I would like to start this first blog for 2012 with a Happy New Year message to anyone reading this. With that aside, today's topic of discussion is how efficient having a single browser on an OS is for the end-user?
My answer to this question is to never use just one browser. In fact, the use of multiple browsers not only negates the possibility of having incompatible websites run on a machine but also doesn't limit the user in their choices. Sure, there are web-standards out there that most web-development houses should be following but the problem is both with the developers as well as the browsers themselves. Everyone wants to do something different but that being said, the amount of testing for a cohesive experience across all browsers isn't nearly as enough as it should be. Couple this lack of cohesion with the timely demise of flash and its succession to HTML5 and we are once again back to standards that are never really followed. I suppose the big culprits like Internet Explorer and for some reason Google Chrome will probably be the biggest players in the problems users will see when using the Internet.
A good example of a problem I recently ran into was when I tried to use the ICICI website with a Chrome stable release version on my netbook. An errant QuickTime plugin forced the browser to create a full-screen blue layer that wouldn't allow me to get to the login page. My only option at that point was to switch over to Firefox and get my work done. This however is a situation that was easily remedied and I then found myself asking the question about what Chrome OS users do when such a problem arises? There really is no way to install another browser and there is no way we can run an IE variant on the OS so the user is essentially stuck with their browser and no way to get to their site.
The solution in most cases is to not use a non-multiplatform/browser plugin and its getting better everyday but only to a certain extent. Most older systems will still plague single browser users and not having an option to use the browser of your choice to get your work done makes it even harder for end-users to have a pleasant browsing experience.
Browser Ranking (Personal choice)
1. Firefox [As heavy as it may be, this is still the number one browser for me across any platform. It has a large extension library, doesn't really choke too often on any websites and also offer hardware acceleration where possible]
2. Google Chrome [Flaky at times, as seen in my example, but overall a fast and easy to use browser]
3. Opera [Best browser functionality experience that allows you to search content within pages, Dragonfly is much better than Firebug from a debugging perspective but with such a low usage, its probably never going to make it into the top two anytime soon]
4. Safari for Windows
5. IE9 [Far too cluttered and way too much user-intervention to make decisions on things that should be done seamlessly in the backend. Microsoft dropped the ball here but lets see what they do to make up for it with the next IE release]
It used to be a matter of speed versus choice once upon a time and now its a matter of which browser covers enough standards, has enough of plugins to make no site crash and which browser offers the most seamless experience. I hope you aren't using a single browser and if you are my strong suggestion is to start using a secondary browser to rid yourself of any problems you may run into with your primary browser. Good luck.
My answer to this question is to never use just one browser. In fact, the use of multiple browsers not only negates the possibility of having incompatible websites run on a machine but also doesn't limit the user in their choices. Sure, there are web-standards out there that most web-development houses should be following but the problem is both with the developers as well as the browsers themselves. Everyone wants to do something different but that being said, the amount of testing for a cohesive experience across all browsers isn't nearly as enough as it should be. Couple this lack of cohesion with the timely demise of flash and its succession to HTML5 and we are once again back to standards that are never really followed. I suppose the big culprits like Internet Explorer and for some reason Google Chrome will probably be the biggest players in the problems users will see when using the Internet.
A good example of a problem I recently ran into was when I tried to use the ICICI website with a Chrome stable release version on my netbook. An errant QuickTime plugin forced the browser to create a full-screen blue layer that wouldn't allow me to get to the login page. My only option at that point was to switch over to Firefox and get my work done. This however is a situation that was easily remedied and I then found myself asking the question about what Chrome OS users do when such a problem arises? There really is no way to install another browser and there is no way we can run an IE variant on the OS so the user is essentially stuck with their browser and no way to get to their site.
The solution in most cases is to not use a non-multiplatform/browser plugin and its getting better everyday but only to a certain extent. Most older systems will still plague single browser users and not having an option to use the browser of your choice to get your work done makes it even harder for end-users to have a pleasant browsing experience.
Browser Ranking (Personal choice)
1. Firefox [As heavy as it may be, this is still the number one browser for me across any platform. It has a large extension library, doesn't really choke too often on any websites and also offer hardware acceleration where possible]
2. Google Chrome [Flaky at times, as seen in my example, but overall a fast and easy to use browser]
3. Opera [Best browser functionality experience that allows you to search content within pages, Dragonfly is much better than Firebug from a debugging perspective but with such a low usage, its probably never going to make it into the top two anytime soon]
4. Safari for Windows
5. IE9 [Far too cluttered and way too much user-intervention to make decisions on things that should be done seamlessly in the backend. Microsoft dropped the ball here but lets see what they do to make up for it with the next IE release]
It used to be a matter of speed versus choice once upon a time and now its a matter of which browser covers enough standards, has enough of plugins to make no site crash and which browser offers the most seamless experience. I hope you aren't using a single browser and if you are my strong suggestion is to start using a secondary browser to rid yourself of any problems you may run into with your primary browser. Good luck.
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