Which browser and why?

[rufus]

I use IE but it's much slower than chrome I think, what annoyes me about chrome is that i can't get the webcontent displayed at the right width for my widescreen.
So far IE gives the best results, i have those big gaps left and right with chrome and FF and it pisses me of.
Maybe me being a complete ass at computers has something to do with it .

[Alan]

How'd you mean, Rufus? Can you give me an example of a site which does this?

Bear in mind that what you're probably seeing is IE not interpreting that website properly

Here's the mode I use for home widescreen viewing:

http://google-chrome-browser.com/tags/widescreen" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rufus]

Somehow, IE shows all the sites correct and in the right definition. The screen is filled and it just feels comfortable to read. With chrome when i load this page for example http://be.msn.com/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, I have 2 really big bars on the left and right side of the screen, now when i zoom in it just isn't comfortable to read if i compare it with IE. It's like IE automatically adjusts the whole page to the best result.
This forum for example, in chrome the whole screen is filled with the forum but letters are really small.
With IE no matter what site i go to it everything is always in the right size, no need for adjusting manually.
I installed an app called zoomy on chrome, it helped but not always, sometimes webcontent just got mixed up, words flowing in one another making it impossible to read.
I'm having a hard time explaining this in english...

[bclaire]

IE isn't available for Mac users anymore...

I find Firefox to be faster and easier to use than Safari for my needs and now that I'm not doing webdesign for the school, I didn't bother checking out Chrome. Once in a while Firefox can't handle a website and I'll have to use Safari, but not very often any more.

I collect a lot of images to use for art history and downloading pictures is MUCH easier with Firefox- if an image "can't" be downloaded, you simply go to Page Info, click on media, and scroll down until the image appears and save.

[Wendigo]

Firefox is streamlined and always updates flawlessly. I guess Chrome might be good; never tried it.

[Alan]

Firefox is streamlined and always updates flawlessly. I guess Chrome might be good; never tried it.

I'd agree with the second bit, but Firefox has moved massively from its original streamlined position and is now fairly bloaty. If you like streamlined, you'll be impressed with Chrome.

[Alan]

Somehow, IE shows all the sites correct and in the right definition. The screen is filled and it just feels comfortable to read. With chrome when i load this page for example http://be.msn.com/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, I have 2 really big bars on the left and right side of the screen, now when i zoom in it just isn't comfortable to read if i compare it with IE. It's like IE automatically adjusts the whole page to the best result.
This forum for example, in chrome the whole screen is filled with the forum but letters are really small.
With IE no matter what site i go to it everything is always in the right size, no need for adjusting manually.
I installed an app called zoomy on chrome, it helped but not always, sometimes webcontent just got mixed up, words flowing in one another making it impossible to read.
I'm having a hard time explaining this in english...

No problem, I think I understand!

You don't need a third party app for zooming on most browsers - use CTRL and + to make text bigger, CTRL and - to make it smaller (or if you have a mousewheel, just hold control and use the wheel). Helps a lot if you find a site has tiny text on a big widescreen monitor!

The trouble you're having is that web design is massively compromised by the sheer choice users have for screens.

You can code pages to automatically fit to the width of the client's browser window, but if you have two columns of text resizing to be 3 lines long and 400 characters wide, it can make your site look terrible. So to keep control over content and layout, websites often fix the width of their display; however this means that you have to choose what the width is, and inevitably there are still plenty of people out there browsing on 1024x768 monitors, so you cater for them. This then makes your site look rubbish in widescreen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a good example. It's not that long ago that they conceded that most people have at least 1024 pixel wide screens; for years they'd been using a layout for an 800 pixel wide resolution - and when I got my first 24'' widescreen it was like a little sliver in the middle of my screen! Terrible!

[misterMagoo]

I must say I basically switched from FF to safari for the sole reason of the Top Sites default page. I find it very useful. I don't even like how the browser's fundamentals work in comparison to FF, ie. you must click 3 times in the address bar to highlight the address, in FF you only click once. But I think the Top Sites home page is so useful that I deal with it anyway.

I do like FF private browsing though

[Alan]

I must say I basically switched from FF to safari for the sole reason of the Top Sites default page. I find it very useful. I don't even like how the browser's fundamentals work in comparison to FF, ie. you must click 3 times in the address bar to highlight the address, in FF you only click once. But I think the Top Sites home page is so useful that I deal with it anyway.

I do like FF private browsing though

There's something similar in Chrome, take a peek. Very nice it is too.



Tip for nearly all browsers: ALT+D (in Windows at least; on a mac I think it's apple-L or option-L, can't remember) will take you to your address bar and highlight it ready for typing.

Chrome has a private browsing option for all you folks "buying a gift for the wife" (you might not get the reference if you don't have the same Microsoft advert we get in the UK!).

[Randy Bass]

I've found that Private Browsing is a good way to defragment your hard drive, but it's no substitue for lots of RAM.

[rufus]

The trouble you're having is that web design is massively compromised by the sheer choice users have for screens.


http://www.bbc.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a good example. It's not that long ago that they conceded that most people have at least 1024 pixel wide screens; for years they'd been using a layout for an 800 pixel wide resolution - and when I got my first 24'' widescreen it was like a little sliver in the middle of my screen! Terrible!

Indeed this is exactly what i mean, i've loaded this site in IE and chrome. IE automatically adjusts it so it's big enough to read, chrome however projects a tiny website. The zoom function is quite handy, but i find it quite a hassle to zoom in constantly when something is too small.
People may find IE slow and that's a fact, but it's a massive advantage that you don't have to zoom all the time.

[Alan]

Give Firefox a go with this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2592/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rufus]

Give Firefox a go with this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2592/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the tip, installed it and will try it for the following week.

[baytamusic]

i use IE because it works and I have better things to do than cork sniff web browsers...

Ah, so you've never seen the internet how it's supposed to look then. haha.

[misterMagoo]

Because of this thread I have now tried all of the following browsers: Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, and IE.

IE: Never liked it, think the layout is terrible. Didn't have to put it on my mac.

Safari: I like how it works but as of recently it's been glitchy and I never really liked how the toolbar icons don't use graphics, just words. Pretty counter-mac IMO. The highlighting glitch I mentioned earlier forces me to give it up.

Firefox: Long time user, but since I started using Safari I gave it up except for certain things. Think Cooliris. Still good, but suffers from slower load times, like on startup.

Opera: Looks good, works fast, seems to have a lot of features. But Immediately I noticed the scrolling is WAY to sensitive with the trackpad on my mac. Strike one. Also, with a cursory glance I can't figure out how to import bookmarks. Strike two.

Chrome: Install it, it imports your booksmarks immediately. LIKE. Toolbar graphic icons. LIKE. InSANEly fast startup time. LIKE. I haven't used it too long at this point but so far I'm loving it!

Initial verdict: Google Chrome! As long as there are no glitches, I'll be sticking with this browser, with FF as a backup.

Thanks for this thread! I needed it!