Which Browser Is Most Popular at Sysnative?

[Vir Gnarus]

I've been contemplating Google Chrome or IE9 for a while for a speedier browsing experience compared to Firefox, but with the addition of tab grouping and Adblock Plus' current focus on Firefox, I'm pretty much locked in with FF right now. I have well over 600 tabs at a time on Firefox, which just is impossible to handle properly with IE9 or Chrome. Also certain plugins like Lazarus have been a lifesaver for me, and have forced my hand to retain its grip on Firefox. Granted, I despise the new versioning system they have going now, but fortunately their ESR version of FF has greatly relieved my stress from it.

Firefox is a slow beast, but it is a beast nonetheless.

 

[AndroidOS]

I use Google Chrome, and I started out using it because I wanted a change from Firefox, and I never went back.

 

[DonnaB]

Firefox for this little chick-a-dee! Creature of habit is my reason for sticking with it through the massive updates. I also have Opera and Chrome installed though no time to familiarize myself with them.

 

[Kosh Vorlon]

IE9 now (and in fact, IE going back to the beginning). It does everything I want/need, is the recommended browser for certain sites I visit (and I've tested and discovered why), I answer IE questions and as a general rule of thumb prefer to use products for which I'm going to offer advice {except for advice not to use} or recommend (and that extends beyond browsers to anything).

In that vein, for testing or for helping with minor issues/questions and to remain aware of the competition, I also have (and keep current) and sometimes use briefly for a change of pace and to update favorites and add-ons and to maintain a marginal background familiarity (and other such things), Firefox (the "normal" current version - none of the many variants I just heard about), Chrome, Opera, and Safari. I was surprised to read about the others here and have since discovered far more - and while tempting, I need to draw the line somewhere and believe these are the most commonly (if not exclusively) used ones in the forums where I do most of my work.

To be honest, I wish I could mix-and-match the best features in each of the above into "my" browser <alas> - and every choice comes with positives and negatives - but excluding some options which shouldn't even be considered or aren't applicable to my versions of Windows, I believe most of those mentioned are perfectly fine candidates and the choice depends a great deal of what one does with the computer, the computer OS and specifications, the network bandwidth, and of course, habit, familiarity, personal preferences, and compatibility with how and where it is used. And in work environments, especially domain-based, sometimes one has no choice in the matter on work computers and, if remote access if possible, chances are high that use of that same browser would be required on the remote computer (as in if you work from home and want to access the company network).

I do, however, recommend installing at least a second option if the primary is actually the only one installed at least for backup and testing (but do remember to keep it current just like all other programs on the system regardless of how often they are used if only for security purposes). Secunia PSI http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/ can help a great deal in notifications and in quite a few cases even automatic updating not only browsers but many if not most other installed programs on the computer.

 

[Cookieman]

I do tend to chop and change but I still find my way back to Firefox as my main browser, I think this is because of the extensions I used (and still do!) from when I was removing malware on the security forums. That said, I do like the new explorer 10 which is included with the Win 8 Release Preview, it seems pretty solid so far and it is getting its fair share of usage alongside FF

 

[JaidynM]

I've used Firefox for as long as I can remember but don't plan on changing anytime soon. I trialed Chrome for a short while and found it a lot more efficient as well as better looking but it lacked many of the tools I use in Firefox.

 

[Will]

I switched from Opera to Chrome a few months ago, I like Opera a lot, but it had some problems on my system. Nothing beats chrome for speed.

 

[AceInfinity]

If you had GoogleAnalytics for this forum there's a view in there that would show you this kind of information as well. :)

VERY good thing to have btw if you don't already have it for tracking activity here. Trends is what it's all about.

 

[Corrine]

Google Analytics can't provide the personal reasons for using -- or not using -- a particular browser.

 

[writhziden]

I use Google Chrome because it does not have the WYSIWYG option on most forums and I like to see the BBCode so I know what formatting I'll end up with. Sysnative is currently the only forum I visit that has the WYSIWYG option through Chrome. Interestingly, my formatting often gets magnafoozled unless I turn off WYSIWYG prior to posting. I know at least a few others have noticed this trend/bug with vBulletin software.

 

[Will]

You can set your default editor in your settings - I never see the WYSIWYG editor. Some older forum software isn't compatible with much out of IE8, but I don't usually see compatibility problems with chrome on any site.

 

[AceInfinity]

Google Analytics can't provide the personal reasons for using -- or not using -- a particular browser.

I know there Corrine, you have that point. I just didn't know whether the point of this thread was for curiosity or forum administration or maintenance purposes; Browser optimization for the main browsers people are using for instance.

I get the content part of having the results relayed through the form of posts, but I was just saying in case you guys didn't know :)

IF you guys don't have Google Analytics set up though... Get to it :lol: It's great, I use it for all of my websites.

My preferred browsers though:
-Firefox: Great addons for firefox and it's also good for webmaster purposes, I have FireFTP for my website related stuff and all that, and for webrequest programming I have LiveHTTPHeaders addon to help me with making specific POST requests.
-Google Chrome: Great for speed and just general ease of use and compatibility. Never really had many issues with playing flash based videos, posting... Nothing. Hardly any caching issues, it's just a good all-rounded browser. Chromium is out there, but it's still very very buggy in my personal opinion.

 

[Corrine]

Nope, nothing to do with forum administration, Ace, just for fun.

 

[AceInfinity]

Nope, nothing to do with forum administration, Ace, just for fun.

