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Internet Explorer is sooo 1990's
Why you should change browsers.
Posted on: 01-08-2008
Let me start this post with a question: If you were using a sub-par product and you knew that there were better alternatives, even safer alternatives, would you stop using the product and move to the better product? What if it was free?
The target of my current angst is Microsoft's Internet Explorer. You see, Internet Explorer (we'll call it IE) has been around for a very long time. It has outlasted many web browsers that have tried to steal it's thunder. The problem with IE is, that as time goes on, it, like many other Microsoft products, have fallen slowly to the depths of Hell. It went from being THE standard for web designers and programmers alike, it had the largest market share (I'll talk about this later), and it was a all-around good product.
And now, here I am, trying to design web sites. I write the code the way I was taught, the way everyone was taught, and suddenly anyone who views my website using IE tells me it looks all jacked up. After discovering the "problem", I was thinking, how do all of these other websites work around this. Come to find out, many web designers have to create entire separate sets of code just to accommodate those who use IE.
The growing trend is relieving though. As of December 2007, combined market share for IE6 and IE7 is around 52.2%. Separated, IE6 has 33.2% & IE7 has 21.0$. Firefox does have the market share with 36.3%. (source).
With the recent release of IE 7, we had hoped that they had made the improvements we asked. Nope. Once again, Microsoft ignored what we had to say. Web browsers use "rendering engines" that determine how to display a web page when you go to it. IE uses an ancient rendering engine called Trident. Trident has many flaws, including the fact that is is not standards-compliant which leads to security vulnerabilities, crashes, and downright destroying the layout of a website.
IE 6 was plagued with security flaws and IE 7 has hit the news with the same issues.
But with all these negative views, I have GREAT news for you. There is a better, safer, FREE product. As a matter of fact, I am going to talk about two.
Firefox - Rank: 4 Stars
Firefox is a web browswer based off of the Mozilla browser of old. It is by far the most secure browswer. Firefox uses the Gecko rendering engine (Also used by Netscape, Mozilla, & Camino) which has been tried and proven strong and true. It is now the most standards-compliant rendering engine available. Firefox features tabs, a trillion add-ons, themes, and is more stable than a tank. Spawning from Netscape and the Linux OS environment, security is their #1 priority.
This web browser is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. You have no reason not to replace your IE nightmare's with this fantastic web browser.
Safari - Rank: 4 Stars
After Microsoft told Apple to stick it and discontinued support and deveopment on IE for OS X (back at version 5.5), we needed a solution. What appeared was Apple Safari. Safari has long been known to OS X user's to be a very fast and reliable web browser. Safari 3, the most recent release, was also pushed out to Windows users. They did have some security issues which have since been patched. Safari claims to be the fastest loading and viewing web browser on the market today. It also has an extremely small footprint.
Pages load faster, thanks the the KHTML rendering engine which was first made popular Linux browswer, Konqueror. Although this browswer is still in Beta (for Windows), it makes for a fantastic replacement.
There are a lot of web designers out there that put months and months into websites. It's a shame that some people will never be able to see these works of art the way the artist intended. Take the step, move to a different web browser. It's not hard. It's not confusing. It's just better.
There are no pictures associated with this post.
The target of my current angst is Microsoft's Internet Explorer. You see, Internet Explorer (we'll call it IE) has been around for a very long time. It has outlasted many web browsers that have tried to steal it's thunder. The problem with IE is, that as time goes on, it, like many other Microsoft products, have fallen slowly to the depths of Hell. It went from being THE standard for web designers and programmers alike, it had the largest market share (I'll talk about this later), and it was a all-around good product.
And now, here I am, trying to design web sites. I write the code the way I was taught, the way everyone was taught, and suddenly anyone who views my website using IE tells me it looks all jacked up. After discovering the "problem", I was thinking, how do all of these other websites work around this. Come to find out, many web designers have to create entire separate sets of code just to accommodate those who use IE.
The growing trend is relieving though. As of December 2007, combined market share for IE6 and IE7 is around 52.2%. Separated, IE6 has 33.2% & IE7 has 21.0$. Firefox does have the market share with 36.3%. (source).
With the recent release of IE 7, we had hoped that they had made the improvements we asked. Nope. Once again, Microsoft ignored what we had to say. Web browsers use "rendering engines" that determine how to display a web page when you go to it. IE uses an ancient rendering engine called Trident. Trident has many flaws, including the fact that is is not standards-compliant which leads to security vulnerabilities, crashes, and downright destroying the layout of a website.
IE 6 was plagued with security flaws and IE 7 has hit the news with the same issues.
But with all these negative views, I have GREAT news for you. There is a better, safer, FREE product. As a matter of fact, I am going to talk about two.
Firefox - Rank: 4 Stars
Firefox is a web browswer based off of the Mozilla browser of old. It is by far the most secure browswer. Firefox uses the Gecko rendering engine (Also used by Netscape, Mozilla, & Camino) which has been tried and proven strong and true. It is now the most standards-compliant rendering engine available. Firefox features tabs, a trillion add-ons, themes, and is more stable than a tank. Spawning from Netscape and the Linux OS environment, security is their #1 priority.
