Written by Jon Bergan on the 20/11/2007
In today’s day and age and with many of us browsing the web for hours each day, we really need to ensure that we’re using the best web browser that’s available to us. From a business perspective, this couldn’t be more important. The web, as most of us are aware, is full of viruses and other malicious software that is constantly trying to infect our computers and email clients. As a business owner, can you afford to take such a risk? Company data is what drives us forward. It’s what keeps our businesses on their feet. Nobody can afford taking such a risk.
As such, we need to compare two of the most popular web browsers currently in use on the Windows platform. If you’re a Mac user, you can rest assured that Firefox or Safari on the Mac are extremely secure browsers and are based on a similar rendering engine, so you’re not going to have many problems on that front. With Windows though, you’re basically looking at using either Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6/7 or Mozila Firefox.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been around since 1995 and has had well over 12 years of development put behind it. Although you would think that all this work would ultimately result in a brilliant web browser, unfortunately you are wrong. Internet Explorer is great for most home users as it’s already installed and is quite easy to use, however at a commercial level, I would be steering far away from this application.
The many security flaws, page rendering issues and Microsoft’s inability to follow W3C standards has thrown this web browser into the trash can. It’s common knowledge that Internet Explorer has more security flaws than any other browser on the market. These issues not only cause users to be much more susceptible to viruses and spyware infections but also expose their machines to hackers and other malicious software packages.
Another huge drawback on the IE6/IE7 front is the issues pertaining to page rendering and the non-compliance to W3C standards. What this ultimately means for the end user is that most pages in IE6/IE7 won’t display themselves as they should within these browsers. Web developers must go to great lengths to ensure their websites work well in Internet Explorer due to the many bugs in their page rendering code.
Although Internet Explorer has its many bad points, it also has a few good points that we cannot neglect. The new tab-based browsing (that was originally developed by Mozilla might I add) provides users with the ability to have multiple sites open within the one browser window. The simple shortcut buttons to the favourites menu, homepage and RSS feeds also help the user out a lot. It’s definitely a great tool for home users but even they should consider changing browsers just to keep on the safe side.
Mozilla Firefox is definitely taking the lead as the preferred web browser on the Windows platform. It seems Mozilla can’t really go wrong with the software they have been developing. We should add that all of their applications are free to the public and can be easily downloaded via their website at http://www.mozilla.com.
Firefox is far from what we are used to in a web browser. It is secure, efficient, user friendly and packed full of features. With far less security flaws than its Redmond-based competitor and a much more efficient page rending engine, it’s definitely the browser of choice. Forgetting about security flaws and how efficient a page renders, Mozilla Firefox is one browser you can definitely trust to comply with the strict standards put in place by the W3C. With this in mind, you can rest assured that any website you visit will look just as it should have.
From a user’s point of view, Firefox provides functionality that we’ve never really seen developed in Microsoft’s browser. In Firefox, users can create, add or modify plugins which further enhance the browsers functionality and usability. Although IE6 and IE7 do support plugins to some extent, the functionality for developing such plugins really wasn’t there. Mozilla have provided an open standard for developers to create truly brilliant plugins that can tie in to virtually any area of the application. The possibilities are endless.
Although IE7 has a tonne of new features and improvements over its predecessor, it’s still not a great web browser. It’s good but it’s not great. That’s the bottom line. As such, it’s obvious which browser you should be using. Firefox is a far superior browser in regards to security, page rendering, efficiency, functionality, usability and standards compliance.
You should enjoy browsing the web rather than worrying about whether the page you’re visiting is infecting your PC or network. Browsing the web is supposed to be productive. It’s supposed to open doors to a universe of unparalleled information that can further enhance your business. Don’t let it work against you. Let it work for you. With the right web browser, you can.
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