Opera or Firefox?

[Jay]

Which browser do you prefer?

 

[Assembler]

since i don't use either i can't say, but i would like to know if either is better than internet explorer.

 

[solarflere]

I love Firefox more, Cnet.com Edtiors also rate it higher then Opera or Netscape.

 

[mikestorm]

since i don't use either i can't say, but i would like to know if either is better than internet explorer.

Well, yes and no. Firefox is sleeker, infinitely customizable, has tabbed browsing (best.feature.ever.), and is more stable and more secure.

On the flip side, some lazy web designers only check to see if their web pages are IE compliant since that's the most popular browser, so some pages do not render correctly in FireFox. Microsoft goes out of it's way to make it's pages screwy with non IE browsers. Log into Hotmail with Firefox to see what I mean. Other companies (McAfee, Bank of America Brokerage) won't even let you access their pages with a non IE browser. Windows XP update, unsurprisingly, also does not work with anything but IE.

So, even if you do migrate to FireFox, don't completely uninstall IE as you'll still need to use it now and again. Also, Microsoft finally realized that their browser stinks, and are completely rebuilding it from the ground up, so many of the features that currently make FireFox superior (tabbed browsing for one) will be copied by IE.

 

[Chad Bonin]

...

I can't stand tabbed browsing; seeing it in the next IE just hurts.

I do have Firefox installed, but it's only for a courtesy for people who use my laptop and complain at me incessantly for not using Firefox.

 

[Mynd Hed]

since i don't use either i can't say, but i would like to know if either is better than internet explorer.

I haven't tried Opera, but I speak from experience when I say that Firefox is far superior to IE. Tabbed browsing is a gimmick-- it's nice and all, but it's really not any easier than multiple windows-- but it's so much more stable that it's not even funny.
It's true that there are some pages that will look slightly wonky in it, but very few will actually affect your browsing experience in any way. It's worthwhile to keep IE around for those rare cases, but Firefox has supplanted it for 99.9% of my browsing needs.

 

[Deadman]

i prefer firefox.

 

[brakattack]

firefox all the way... i was a late adapter but now i'm hooked.

 

[Roman Legion]

I can't stand tabbed browsing; seeing it in the next IE just hurts.

Why all the fuss over a feature you don't even have to use? I don't get it.

Tabbed browsing is a gimmick-- it's nice and all, but it's really not any easier than multiple windows-- but it's so much more stable that it's not even funny.

Maybe you people just don't multitask properly. I dunno. Without tabs, the taskbar gets quickly crowded when grouping is off, and if grouping is on, it's a pain to find the page you want.

How else do you do things like manage twenty or more web pages, three graphics applications, one or two copies of notepad, a calculator, some sort of media player, and whatever else all at the same time? Gotta live life to the fullest.

--Romey

 

[solarflere]

Why all the fuss over a feature you don't even have to use? I don't get it.

Maybe you people just don't multitask properly. I dunno. Without tabs, the taskbar gets quickly crowded when grouping is off, and if grouping is on, it's a pain to find the page you want.

How else do you do things like manage twenty or more web pages, three graphics applications, one or two copies of notepad, a calculator, some sort of media player, and whatever else all at the same time? Gotta live life to the fullest.

--Romey

For once, I on the same exact page with you . Tabed browsing creates simplicity on a taskbar, and if you don't like it, don't use it. I for one HATE grouping, as well as Personalized Menus.

 

[Roman Legion]

For once, I on the same exact page with you .

Had to happen eventually.

Tabbed browsing creates simplicity on a taskbar, and if you don't like it, don't use it. I for one HATE grouping, as well as Personalized Menus.

Can't forget the other lovely benefits of tabs... you can rearrange 'em, bookmark every open page to a folder, open a folder of bookmarks to tabs, set them to multiple home pages, and so forth.

--Romey

 

[Condiment King]

At first I was one of those guys that used Internet Explorer because they were too lazy to try anything else. When I was bored, I downloaded the last Netscape before it died. Netscape truly sucked, I remember having to register for something or other just to use it. The installation process was horrid and the browser seemed bulkier than Internet Explorer was.

