It is hard for me to think of a software war that sees more action than the browser wars. Today the browser is probably the single most important program on one’s computer. We live in a world where not having a computer connected to the Internet is unthinkable (kinda makes me wonder how I survived my first 5 years with a computer, huh mom and dad?) Yes, the browser is that indispensable window to the world that makes up most of our lives. Name one other program in your arsenal that sends as much time running as the browser.
At anytime I have about 3 browsers on my computer, and I’m constantly cycling through them as my tastes change. If I find a deficiency in one, I move to another for a time until something else arises. However, on the whole I juggle my time between Safari 5 and Chrome 10 (mostly because Safari is needed for launching my school’s VPN). RockMelt is used from time to time, though my love of the browser has waned overtime. Firefox has long been absent from my arsenal because version 3.6 is pretty slow.
So today, with the release of the much-awaited Firefox 4 that vastly improves Mozilla’s offering, I’ve decided to compile a guide to browsers. Hopefully you can all make some better-educated decisions about which programs you’ll allow on your computer. Each has their pluses and minuses that I hope to weigh in on, from UI design and utility, performance and stability, and real world convenience of design. As well, I will be running a few benchmarks to give you some quantifiable differences. Pretty graphs and everything! But don’t just look at the data, make sure to browse on and see my opinions on the real feel with each browser.
The test bed includes three benchmarks: the Webkit SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, the Acid3 test and Google’s V8 Benchmark as an alternative for JavaScript execution. Each test was run three times on each browser (save for Acid3, which is unnecessary) and an average was compiled from the scores. All tests are run on a mid-2010 15-inch MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Core i5 with 4GB DDR3 RAM and the discrete graphics card on. In order to be eligible the browser must be compliant with all modern standards and be relatively popular (sorry Opera!) RockMelt is an exception because I want to give an idea what some specialized browsers can offer. Our tested browsers include Safari 5, Firefox 4, Chrome 10, RockMelt 0.9.49 and Internet Explorer 9. Continue Reading
In the world of computing, I face few dilemmas more daunting than which browser to use. About 6 months ago, on the eve of Firefox 3.6 release, I even published a basic break down of the multiple browser options so I could weigh their pros and cons. Ironically, in those 6 months I have removed Firefox from my list of usable browsers. Today, I share my time between Safari and Chrome due to their more aggressive update schedule and use of the faster WebKit engine. Unfortunately I can never decide which one to stick to. I love Chrome’s split process model, the omnibar for searching, and its restore on crash feature. However, Chrome doesn’t play nice with the security needs of my University’s VPN so I still have to launch Safari in order to get online. Running two browsers = waste of resources. Safari seems just as fast as Chrome, but lacks some of the features I like on Chrome. It’s a juggling act between the two as my tastes change.
Today was an interesting day for browsing the internet, and one that has simply added to my dilemma. Today Firefox 3.6 was released, an update to the venerable browser that brings more speed, better performance, and scraps the inefficient themes system for the more streamline and gorgeous “Personas” customization. The Personas are actually extremely good, with several thousand ones currently available ranging from standard Firefox skins to Hello Kitty to Transformers. It’s a far better system than the older themes which created uneven UI that often slowed the program down. With all these enhancements, I wonder if I should use it.
Digital Gravitas 