This web browser is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. You have no reason not to replace your IE nightmare's with this fantastic web browser.
Safari - Rank: 4 Stars
After Microsoft told Apple to stick it and discontinued support and deveopment on IE for OS X (back at version 5.5), we needed a solution. What appeared was Apple Safari. Safari has long been known to OS X user's to be a very fast and reliable web browser. Safari 3, the most recent release, was also pushed out to Windows users. They did have some security issues which have since been patched. Safari claims to be the fastest loading and viewing web browser on the market today. It also has an extremely small footprint.
Pages load faster, thanks the the KHTML rendering engine which was first made popular Linux browswer, Konqueror. Although this browswer is still in Beta (for Windows), it makes for a fantastic replacement.
There are a lot of web designers out there that put months and months into websites. It's a shame that some people will never be able to see these works of art the way the artist intended. Take the step, move to a different web browser. It's not hard. It's not confusing. It's just better.
There are no pictures associated with this post.
Comments (3 comments)
Super Mike says:
Super Mike says:
I'm not about to say MS is perfect, and for anyone who thinks I'm against anything NOT MS and playing the hipocrit here, let it be known that I use IE7 for work purposes because as stated by the site founder it does force certain things on designers which I disagree with myself, but I must use it for the ASP.net connections we use.
My primary browing system is FireFox, so that right there should tell you it's not a war of "I use IE so you must be wrong," it's a war of, I use both, constantly, and I see them more as equals.
Firefox has some little nitches but unfortunately they are nitches that drive you nuts after awhile.
IE7 is the same way, and the primary problem with security risks with IE7 is USERS! Granted there are faults that MS can/should/ and DO address, but too many people out there DON'T get the updates realeased, DON'T setup their browser properly, DON'T have the proper third party software to protect themselves and their data.
IE7 is a web browser. It is NOT spyware protection, firewall, virus scanner, disk cleaner, registry editor, windows washer, data recover. IT IS A BROWSER.
Read any article you want, watch any video you want, from personal experience of using both EVERY SINGLE DAY, I'm just going to say, IE7 has flaws but it's the top browser. (Opinion based) Primarily the people who don't like IE7 are web designers. Do they have a right to dislike it, OF COURSE. I would be annoyed to hell if my code didn't work because IE didn't read it properly. Other than that I've used IE my whole life and have never had a problem with it. Why? Because I have it setup right and I get the updates that ARE released.
As far as FireFox goes, I say have at it. It's a free download, (which so is IE if you have windows), decent load times, and if you need help with it there are allot of forums and of course "plugins" are the big deal for firefox.
Firefox has it's cons as well though. As admitted by the web-master, and of course my admittion to MS having problems, Firefox has security flaws of it's own. IT IS A BROWSER. If you don't know how to setup a browser then when something does happen, IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR NOT TAKING THE TIME TO LEARN HOW.
If you think Spyware is signs of a security flaw in a browser, then you might want to read an id-10T book, you will need it.
Here's a quote just for the readers. I'm sure whatever is quoted will be said to be "Microsoft Owned/Funded/Whipped" something.
This is from an analysis ran by an Open-Source group testing the vulnerabilities of IE vs. FF
"While the data trends show that both Internet Explorer and Firefox security quality is improved in the latest version, it also demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, Internet Explorer has experienced fewer vulnerabilities than Firefox."
REPLY:
Before I state my reply, I never said anything about Spyware. Read previous posts and correct me if I am wrong. I still think that security features should be enabled by default. It's not like there is a "Check here to make all security issues disappear" button. Like you said, it's a browser. It should still do it's job in a secure manner. Firefox does, and it has market share.
While we have been approaching the security risks involved with IE and Firefox, the entire reason I wrote the article was because I was (am) sick and tired of having to code, then recode, then recode, then recode, because the people that coded IE's rendering engine (Microsoft) also wrote the id-10T book you talked about.
A browser that had so much control should have first and foremost kept up with the standards. As for Apple's Safari browser, it was the first browser to pass to the latest Acid3 tests. If you would like more information of what the Acid3 project is, click here and see how your browser scores. Safari and Opera are the only 2 browsers that are currently passing the test.
Browsers soon to be released out of beta ranked like this: (Source)
Safari 3 - 100%
Opera 9 - 100%
Camino 2 - 71%
Firefox 3 - 71%
Seamonkey -71%
Flock -70%
Firefox 3 (diff build) - 68%
Opera 9.50 Beta - 61%
IE 8 Beta for Vista - 18%
IE 8 Beta for Vista - 18%
Current released browsers measured up about the same. Starting with Safari 3.1 at 75% and ending with IE 6 with 11%.
I think it's important to know (based on the reason I wrote this article) that IE 5.5 (released in July 2000) scored better than IE 6, or their current release, IE 7.
Heres to hoping...
Super Mike says:My primary browing system is FireFox, so that right there should tell you it's not a war of "I use IE so you must be wrong," it's a war of, I use both, constantly, and I see them more as equals.
