A recent post had me taking another look at different browsers. I have four currently installed (well, five, sort of, in different physical machines–maybe even seven, depending on how one want to count things), and I try to make use of them all from time to time. All the browsers I currently use to one degree or another–Opera, Chrome (and SWIron, a de-Google-tracking Chome-based browser), Firefox and Internet Exploder–are generally Good Enough for most folks’ use, but the latter three all have serious drawbacks for me for the ways I prefer to use a browser.
Chrome, Firefox and Internet Exploder install as “crippled” compared with an installation of Opera, right “out of the box” as it were. Chrome comes closest to Opera for built-in features, but close enough only if one were using the browsers to play horseshoes with hand grenades. (*heh* Metaphors are for mixing, IMO :-)) None of the three offer the kind of flexibility and customization Opera does without having to add widgets or extensions. Just look at the form-filling functions of the browsers, for one. Opera offers–right off a fresh install–more form-filling options than the others. And whether using “opera:config” or text editing ini files, Opera offers in-depth customization that’s either not possible or extremely difficult (without some form of extension added in) in the other browsers. And having offered mouse gestures, tabbed browsing and features such as Speed Dial for years before the other browsers, Opera simply does all those elements more elegantly, as is illustrated by the new, built-in, Stacked Tabs feature in Opera 11 (beta) that performs functions similar to (but again, more elegantly than) the Firefox Tab Candy extension that Mozilla is now in the process of building into FF4.
Oh, there’re more reasons why I still prefer Opera, and the new Opera 11 beta is adding to them, but apart from the security concerns I continue to have about IE and FF (FF had more security problems last year than the other three browsers combined; all eventually fixed, IIRC, but still… ), any of these four will work for most users.
Safari? Not even on my radar any more. Just not Good Enough, period. Some of the ‘nix-only browsers like Konqueror and Seamonkey? *yech!* Definitely Not Good Enough for regular use. (*heh* My first download/install on any new ‘nix machine–physical or virtual–after system updates is always Opera, usually the latest beta, despite warnings from the OSes that “down” versions are preferred for stability. So far, the Opera Software site has always selected the best version for the particular ‘nix variant I’m using, and installing has been as easy, if not easier, in recent ‘nix distros as in Windows.)
That’s how it is here at twc central. One user here uses SWIron about as often as Opera, but that’s the largest divergence from twc central’s norm, and mostly because advanced browser use just isn’t on that user’s horizon, so Chrome’s minimalist approach works pretty well in her use.
BTW, used SWIron to post this. PITA, but it works for simple things like this all right, I suppose. 🙂
