People sometimes ask their IT staff, “What is the best Internet browser?” or “What Internet browser should I use?” There is no simple answer to this. Each person tends to have a particular Internet browser that they like and generally recommend to their friends and family. I believe that each browser has its pros, cons, and quirks, so there is no best. In fact, I often recommend every general web user to have 2 separate browsers that use different engines.
Today, there are four main types of browser technologies. The largest is the Microsoft Internet Explorer family of browsers. Internet Explorer comes standard with Windows (unless you are in the European Union). Internet Explorer is the browser most exploited by hackers, partly because it has the largest market share and partly because of the use of ActiveX objects. If a user is careful and practices good browsing habits, Internet Explorer is as safe as the rest. I recommend all Windows users to at least have this installed because there are many websites that require you to use it. Microsoft is known for having its websites only on Internet Explorer.
The next most popular browser is Mozilla Firefox. This is the successor to the Netscape heritage and is overseen by the Mozilla foundation. Firefox was the first browser to incorporate a system for third-party vendors to develop extensions and add-ons for it. There are already almost two million add-ons for Firefox. There are many useful extensions ranging from additional browser security to developer tools. This is the browser I suggest for Windows and Mac users. I personally use it as my main browser due to all the development tools offered by third parties like Google.
The third largest group are the Webkit browsers. Webkit is a design and application framework. The three browsers in this group that we are going to talk about are Apple’s Safari, Google Chrome, and Comodo Dragon. Safari is the default web browser that comes with Mac OS. Over the years, Apple has put a lot of effort into Safari, making it a solid browser with a sleek responsive interface. It has also been released for free download by Windows users. The last two are based on the Chromium engine. Chromium is an open source engine developed by Google for use in Chrome and is well known for its incredibly fast V8 JavaScript engine. Chrome is Google’s foray into the world of web browsers and it made a big impact when it arrived in 2008. Since its launch, Chrome has had 5 major version updates and now incorporates third-party extensions much like Firefox. Dragon is developed by Comodo, a brand in the security sector. It has similar features to Chrome, but adds an extra layer of security for SSL connections. To be honest, the name makes it worth using on its own. I encourage Windows users to choose one of these if they want a third browser, and I recommend that Mac users stick with Safari as their primary browser.
Last but not least on our web browser tour is the least popular, but loved by many, Opera. Opera is developed in Norway by the Opera software. This browser is packed with cool features that are often copied by the biggest names. Opera’s biggest claim to fame is that it is used as the basis for many mobile and console web browsers. Most mobile phone platforms offer support for it, and the Nintendo Wii’s web browser is based on it. The latest versions tout vastly improved page rendering performance and a JavaScript engine that rivals Chromium. Despite being such an innovative browser, I have found that it has problems with some websites, especially those that display flash content. However, some trust this browser and, in addition to flash websites, my experience has been positive. Personally, I only recommend it for web developers who want to make sure their web pages work well.
In short, I recommend Windows users to use a combination of IE and Firefox and I recommend Mac users to use a combination of Safari and Firefox. If you are a web developer, I recommend that you install IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera to test the compatibility of your websites on all of them. I’ve also noticed on Windows that IE is less forgiving than the rest when it comes to malformed HTML and CSS. I often use it to debug my web pages. Firefox should be your primary browser for web development due to the developer tools available.