Firefox has some little nitches but unfortunately they are nitches that drive you nuts after awhile.
IE7 is the same way, and the primary problem with security risks with IE7 is USERS! Granted there are faults that MS can/should/ and DO address, but too many people out there DON'T get the updates realeased, DON'T setup their browser properly, DON'T have the proper third party software to protect themselves and their data.
IE7 is a web browser. It is NOT spyware protection, firewall, virus scanner, disk cleaner, registry editor, windows washer, data recover. IT IS A BROWSER.
Read any article you want, watch any video you want, from personal experience of using both EVERY SINGLE DAY, I'm just going to say, IE7 has flaws but it's the top browser. (Opinion based) Primarily the people who don't like IE7 are web designers. Do they have a right to dislike it, OF COURSE. I would be annoyed to hell if my code didn't work because IE didn't read it properly. Other than that I've used IE my whole life and have never had a problem with it. Why? Because I have it setup right and I get the updates that ARE released.
As far as FireFox goes, I say have at it. It's a free download, (which so is IE if you have windows), decent load times, and if you need help with it there are allot of forums and of course "plugins" are the big deal for firefox.
Firefox has it's cons as well though. As admitted by the web-master, and of course my admittion to MS having problems, Firefox has security flaws of it's own. IT IS A BROWSER. If you don't know how to setup a browser then when something does happen, IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR NOT TAKING THE TIME TO LEARN HOW.
If you think Spyware is signs of a security flaw in a browser, then you might want to read an id-10T book, you will need it.
Here's a quote just for the readers. I'm sure whatever is quoted will be said to be "Microsoft Owned/Funded/Whipped" something.
This is from an analysis ran by an Open-Source group testing the vulnerabilities of IE vs. FF
"While the data trends show that both Internet Explorer and Firefox security quality is improved in the latest version, it also demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, Internet Explorer has experienced fewer vulnerabilities than Firefox."
REPLY:
Before I state my reply, I never said anything about Spyware. Read previous posts and correct me if I am wrong. I still think that security features should be enabled by default. It's not like there is a "Check here to make all security issues disappear" button. Like you said, it's a browser. It should still do it's job in a secure manner. Firefox does, and it has market share.
While we have been approaching the security risks involved with IE and Firefox, the entire reason I wrote the article was because I was (am) sick and tired of having to code, then recode, then recode, then recode, because the people that coded IE's rendering engine (Microsoft) also wrote the id-10T book you talked about.
A browser that had so much control should have first and foremost kept up with the standards. As for Apple's Safari browser, it was the first browser to pass to the latest Acid3 tests. If you would like more information of what the Acid3 project is, click here and see how your browser scores. Safari and Opera are the only 2 browsers that are currently passing the test.
Browsers soon to be released out of beta ranked like this: (Source)
Safari 3 - 100%
Opera 9 - 100%
Camino 2 - 71%
Firefox 3 - 71%
Seamonkey -71%
Flock -70%
Firefox 3 (diff build) - 68%
Opera 9.50 Beta - 61%
IE 8 Beta for Vista - 18%
IE 8 Beta for Vista - 18%
Current released browsers measured up about the same. Starting with Safari 3.1 at 75% and ending with IE 6 with 11%.
I think it's important to know (based on the reason I wrote this article) that IE 5.5 (released in July 2000) scored better than IE 6, or their current release, IE 7.
Heres to hoping...
The problem is if the kitten can't get out of the basket there's no way we will ever know what really happened to it.
How are we to know if he was running along a river with winds flowing along his whiskers with the sweet smell of honeysuckle and then suddenly slipped on a barely visible black mud patch which caused him to fall into the river which flowed with the might of a draining ocean and then enevitably dropped him into the basket, OR, if he was hit by a car????
We would never know.
How are we to know if he was running along a river with winds flowing along his whiskers with the sweet smell of honeysuckle and then suddenly slipped on a barely visible black mud patch which caused him to fall into the river which flowed with the might of a draining ocean and then enevitably dropped him into the basket, OR, if he was hit by a car????
We would never know.
Got something to say? Please be polite! (Rules)
http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911
For those of you who want to hear the story told from a point of educated research rather than biased, dislike for Microsoft.
Let's see how long it takes the web-master to take this comment down :).
REPLY:
Of course all software has issues, but what I am saying is there are other alternatives that are safER than IE. As a matter of fact, I was talking to Brad about Firefox and how I think the plugins they use will end up being a big security risk.
This guy tried playing the marketshare card but Firefox actually has market share over IE 6 and IE 7 separately, and almost combined. I still haven't heard many people with problems. Don't get me wrong, there are issues out there, just many less issues than IE specifically.
Even Safari has had security issues, but they were addressed and patched within 2 days of release. Mr. Langa even said Microsoft has a tendency to sit on their problems instead of fix them. He also said, "Microsoft's software has exposed more users to more potential and real attacks than any other software."
I am not anti-Microsoft. I am for any company that can create software and hardware that is reliable, productive, and secure. If it fits that category, I am all for it.
By the way, Information Week is funded by Microsoft so I wouldn't say it's unbiased.