Well enough, it's always cool to have threads like these :) Collaboration of opinions out there

 

[jcgriff2]

So........ to "win" this thread and show IE with an overwhelming lead will I need to abuse my Admin authority and edit the poll results? :lol:

..... kidding of course - the poll results are & will remain authentic.

 

[A Guy]

Only myself and one anonymous use Opera?!

A Guy

 

[Kosh Vorlon]

Well, the question was about the most popular - not what everyone uses. With 300+ members, I'd say we have a fairly small sampling and that from a group of fairly advanced users - it's not statistically signficant. To get that, it has to be made a mandatory part of the login process where someone can't get to anything else until that username has submitted an entry - and at the moment, that group is probably more advanced than the typical forum though that will no doubt change as it matures. IMHO, that's far too oppressive a polling method for my taste. Then we may see a significant difference in results. Also, people change (e.g., as people begin using W8 more and more, we may see far more using IE10) the poll is not designed for people to alter their initial feedback results [which would introduce a different type of bias instead]. Thus as more participate, the impact of the release of new versions of browsers, operating systems, add-ons, and popular programs that use the browsers is going to skew the results as initial responders alter their preferences (but can't revise their initial opinions) and less heavily-developmental/design/programming and what I typically call "power users" begin to add more of their views (which I suspect may differ from those who have responded thus far).

Actually, in retrospect, I suppose I should have guessed that FF and Chrome would be more popular with those who've voted - even if I personally prefer IE9 at the moment. For testing and backup and to assist users, I always have updated versions of Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and IE installed (and updated and with appropriate add-ons and with synchronized settings such as favorites and history and so forth from time-to-time). Periodically, I will use one for a few hours or more just to get a better feel for it - but I can never gain the level of comfort and familiarility I have with IE9 (or the prior versions when they were the most current available) and so I can't really tell you that my reason is as much that it's the best as that it's simply easier for me to use and eventually - often quickly - move back.

Have I had some troubles? Yes, of course. Are there features of other browsers I'd prefer to have that worked better (e.g., automatic refreshing of pages without wiping out work in progress (like a draft response when it occurs - so it would somehow only do those where such consequences would not occur) so I could, for example, see forum updates every 1-2 minutes and be able to see new posts in unsubscribed threads and new threads where email alerts won't work (more like NNTP updates))? Absolutely. Would I like to see equivalent and/or improved security in all of them? Certainly. Is it possible that if I decided to change to any of these primary alternatives that in time I'd grow to like it and consider it preferred over the others? I can't rule that out, but also know I'm not likely to give any of the others (or some not listed that are becoming popular enough that they may be worth having for the same reasons I have more than one other besides IE9) enough of a chance to get to that point. The only way I see that happening is if I begin doing something prolifically where some other browser is so far superior (or that IE9 cannot do) that a switch is mandatory - and at the moment I see nothing like that on the horizon.

But at the end of the day, I'll probably continue to do what I'm doing (I tend to respond in some IE forums and I try to use the products in the forums where I'm responding so I'm more familiar with what people are talking about when they ask questions - or at least I try to have it on my system unless it would be in conflict with something else as with many of the AV products with real-time protection features even if disabled and only installed). I'm still on Vista (hardware upgrade incompatibility) and not yet ready to switch to W8RTM because I think better/cheaper hardware will come out over the next few months and I'll be in a better financial position so I can get what I want and not skimp - or overdo it either (but possibly soon and probably in a multi-boot configuration with one or two other OS now that hard drives are big enough to partition properly). When that occurs, I'll certainly go to IE10 with W8RTM - even without having really tried it out for more than a couple of hours at most (and not a machine I'd configured or included preferred add-ons as I wanted to try it out and not spend the entire time setting options). But each OS will have the most current version of IE as the primary browser and have others installed as I do today for the same reasons.

Tell me, A Guy. You seem surprised about the results about Opera. I've found nothing bad to say about it, but unless I spend much more time configuring it (more than I want), I'm just not comfortable with it - and then I'd be just trying to turn it into IE and I suppose defeating the reasons that you may prefer it. When did you start using Opera, why did you start, what were you using before, and why do you use it now? In essence, see if you can convince me to switch or tell me what you would say to a newbie to convince them to start there before a habit has time to form.

Kosh

 

[Will]

So........ to "win" this thread and show IE with an overwhelming lead will I need to abuse my Admin authority and edit the poll results? :lol:

Either that or therapy. :thumbsup2:

Why do you use IE anyway?

 

[Patrick]

So........ to "win" this thread and show IE with an overwhelming lead will I need to abuse my Admin authority and edit the poll results? :lol:

Either that or therapy. :thumbsup2:

Why do you use IE anyway?

IE is a great browser, honestly. As far as simplicity goes, I feel aside from Chrome, IE wins in that regard. I don't use it because Firefox has many small things that make someone as nit-picky as me like it for certain reasons.

 

[jcgriff2]

So........ to "win" this thread and show IE with an overwhelming lead will I need to abuse my Admin authority and edit the poll results? :lol:

Either that or therapy. :thumbsup2:

Why do you use IE anyway?

When I click on IE x64 icon, the page loads before I "unclick". I find it to be faster than FFox or Chrome.

More impotantly - the system sounds. Every click, feeds, downloads, etc.. anything that the Internet does in the background has a sound associated in IE (have to set up initially).

I learned Windows under Vista and hearing the sounds then investigating early on taught me a lot about what goes on behind the scenes.