How to: Choose the perfect web browser

With the debut of Mozilla Firefox a couple of years ago, Microsoft's attempt to catch up by releasing Internet Explorer 7, and the recent offering of Safari for Windows, the Second Browser War has officially begun. But these three are not the only competitors: There are milliards of web browsers out there, each offering a unique array of features. But with so many options, which one to choose?


Option 1: Internet Explorer 6

The default web browser for Windows XP and currently the most used web browser in the world. It is commonly known that this browser renders pages incorrectly and has lots of security holes that allow malicious software to access your computer.

My recommendation: Avoid it at all costs. Only use it if there is a web site you usually use that only works with this browser. If you are a web developer, use it always for testing purposes, since this is the most used browser.

Option 2: Internet Explorer 7

The default web browser for Windows Vista, although it is also available for Windows XP. It is much better than IE6, but it still lacks many of the features needed for productive browsing, such as a good download manager. However, it is a dramatic improvement from the last version, although it still has some security issues.

My recommendation: Avoid it at all costs. Only use it if there is a web site you usually use that only works with this browser. If you are a web developer, use it always for testing purposes, since this is one of the most used browsers.

Option 3: Mozilla Firefox 2

Possibly the most hyped browser ever, Firefox is probably the best one out there. It's got tabbed browsing, good security, and is cross-platform and open source. It uses the Gecko rendering engine, arguably the fastest out there. But best of all, as I've said before, it's got thousands of extensions. Every possible feature you could think of for a browser, Firefox has got to have it.

The downside of Firefox is its commonly known lags and memory leaks. However, with the development of Firefox 3 and Gecko 1.9 with Cairo rendering, these will certainly decrease.

My recommendation: This is my browser of choice. It's feature-rich and uses the best rendering engine possible. If you like it, by all means use it. If you find it is too slow, find an faster alternative like K-meleon, Camino, or Epiphany. If you are a web developer, use it always for testing purposes, since this is one of the most used browsers.

Option 4: Safari

Safari, the default browser for Mac OSX and recently available for Windows. I haven't used it on Macs, but on Windows it's just awful. The rendering engine, WebCore, is actually pretty good and is open source, based on Konqueror's engine, KHTML. But the actual program is minimalistic and simply doesn't fit Windows right. It's too feature-less for my taste.

My recommendation: If you're a Windows user, save yourself the pain and avoid it at all costs. If you're a Mac user and find that Safari fits you, by all means use it. If not, use Firefox or Camino. If you are a web developer, use it always for testing purposes, since this is one of the most used browsers.

Option 5: Opera

Opera users swear in the name of their browser, so they say. I personally don't use it, but I find it to be a quite fine browser. It's fast, cross-platform, recently free (as in free beer), and has some quite nice features built in. Try it, and see if it fits you.

My recommendation: If you like it and it fits your browsing habits, use it. If you are a web developer, use it always for testing purposes, since this is one of the most used browsers.

Option 6: K-meleon (Windows), Epiphany (Linux with Gnome), or Camino (Mac)

All these three are native browsers built on Gecko. Think of them as a sort of "Firefox Lite". All three are very fast and light of resources. K-meleon is for Windows and I find it to be particularly useful as a portable application to carry on my USB drive (Firefox Portable is just too slow). It is extremely customizable and fast. Epiphany is also very fast, but also light on features. It is the default browser for the Gnome Desktop Environment, used mostly on Linux, and for that reason it is also very simplistic and easy to use. I haven't personally used Camino, but I know that it is a light, native Cocoa application that makes browsing on Macs better than Safari and faster than Firefox.

My recommendation: Use one of these if you find Firefox to be too slow for you, or if you want a browser that blend better with your operating system. If you're a web developer that uses Firefox, you have no need to use any of these, since they all use the Gecko engine.

Option 7: Konqueror

Konqueror is the default browser on KDE. The rendering engine is pretty good and fast, and it's what Safari's is based upon. Konqueror is feature-rich, powerful, and fast. But so many features can sometimes be overwhelming.

My recommendation: If you use KDE and find that Firefox is not fast/native/powerful enough, use this. If you use Gnome, don't use it, it's just too slow; use Firefox or Epiphany instead. If you are a web developer, use it always for testing purposes, since this is one of the most used browsers.

Option 8: Others

There are many other browsers out there. For command-line ninjas, there's Links, for example. There are also variants of the above browsers: Flock, Maxthon, Netscape, and IceWeasel are some. If you find that your current browser slows you down or just doesn't have the one feature you need, look for another one (or an extension to your current browser). There are so many choices that there's bound the be the perfect browser for anyone somewhere.