I figured comparing Internet Explorer to Netscape would be like comparing McDonald's to Burger King so I wasn't really surprised. So this didn't deter me from trying out Opera. The latest Opera was okay, but nothing really dazzled me about it. I remember something about my system made it so colors didn't appear on some pages. I think it had something to do with my windows properties. Regardless, in my unique case, Opera wasn't good.

Ergo, I was more than a little cynical when I tried Firefox, but everyone kept going on and on about how good it was. And for good reason! Firefox is much easier to me. It opens faster, has a visually appealing and simple start up page, a nifty Google bar to the side, and that fantastic tabbed browsing. However, it also has something I think noone mentioned. The glorious, glorious favorites bar. Instead of opening your favorites or going to the corresponding File tab that favorites is under, all you have to do is click on the web site you want to go to in your favorites bar under the address bar. Firefox is great.

 

[Chad Bonin]

How else do you do things like manage twenty or more web pages, three graphics applications, one or two copies of notepad, a calculator, some sort of media player, and whatever else all at the same time? Gotta live life to the fullest.

For example, right now I have three IEs open (one for Toon Zone, one for class powerpoint, one for Hotmail). Two Notepads open (cranking out a review and copying down a few notes). I have Trillian and Bitcomet right next to the clock, and Explorer open renaming files.

Gotta love shrinking to the Notifications area.

Ergo, I was more than a little cynical when I tried Firefox, but everyone kept going on and on about how good it was. And for good reason! Firefox is much easier to me. It opens faster, has a visually appealing and simple start up page, a nifty Google bar to the side, and that fantastic tabbed browsing. However, it also has something I think noone mentioned. The glorious, glorious favorites bar. Instead of opening your favorites or going to the corresponding File tab that favorites is under, all you have to do is click on the web site you want to go to in your favorites bar under the address bar. Firefox is great.

I've gota nice Google bar up top, favorites organized in folders that just requires two clicks...

 

[solarflere]

For example, right now I have three IEs open (one for Toon Zone, one for class powerpoint, one for Hotmail). Two Notepads open (cranking out a review and copying down a few notes). I have Trillian and Bitcomet right next to the clock, and Explorer open renaming files.

Yet I can open 18 different browser tab windows within one browser, and have my taskbar free for other aplications.

 

[Chad Bonin]

Yet I can open 18 different browser tab windows within one browser, and have my taskbar free for other aplications.

 

[entransify]

I can't stand tabbed browsing;

Lose.

Tabbed browsing = win.

Besides, multiple windows = more memory used.

 

[Tienshin]

I have never tried Opera, but I use Firefox for my home PC.

 

[solarflere]

Did I mention I hate Grouping,

I for one HATE grouping, as well as Personalized Menus.

Yep.
Its much more enoying to have them in a row like that, then have tabs in the same landscape position as your taskbar. I bet you could not find what site you wanted from that list easy. Oh and you can drag and drop tabs to fit your preference. While here it goes by the order you opened the window. And and the most important part, each browser you open takes its own RAM and Virtual Memory, while each Tab I open, is still part of the same window.

 

[Roman Legion]

Gotta love shrinking to the Notifications area.

In my day, we called it the system tray, as it should be.
Besides, you can't just shove everything into the system tray.

I've gota nice Google bar up top...

What if you don't want to search Google? What if you want to search a dictionary? Or Amazon? eBay? IMDB? Maybe you have a sudden need for a rhyme! Do you have any search you want... just one click away?

...favorites organized in folders that just requires two clicks...

Uhh, and?

Disgusting. Simply disgusting. What a horrible, unorganized mess. If those were all real pages, how the heck do you find or get anything done? You have to click twice every time you want another page, and if you get the wrong page, that doubles... click, click, click, click... and you have to click the taskbar just to see what and how many pages are open.

Now try bookmarking all those by hand.

--Romey

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

I don't really have a preference. I just started using Firefox because I couldn't go a week without accidentally downloading some kind of brower hijacker or evil toolbar when I was using IE. It doesn't seem a whole lot better than IE, and to be perfectly honest it crashes a little more. It's almost as if there's some kind of memory leak issue. But no more Xupiter toolbar and crap like that, so I'm happy with it.