browser review

IE is the best

[topr8]

browsers [ispreview.co.uk]

"IE has the best HTML rendering 'output' of the lot."

hehe maybe i should have posted in foo.

[Eric_Jarvis]

pretty iffy...there are way fewer rendering bugs in either Mozilla or Opera 6 than in IE6...it doesn't mention security or stability at all...both amongst the prime reasons I use Opera as my default browser

[cyril kearney]

topr8, I am in agreement with you and I believe the market has spoken on this issue.

AOL is not going to replace the IE browser with either Opera or Mozilla. They are looking at another browser Netscape v7.0 that is being developed internally.

They may have the clout to revive the browser war. The beta reviews on NS 7.0 are saying that CSS support is better but not good and that tables really don't render well with CSS. These may be bugs and the production release might have these problems solved.

What I think is dooming competition in this area is that browsers are now mature products and no one can add anything significant enough to motivate the average Windows user to change.

Here's an example. Both Opera and Mozilla have added a tab-like feature when you open more than one session in the browser. These tabs take up real estate on each page. IE has long allowed additional sessions by using CTL-N (since v3 or 4). The new session appear in the Windows Taskbar at the foot of the page. So this isn't a feature to any Windows users. Perhaps it is to Unix and Mac users.

In reality the way IE does it is significantly better. If you get caught in an endless chain of pop-ups, you can do a CTL, ALT and DEL and end the offending browser session that is at fault. The other sessions are not disturbed

Currently installing Opera, Mozilla and Netscape v6 and now v7 beta creates problems for each other. The last one installed is the only one that works properly. IE and NS v6 have some problems too unless you reinstall IE after NS v6. No one is going to put up with this hassle. No developer I know checks his code against either Opera or Mozilla.

If the knowledgeable guys won't do it, why should anyone expect the general public to do it? It is a case of no upside but possible downside. Most people don't play to lose.

[richlowe]

I check my code against IE6, Mozilla, Netscape 6, AOL, and Opera. I try to make sure the site at least works in all of these. I also tend to check out a page or two now and then on earlier browsers.

I do prefer IE6, although the new Mozilla looks pretty promising.

Richard Lowe

[papabaer]

Actually, IE (though good) is the least accurate of the modern browsers in rendering HTML according to W3C recommendations. IE CSS support, though decent, is nowhere near Opera or Mozilla's. NN6 and 7 are based on the Gecko rendering engine and are very, very similar to Mozilla in all features.

When AOL v.8 begins distribution later this summer, it will include a rendering engine based on the Gecko/Mozill/NN7 implementation.

Certainly future versions of IE will offer a higher level of compliance to Web Standards as well as, I suspect, features similar to Opera's ZOOM, as well as many of the many other advanced features found in these newer browsers.

Use what you prefer, but do check across browsers. ;)

[The Contractor]

cyril kearney,
<<If you get caught in an endless chain of pop-ups, you can do a CTL, ALT and DEL and end the offending browser session that is at fault.>>

But this will not happen in Opera since you can disallow pop-ups :)

[Axacta]

One thing I really like about IE is that you can customize the toolbars allot. Using the small icons I have reduced my toolbars to three, the Title bar, Menu + Icons + Address bar and the Google bar, and eliminated the Status bar accross the bottom.

[visualguy]

I've been using Opera 5 (Mac) for just about about a week now and I'm completley blown away by the amount of control it gives. I love the icon to turn off images. I do feel like it renders text a bit small ( though probably more accurate ) but maybe this is just a setting on my end. I've got to say that IE 5 for the Mac is no slouch. Certainly better than any of the wintel versions. I just wish Opera had a favorites bar.

[littleman]

Galeon is the best browser I have ever used. It worth switching to Linux for this browser alone. IE might as well be Mosaic in comparison.

[topr8]

theres ups and downs with all our preferences - long may variety thrive

// except my personal choice of course which is only ups!!! :) hehe

i posted the link really as an example of the general attitude on the web.

[papabaer]

Very true... we all have our own preferences, and justifiably so. The good news is that all browser as moving towards high-level standards support. The bar will continue to be raised as new standards are implemented, but at least now the new browsers are all following the same road map.