At the advice of a friend from college a couple of weeks ago, I’ve switched from Mozilla Firefox web browser to Google Chrome. Yet, i’m not convinced that this is the best idea. So I’m trying other browsers. Here are my thoughts. (BTW – I’m using each browser listed to edit each blog entry.)
- Google Chrome:
- Yes, it works; but, it being Google, I’m concerned about privacy and them selling off my browsing habits to the highest bidder.
- It often doesn’t seem to have a spell-check. Being a former English teacher, I shouldn’t be worried about this, except that it’d be damb embarasing to mispell somthing wihtout no-ing it.
- Adding Canadian English is a fight, defaulting back to American English.
- It’s scrolling up-and-down is very choppy, unlike Firefox’s smooth transition from line to line.
- There is no provision for automatically switching to a new tab when opening one (Crtl. T). I have to manually switch (Crtl. Tab).
- Mozilla Firefox
- It works well, but it insists on its updates, changing some of its characteristics without me wanting it to.
- Upon updating, it has a legacy function to allow older add-ons to run. No, this isn’t a negative. I’m just listing its characteristics. This is a review, rememeber?
- It seems to have a problem running Java or like programs. (Yes, I said programs, not apps. I’m old-school.) Maybe that’s Java’s issue – not sure.
- It has smooth scrolling.
- It gives provission to jump immediately to the next tab when opened.
- Older versions are not listed in Windows 10’s default web browser list. Try as I might, in the end I must uninstall and reinstall Firefox to be able to choose it as the default browser. No amount of web helps will help.
- There are lots of add-ons available for privacy, picture downloading, password saves, everything.
- It’s open source!
- Opera
- Don’t laugh. Give it a try. It works.
- People laugh when I use it. Stop laughing.
- It looks the same as all the other browsers except that it has a side menu bar for Facebook, WhatsApp, Speed Dial (the front screen showing tiled websites you’ve visited before), Personal News (a place to set favourite news websites, I guess), etc. Handy.
- No Canadian English spell check. Only American. No place to change it. (Yes, I know how to spell favourite and colour and doughnut.) Big downfall.
- Fast. It could be my imagination, but it seems faster than the others.
- Internet Explorer
- I really don’t know why everyone hates it. It works.
- It’s been stable all of its existence.
- It has a spell-check and spelling error correction.
- It can remember passwords and forms.
- It can interact back and forth with Windows Explorer for internet, intranet, etc.
- It’s made by people who are paid to do their job.
- Anyone running Windows of any type can use it. No downloading necessary.
- It stores Favorites in a folder that is easily accessible. No searching, no trying unsuccessfully to create a backup copy.
- The Settings area doesn’t change with every version, forcing one to have to re-learn where everything is.
- Edge
- Not sure what is so different with this one or why Microsoft would create it. Smaller? Faster? Better with tablets?
- It works.
- The icon looks too much like the ‘e’ in Internet Explorer. Damn picky, aren’t I?
- It has something called Web Note. It allows someone with a pen (stylus) to doodle all over the website and save it. Where to? Not sure yet. In what format? Uncertain yet.
- Microsoft has Extensions for it, much like Firefox I suppose. I haven’t played with them yet.
- Crtl. W actually works on this program (sigh … app), unlike a lot of the new Windows 10 apps. (Press Crtl. W now. But be aware you’ll have to go to ogl.allansplace.ca again.)
- Safari
- Oh my. What can I say. Firstly, it was really difficult to download Safari for Windows. Try it. Do a Google search. Or a Yahoo! search, or an Ask.com search, or a GoDaddy, or a DuckDuckGo, anything. Not many actual links to actual Windows downloads exist.
- Secondly, right away Safari warned me that my browsing wasn’t secure. It gave me a link to go get a secure version. But … there didn’t seem to be anywhere to get it.
- Next, that very same window bragged about how fast it was.
I tried to insert a screen shot here, but WordPress doesn’t really work very well. I think I’ll do a review on website generators next. - Then, I tried to edit this OGL entry, but the entire window to edit text was blank! Good gravy.
- And, finally, text in a web page is kind of fuzzy. It’s not sharp.
- I had a good experience with Safari (yes, for Windows) long ago. But I guess times change.
By the way – I’m now using Internet Explorer to edit this entry.
- Netscape Navigator
- Holy cow! Yes, I’m serious. A generation ago (people generations, not computer generations) Netscape Navigator was a serious contender in the browser realm. However, things have changed.
- Easy to download. Easy to find on many web searches.
- Doesn’t display my own Ongoing Letter blog page. The menus are all over the place.
- Doesn’t allow easy editing of the text. It’s all white text on a white text window background. Well that’s nice – not. I have to highlight all the text to see it – coding and all.
- Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Why even bother? Just because, I guess. (I’m am using IE again for this entry.)
Here is more reading.
And a lovely picture.
And the winner is – oddly enough – Internet Explorer. Why?
- It works.
- It’s on every Windows computer.
- Spell check – in Canadian English.
- Extensions & add-0ns.
- And many, many more.