What web browser do you use?
(This is probably a post most suited to ‘techies’, but I would love as many people as possible to at least let me know what web browser you use - even if you don’t read any more of this post!)
I thought I would start a discussion about web browsers. Whilst the majority of people use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the number of users using Firefox, Safari, and Opera, has been increasing. Not only this, a new browser called Flock, is also about to have it’s first public beta release this month. The release of Firefox has definitely put the most pressure on Microsoft and it is generally regarded as a better web browser than Internet Explorer. With Microsoft soon to release a much improved version 7 of Internet Explorer though, will the market share Firefox has been gradually taking, be lost again? And what about Flock? This is built on the Firefox platform but has integrated things like Flickr and del.icio.us into the browser as well as the ability to post to your blog directly from your browser. This is looking like it could be the browser most suited to bloggers.
All in all, it’s an interesting phase we are heading into on the browser front. IE 7 due out some time soon, Firefox 2 on its way, and the all new Flock hitting the market.
Anyway, linked with all that, here are a few questions I’d love your thoughts on:
- What web browser(s) do you use?
- Have you ever thought about trying a different browser?
- What functions would you most like to have in your browser?
- Have you tried the beta edition of Internet Explorer 7? What did you think?
- Have you tried the developer edition of Flock? What did you think?
May 2nd, 2006 at 1:02 pm
* What web browser(s) do you use? Primarily Firefox. I have IE.
* Have you ever thought about trying a different browser? I’ve used IE, Opera and Firefox for considerable periods.
* What functions would you most like to have in your browser? Extensions are probably most important to me with themes coming in next. Extensions allow me to have a variety of features, not just what the developers think I need.
* Have you tried the beta edition of Internet Explorer 7? What did you think? I did for a short period. It’s nice, but lacks replacements for extensions like Sage, aSpell, Foxytunes, etc. as far as I’ve seen.
* Have you tried the developer edition of Flock? What did you think?
I did try Flock at one point. Personally I didn’t find its features especially useful.
May 2nd, 2006 at 3:20 pm
* What web browser(s) do you use?
Primarily Firefox. I have to use IE for my corporate website and stuff on there. And I try to check my blog using IE every once in a while - ran into some big formatting problems a few times because I always looked at it only in Firefox.
* Have you ever thought about trying a different browser?
I’ve thought about it a little bit, but never felt compelled to switch.
* What functions would you most like to have in your browser?
I like the Extensions idea of Firefox - I use the delicious and IEView extension. I also use some of the customized search drop downs (amazon, biblegateway, technorati.)
I also have greasemonkey installed and run a script which gives some more fields on blogger postings for giving technorati tags.
* Have you tried the beta edition of Internet Explorer 7?
Nope, haven’t tried it. Not really interested either.
* Have you tried the developer edition of Flock? What did you think?
I tried Flock a long time ago. It kept crashing on me but I liked the idea. It has probably come a long way since then.
May 2nd, 2006 at 3:34 pm
* What web browser(s) do you use?
Firefox since 0.8. It used to be I switched between IE and FF but now it’s FF all the way. Occasionally I’ll use IE (if its open on someone elses desk perhaps) and now it feels very alien to me. Indisposable extensions include web developer, all in one sidebar, tab browser prefs and del.icio.us.
* Have you ever thought about trying a different browser?
I’ve tried most of them (except safari).
* What functions would you most like to have in your browser?
Very much looking forward to spell checking in text areas.. also I need to track down the resizable text area extension that I hear is out there somewhere. Parke, I will check out the aspell extension, sounds like something i’m sitting around waiting for
* Have you tried the beta edition of Internet Explorer 7? What did you think?
Didn’t bother. It’s nice being able to switch between Ubuntu and Windows and working with the (almost) same browser. Is there much to be said for it?
* Have you tried the developer edition of Flock? What did you think?
Yep, I’m following this project with a keen eye. They are about to release a new beta (Cardinal) which you can grab from http://tinderbox.flock.com/Project_C/status.html. Apparently a lot of the features have been reworked.
As far as the dev release goes, the blogging interface was in the right direction, although I couldn’t add categories without loading the admin interface. I liked the flickr photo upload feature, although I went back to the Windows Flickr Uploadr pretty quickly.
To me it feels like they have a heap of great ideas that will evolve and be refined over time, such that they achieve cohesion. Someone said “it lacks clear workflows”, and I agree at this point.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Thanks for the comments guys.
I too tried Flock a while back and, whilst liking the thinking behind it, it wasn’t in a position to really use properly. I downloaded the latest version this week though and I’m really liking the way things have developed. The integration of Flickr now in particular is great. Not 100% sure on a browser based feed reader as I would prefer a browser based integration of bloglines or somethings. That way I can still access feeds from anywhere with internet access.
One other thought on IE7. I have had this on my machines and, whilst a big improvement on version 6, it doesn’t seem to have done much more than catchup on Firefox.
May 2nd, 2006 at 6:11 pm
What web browser(s) do you use? Mostly Safari…sometimes Firefox if a webpage doesn’t support Safari.
Have you ever thought about trying a different browser? Steve’s always trying to convert me to Firefox…but I know my way around Safari.
What functions would you most like to have in your browser? One word…tabs. I have ten different web-pages open right now all tabbed on one window! .
Have you tried the beta edition of Internet Explorer 7? What did you think? Not allowed in our house. Ha ha ha!
Have you tried the developer edition of Flock? What did you think? Haven’t tried it, but sounds interesting, I’ll give it a look.
May 2nd, 2006 at 11:05 pm
I recently switched to Firefox. IE just wasn’t working too well for me. I haven’t tried the betas, but I don’t ask too much out of my browser.
May 3rd, 2006 at 2:32 pm
I have IE. I don’t know much about the others. The people I know who are computer geeks tell me I should get firefox. They say it’s better, but I’ve never heard how or why or what features it has. I guess if I ever do, I’ll switch over, but I’ve just never put enough thought into it to bother about it.
May 3rd, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Why not have a quick browse here: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ for a quick overview of the benefits of Firefox? I most like the tabbed browsing I think within both Firefox and Flock and also the search box in the top right hand corner (saves having to type in google.co.uk). I use both these features a lot.
May 4th, 2006 at 12:14 am
Been a firefox fan for a while, though it’s getting a bit memory intensive, i hope they fix it. i’m always interested in the latest and greatest. I tried ie7 for a short bit, but wouldn’t work with my corporate apps, so i had to remove it. i’ve tried flock as well, it seemed a bit faster, but couldn’t quite get use to it.
May 13th, 2006 at 7:25 am
I love Firefox, which I switched to just over a year ago from IE. But that was when I had a PC. Now that I’m primarily using a Mac, I still use Firefox. Safari has some good aspects (it’s fast and has a good RSS integration thingy- such technical terms), and I wish some of those were in Firefox. But otherwise, at least for me and my Mac, I have one viable option, and that’s Firefox. Microsoft stopped offering IE for the Mac a while back (long before I even touched a Mac). So… Firefox it is. But thanks for the heads up on Flock. I’ll look at that too. (Oh, Mac users can use Camino too, but I don’t really see why.)