Poll: Which browser should I use?

[Nyaliva]

Prepare yourselves Escapists, what follows may shock you.

I'm still using Internet Explorer.

Now, you can call me a moron all you like but you better tell that to my Chemical Engineering, Software Engineering and Mathematics lectureres because they seem to think I'm on the ball. I just haven't really heard a good enough reason to change to anything else (or rather I've heard NO reasons to change other than "IE sucks") and there's so much hype and egotism surrounding other browsers that I don't much want to relate myself to them. My own sister talks about every opinion she has with such piety that I take solace in the fact that something so insignificant as what browser I use can anger her every time she goes to use my computer and I can just shrug.

But anyway, my point is, Escapist community, I would like to know what browser you use, why you use it and if you know any technical reasons why IE is as bad as everyone says it is I may consider changing. Please be adults, I don't care if you think you're better than me because you changed to Firefox back in 2004, I think I'm better than you because I can turn my legs so my feet make a reflex angle, so we're just as petty as each other. Nor will saying "IE sux u is dum noob" garner any respect. If you have actual reasons for why IE sucks, tell me in a proper and concise manner.

So, let me know!

 

[octafish]

I first used Firefox because it worked at a time when IE just didn't. IE is better now but it still acts a bit stroppy at times, refusing to load pages and the like. I got used to Firefox's flexibility, plugins, and reliability, but now I use Chrome because it is lighter than Firefox. I also have friends who design and build websites, I find it easier not to mention anything about IE around them.

 

[aba1]

IE sucks because it is the only browser that requires extra work to make sites work. I also find it tends to be last to catch up at all times you can even see it now with html5 and CSS3. I like Firefox and Safari but chrome is a great choice too I have also heard good things about Opera but I dunno how quick they are on the ball or how much support it gets.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Well it's just plain slower and uses more resources. And whenever something new pops up IE is the last one to get it, and it has less ways you can customize it.

Captcha: greased lightning.

They're really getting weird...

 

[Lucem712]

Well, it could be argued that Firefox is superior to IE because it's FOSS. (Free Open Source Software) and it has a dedicated community behind it that'll release fixes very, very quickly and it tends to have less bugs. (Though, that's debatable.)

Though, I'm not sure how big of a factor that is in Windows/Mac OS. Ubuntu (and it's variants with access to its repositories) have something called PPA's. (Personal Package Archive), which allows developers to release fixes or daily-builds as soon as they are ready without going through the Ubuntu's channels.

I personally prefer Firefox for it's customization, Mozilla's FOSS ideals, and just the GUIs looks and feel, in general.

[sub](I won't argue about speed because the speed difference between Chrome/Chromium & Firefox isn't noticeable to me and I haven't used IE in years)[/sub]

Spoiler

Apparently you can install Safari [http://www.apple.com/safari/] on Windows, who woulda thunk?

 

[Supertegwyn]

I don't mind IE, but Chrome is a lot better.

If you must switch, try Chrome.

 

[Nyaliva]

Thanks guys, good points! I've heard the argument that Firefox is better because it's open source so has few to no bugs and someone's always come up saying it has heaps so I've always been wary, not to mention the aforementioned egotism surrounding the idea, although that's died down since it started.

I've thought of Chrome, it seems pretty good but I feel as if Google is forcing it on me. Google is SUPER slow just to get results that you can click on and Youtube occasionally stops working for no reason, I just get a white space with an encircled exclamation mark where my movie should be. These are the only two websites that I find run badly on IE so it seems really fishy to me...

Anyways, at the time of writing, Firefox and Chrome are tied as the browser to go for, with Opera the only other contender. It interests me, I would've thought at least someone on a Mac would have voted by now, unless they think those are better than Safari anyway.

 

[smithy_2045]

Opera gets the job done.

 

[Esotera]

Chrome or Firefox.

I use Chromium, as it isn't tracked quite so badly by google compared to Chrome, and it's open source and fast. But if you don't really care about that stuff, then you'll want one of the big two, as they're less hassle & will most websites will work best on them.

 

[Joccaren]

Chrome is good.

Loads fastest for me when I test them against each other, and has a good UI that I don't mind too much. Some things take a bit of getting used to, but are quite intuitive when you are used to them. It also just looks nice, and I prefer how it presents its options and popups. Plus its Google, and Google are awesome.
I don't get why you feel Google is forcing Chrome on you, Microsoft is forcing IE on you more than Google is forcing Chrome, and I don't find it super slow either. 9,650,000 results in 0.28 seconds is hardly slow. Of course going to Youtube and searching for a specific video will be faster, but that's because you're using the specialised site rather than the generic search engine.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Google own Youtube?

 

[Starik20X6]

I'm on a Mac use Safari, it's really easy to use and I've never had issues with it. There's a version of it for Windows; I'm not sure how well it works though.

 

[Sam Warrior]

As a uni student ive been using firefox for the last 2 years for the Zotero app which is a free reference managing program which works with your browser and microsoft word etc and lets you put your references in whatever format you want. Firefox and chrome are more secure than IE as well, at least they used to be.

 

[CyanideSandwich]

Anything other than IE will do just fine. My friend recommended Rockmelt, but it's still in beta so I currently don't trust it. I've been using Google Chrome for over a year and I haven't had a single problem with it.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

It depends what you do.

For someone who opens millions of tabs (I exaggerate, I've only got up to 194) I use Chrome. But for using extensions to mass download files I use Firefox.

 

[Detective Prince]

I use Chrome. I used to use Firefox but then my Firefox messed up so I couldn't watch ITV Player on it. So I moved onto Chrome. I love Chrome now.

 

[repeating integers]

I've used Chrome for a while. It's fast, intuitive and attractive to look at, and now I'm used to it, so I'm not gonna be switching any time soon.

 

[Andy Shandy]

I use Chrome, mainly because it is the one that loads the most pages the quickest. Haven't used any other browser since.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

Go for Chrome. It's the lightest, and it feels the most streamlined. I feel most comfortable using Chrome. Behind Chrome I'd put Firefox. But it feels like those two are quite a bit ahead of the rest.