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browser mania

May 10th, 2006 | tech

I think it all started when I read a post on PDF’s site. Lately I’ve felt this need to try out different browsers. I usually use IE and at times I’ll use the ‘Fox. But still I wanted more options.

I already had Netscape 6.0 on my computer, but never used it. I decided to replace it with newer Netscape 8.1. The new version has many of the options that the ‘Fox has like tabs and a Google search thing. The coolest thing about the new 8.1 version is choice of themes. You can have a standard looking windows-type theme, or the Fusion theme which I really like. The bad things about Netscape: 1. many websites are still designed around IE, so some dropdown menus don’t work properly. 2. It doesn’t recognize my laptop’s little silver button to scroll up and down on pages…like using the wheel on a mouse.

Next up was Opera. I didn’t know anything about Opera, but it looked neat and I wanted more browsers…so I gave it a go. Opera is like the ‘Fox and Netscape, using tabs up on top for numerous pages blah blah blah. I thing I still don’t understand about Opera are the forward/back arrows…there are green and blue ones. I don’t know what’s different about them, and I’m too lazy to read and find out. Oh well. One cool thing about Opera is that you can close the browser, then the next time you open it, it’s still on the same page you were at last. The bad things about Opera: 1. many websites are still designed around IE, so some stuff doesn’t work properly. 2. Sometimes the browser recognizes my silver button scrolly thing, sometimes it doesn’t…haven’t figured out why. 3. BBC Radio player works different than all the other browsers for some reason.

I already know about FireFox. The ‘Fox is similiar to Netscape and Opera, so I won’t go through the bad things, because they are the same as Opera and Net 8.1.

IE is the standard. While great web designers will make pages to work well with all browsers, many designers will make pages around IE only. This is the main benefit of using IE. It doesn’t have any of the fancy tabs or the Google search, but at least my laptop’s scroller button works with it.

So what’s best? IE is still my first choice browser because I know that it will work well with nearly every website and my scroller button works with it. Opera is choice number two because I like how the tabs work compared to FireFox and Net 8.1…but I hate using Opera when listening to BBC radio stations. Third choice is…Netscape, for right now anyways. It’s basically the same as FireFox, but Net 8.1 has the kick ass Fusion theme. That leaves Firefox currently in 4th. It’s OK though as I’m sure to get bored with the Net 8.1 soon and Firefox will then move up the preference list.

2 Comments

  1. PDF
    May 11th, 2006 at 12:15 am

    And which of those besides Firefox can do this?

    Have you tried the next IE? Just be careful with that download cause it’s not fun to uninstall. In fact, it might not be a good idea to install at all.

    And if you drove a Mac you’d probably dig the Safari.

  2. majafa
    May 11th, 2006 at 1:38 pm

    1. I didn’t even know about (or forgot about) those Firefox features. With my limited tech stills I’m not sure how often I could put those features to use anyways.

    2. Haven’t tried IE 7 because it’s “pre-release” software. I end up having problems with that type of stuff. That’s also the reason why I opted for Opera 8.54 over 9 Beta, and why I didn’t bother getting Flock.

    3. Everytime an error message pops up on my screen I think more and more about getting a Mac. I think when Compaq dies the switch will be made (by then I’ll probably have an ipod too, so I’ll be totally converted).

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