The Internet web browser arena is a lot like the automotive field. Are you a Chevy or Ford person? Toyota or Nissan? What about your web browser… Internet Explorer or Firefox?
The majority of people that browse the Internet use Microsoft's Internet Explorer, commonly referred to as IE. Depending on the report you read, Internet Explorer has a lock on 75-85% of the web browser market, meaning that for every 100 computers on the Internet, 75-80 of them are using Internet Explorer. For years the Microsoft browser was like a locomotive, gaining momentum and basically flattening just about anything in its path. There have always been other browsers to choose from, some of the most popular being the now almost unheard of Netscape Navigator, Apple's OS X browser called Safari, Opera and many others. For the purpose of this article, we are going to focus on the two major browsers for the Windows® operating system.
Something 'weird' started happening a few years ago. The percentage of people using Internet Explorer started to decrease. Suddenly people were asking "Have you tried that new browser, Firefox?" After years of dominance by Microsoft a new browser was starting to have a big impact. Firefox has steadily eaten into the browser marketplace and month after month more and more people have switched to Firefox, either permanently or at least on a part-time basis.
You may ask yourself what is the big deal, what's the difference between the two big players, IE and Firefox? Until the recent release of Internet Explorer 7, Firefox (www.mozilla.org) was a much more secure browser, providing such safety net features as not letting software be installed on your computer without permission from you. Firefox also allows the browser to be enhanced by installing various extensions or plug-ins to increase the functionality of the browser. Examples of plug-ins could include one called Ad-Block. Ad-Block is an extension for Firefox that prevents the majority of ads on web pages from being displayed. There are literally hundreds of Firefox extensions to choose from.
Another advantage for Firefox is that it is a standards compliant browser. This is a great feature for people like me that design websites for a living. We can concentrate on creating standards compliant pages and not have to worry about peculiarities of the browser's rendering engine, or the part of the software that actually displays, or renders, the page.
Internet Explorer has had a bad reputation lately, especially on the security front. IE 6 has many known issues that make it much easier for a malicious website to gain access to your computer by installing software without your knowledge. Microsoft took a great step forward in combating that vulnerability when they introduced IE 7 in late 2006. IE 7 includes new features like an anti-phishing filter to protect you from fraudulent websites, confirmations on whether you want to install software on your computer before it is actually installed, and a new 'Protected Mode' which runs IE as a separate process on your computer and prevents other applications from accessing the browser without user permission. Microsoft has also moved the browser towards being more standards compliant. While not quite as compliant as Firefox or some of the other browsers like Opera, it's a step in the right direction.
As a website developer, I use both browsers on a very regular basis, but most people will find one they like and stick with it. I encourage you to try both and see what you like!
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