEs) vs. WebKit (the Safari-Chrome family). Stuff pasted from Word into IE is particularly bizarre (and hard for mods to edit). I'm not sure what kind of code Opera produces.

 

I think a more typical distribution would probably go about like this:

• The IEs: 50-60%
• Firefox: 25-30%
• Safari and Chrome: 10-12%
• Opera 1-2%
• Other: 1%

"Typical" doesn't really exist, though. Audiences vary from site to site. And there are factors which can make the statistics inaccurate. One would be browser spoofing (getting your browser to "lie" and say it's something else).

 

Here are three sets of June, 2010, stats that are markedly different: W3Counter , w3schools, and Netmarket share. The results really depend on who's being measured and how the measurements are taken. For instance, w3schools' stats are for only its site, and it would have a fairly technical audience. That could very well explain relatively low shares for IE and fairly large shares for Firefox and Chrome.

 

By the way, I'm wondering which browser the one "something else" vote was for. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[1992casey]

At work I'm stuck with IE6 http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

 

bullox, would a portable browser that you'd keep on a key drive work for you? If you opt for "traditional" Chrome at home, you'd be able to use Xmarks to keep your bookmarks synced. Portable browsers:

• Google Chrome Portable (Windows)
• Portable Firefox (Windows)
• Portable Firefox (Mac)

Diskono, how do you find Opera inadequate on Yuku?

[GB12]

I stuck with internet explorer for a long time. I just don't like Firefox. I've made the move to Chrome now and haven't looked back.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Have been using Firefox for about 5-6 years, but also have Opera and Chrome on my main desktop.

 

At work we're still on IE6, though upgrading to 8 shortly. We can use firefox, but a lot of the applications I use were designed with IE in mind.

 

Interestingly, when I worked on the residential help desk, I find that about 95% of the people that call in use IE. Of course, these are the types of people who are calling the help desk because they don't know what the "Address Bar" is, so it's not surprising that most of those folks are going to be using the pre-installed browser.

[flosses like fossas]

using IE makes my eyes bleed.

 

as does watching the way someone else uses the internet (which is a different discussion altogether). ever notice how frustrating or (less often) enlightening it can be to watch someone else search for something on the internet?

 

also, let's talk about tabs, a revolution in surfing efficiency.

 

sorry, i've opened up cans of worms.

[1e Corbeau]

Using IE might make your eyes bleed, but trying to dev websites that display correctly in IE6 makes my ears bleed. :-)

 

I started using Chrome a bit late (early this summer) and it's become my default for most actions. I still have Safari 5 up as a secondary browser and FF 3.6.8 is currently installing.

 

Chrome seems fastest on my MacBook (2.1 GHz Intel Core Duo; 2 GB RAM; 10.5.8), though I like Safari's new Reader view (it'll be great when I can sync b/w Apple devices, like an Instapaper or ReadItLater fuctionality). FF I keep open to manage some unique work-related logins up; I also like it's built-in RSS reader, something that Chrome lacks (I'm sure there's a plug-in...).

 

Have never tried the proxy route. How is Opera?

 

Also, refreshing that IE doesn't have 70% usage based on this sample, though I bet most who use IE aren't interested in thinking about browser usage. That's why they're usig IE! *_*

[Diskono]

Diskono, how do you find Opera inadequate on Yuku?

It's hard to say exactly, but it seems that there's some element on the page that won't fully load. When I bring up a page, it will say "45/45 Elements" in my address bar (which normally goes away once a page is fully loaded). While this is happening, I can't click on links and page scrolling is slow. If I hit the stop button, everything is normal, until I try to load another page. Opera has its own firebug-like console add-on, and according to that, everything appears to be downloading successfully. The error list is all css syntax errors, which I'm guessing are mostly normal, browser-specific workarounds.

 

There are a few other sites that behave this way in Opera, so its not just Yuku. Pages load very quickly if I disable javascript, but unfortunately, that's not much of an option these days.