Tech Tip: Which is the Best Web Browser for You?
Since the birth of the Internet, various web browsers have been created to target the needs of every user – from the multi-tasking surfers, to the gamers, from the web developer, designers, tablet-users and wide screen-users.
New updates, add-ons, themes and versions of each browser come out constantly as developers improve upon and fix glitches within their systems. With all these choices, which browser is the best for you?
Google Chrome – need for speed.
Installs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android (beta)
- Chrome’s browser window is streamlined, clean and simple, and has features that are designed for efficiency and ease of use.
- Browsing speed depends on a number of factors—JavaScript speed, DOM (Document Object Model) selection, and CSS rendering. Of the five most popular browsers, Google Chrome has the fastest Javascript execution and CSS rendering.
- Javascript performance is especially useful for websites using Ajax programming while CSS rendering is beneficial for faster page response.
- Get it here.
Mozilla Firefox – the Swiss army knife of browsers.
Installs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android.
- Proudly created by a non-profit, global pool of developers, Firefox wins the battle for having the biggest library of add-ons and themes. Some of the most popular include Adblock Plus (a security tool and pop-up blocker), and DownThemAll (a download manager), among many others.
- Everyone likes to browse their own way, and Firefox has a customizable interface and settings. And thanks to the Mozilla community around the world, Firefox is also available in 70 languages.
- Get it here.
Opera – the mobile-friendly browser.
Installs on Windows, Mac, Linux, mobile phones and tablets.
- Opera Mobile works best for most smartphones like the Blackberry. Opera’s latest version boasts a better HTML5 performance with the new Ragnarök parser, and WebGL support for 3D graphics. PCMag.com commends the browser for its neat interface. Opera also synchronizes well when you need to access your history, bookmarks and other cache through your desktop and vice versa.
- Opera for desktop, is also one of the fastest when it comes to DOM (Document Object Model) selection which means that it is more responsive on asynchronous web updates.
- Get mobile version here.
Safari – sexy, full-screen browsing.
Installs on Mac, Windows 7, Vista, XP, iPhone and iPad.
- As a mobile browser, Apple has heard its customers’ plea for tabbed browsing when they launched iPad2. Unlike in the previous hardware version of this tablet, Safari now has tabbed browsing and iCloud syncing.
- As a desktop browser, Safari allows for zoom text only, where you can choose to zoom in on just the text when you take a closer look at a web page.
- Safari works with iCloud and is the full screen browser of choice for niche OS X Lion users.
- Get it here.
Web browsing is a different experience for different people. Take the time to compare the different browsers mentioned above and choose the one that best suits your daily needs.
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