A web browser (commonly referred to as
a browser) is a basically
an application develloped to view information on the World Wide Web.
An information resource is identified by a Uniform
Resource Identifier/ Locator (URI/URL) and may be a web page,
image, video or other pieceof content. Hyperlinks present
in resources enable users easily to navigate their browsers to
related resources.
Google Chrome is the head
and most popular web browser. But that does n`t means it is only the best.Many
browsers competing with it and some are even better in many aspects as compared
to google crome. Internet Explorer 11 — the oft overlooked Microsoft standby —
is being replaced by Edge, a lean browser for Windows 10. Mozilla Firefox and
Opera continue to ramp up their version numbers, and Safari tenaciously
scuttles along as the under-appreciated byproduct of Apple’s quest for
global domination.
You can’t really go wrong with
any of the popular browsers, but there are a few things here and there that
give each its own competitive edge. So, today I will five most competitive web
browsers:-
Installation,
updates, and compatibility
Installation across the five
browsers is basically the same. Users can download them from their
respective websites if they aren’t built into your operating system already
(i.e. Safari comes preinstalled on Mac OS X, Edge on Windows 10, And IE on all
previous versions of Windows), and each will typically download in under 30
seconds depending on your Internet connection.
Below
is a list of browser compatibility.
§ Safari: Mac OS X, Windows (no
longer updated)
§ Opera: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
§ Edge: Available with Windows
10
When it comes to updates, most
of the browsers are now more or less equivalent. Background updating is
the default practice. In the case of Chrome, Firefox and Opera, it’s handled
through the app. Edge and Safari are updated through Microsoft and Apple’s
respective operating system update utilities.
Internet Explorer is the only
browser that’s no longer receiving updates, as it has been put out to pasture
in favor of Edge. However, it’s still available for use on Windows machines.
Design
and ease of use
If we didn’t know better,
we’d say that the current trend in browser design is for the browser to
disappear entirely. IE, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome all attempt to be as
minimal as possible, offering next to no actual text and small, monochromatic
buttons that discretely blend with the aesthetic design of operating
systems like Windows 8 and Mac OS X. Overall, all five browsers appear to
achieve their goals fairly well. Below we compare and contrast browser design.
Google
Chrome: Chrome has a lean address bar
configuration, stripping everything down into a simple tab layout and address
bar configuration that also doubles as a search bar Google calls the “Omnibox.”
Like most browsers, the window can get incredibly cramped with 15+ tabs open,
but it still does a fantastic job of delivering content whether you have the
browser fully expanded or slightly minimized for the sake of space.
Adjacent to the omnibox is
Chrome’s simple standard navigational features (i.e. back, forward,
refresh, home) by default, but you can easily slim down the window by
customizing the toolbar and deleting any buttons you deem pointless. Chrome’s
single-click bookmarking method, done by simply clicking the star located on
the right side of the address bar, also makes bookmarking your favorite
webpages a breeze and hassle-free experience.
Mozilla
Firefox: This browser features a similar, yet more
useful layout when compared to its competitors, placing the tab bar above the
address bar. Despite reaching version 40 of the software (it skipped
versions 18 and 11 through 16, apparently), it still feels like the bulky
predecessors of the software, refusing to unite the address and search bars in
a single unified field like all of its peers.
However, this is more of
an aesthetic issue than a functional one — you can search within the address
bar or the accompanying search bar to its right. The browser offers the same
kind of single-click bookmarking that Chrome does — all you have to do is click
the star located to the right of the search bar — but there isn’t much else
that separates it from the rest of the pack. The settings menu is
accessible in a similar fashion to that of Google Chrome, allowing you to
access various options by clicking a simple button depicting three horizontal
bars located in the upper-right corner of the window. Unfortunately, it
also takes up a bit of space that could otherwise be used by the tab bar.
Internet
Explorer: Technically, IE 11 is the most minimal
Internet device of the four, with less “chrome” than Chrome. IE 11 features a
single bar that simultaneously functions as the browser’s address and search
bar. The space at the top places your open tabs to the right of the
address-search bar, making it somewhat more cluttered than some of our other
picks given the amount of space the search field takes up, but it typically
isn’t worrisome unless you’re really stacking up a high volume of tabs. Other
notable design features include the single-click bookmarking star now widely
adopted by almost all other prominent browsers.
The two decade old browser
is being phased out to make way for Microsoft’s newest browser, Edge. IE is
still available in Windows 10, but is not the default and will not
receive new features.
Safari: The
browser that has traditionally attracted criticism is now a serious competitor
to the likes of Google and Firefox. The newest version of Apple’s
browser is fairly minimalist in design, but retains enough familiarity for
old users of the browser to feel at home. Like its peers, Safari offers the
address-search bar hybrid. Updates to Safari 8 include a share icon embedded to
the right of the search field. The sharing feature serves as a way to bookmark
pages, post to social networks, and share via native Apple platforms
(iMessage, Mail). The updated Safari is worth a shot for any OS X users. Mac
users running the most recent operating system can even launch the browser in
full-screen mode, essentially expanding the window and for the ultimate viewing
experience.
Opera: This
browser embraces Google’s chromium Web engine
while retaining signature features that distinguish the browser from
the rest. Opera has a single hybrid address-search bar like Chrome, but the
alternative browser also sports Opera’s signature features, stash andspeed dial. Speed dial allows for easy
bookmarking and functions like “the most visited page” on Safari. Stash is similar to Pocket, allowing you to
quickly store pages for future browsing. The bottom line, it’s a clean design
with innovative features that holds its own against the rest of the
competition.
Edge: Edge resembles
IE 11, though with even smaller borders, fewer icons, and a streamlined
toolbar designed to take up more real estate on your display than IE 11. A
solitary, address-search bar will also run the width of the page, as well as a
trio of headline features that include markups, reading view, and Microsoft’s
equivalent to Siri (aka Cortana). It is the standard web browser for Windows
10, and has integration with many of the OS’s features and apps, including
Cortana and Outlook. The latest update gives it the ability to cast video,
audio and pictures to Miracast and DLAN devices.
Extras
Features are what truly
separate one browser from the next given that speed and compatibility are no
longer really an issue. That being said, each browser does have its own slate
of differentiating features, from expansive app stores and add-ons to various
extensions and tools, that makes it shine in its own light.
Chrome
Chrome differentiates itself through its constant updates, but also through its
extensive Web Apps Store, which offers apps that blur the line between Web and
local apps in some unique ways. Much of this philosophy comes from Chrome OS,
Google’s desktop operating system based on the Chrome browser. Still, we like
the idea and Chrome remains the most integrated software for accessing anything
Google related (i.e. Gmail, Google Drive). If Web apps and seamless dashboard
features are important to you, check out what Google has to offer.
Firefox
Like Chrome, Firefox is on a
six-week update schedule, and sports a strong catalog of extensions. Developers
will have to retool many of these to support the newest Firefox iteration, but
some users refuse to leave Firefox solely because it offers unique extensions
that have become essential to their browsing experience. Most other browsers
support add-ons, but Firefox may have a lead in mindshare here (for now). The
built-in PDF viewer is incredibly handy, as is the browser’s support for
Macbook Retina displays and grouped tabs, and Firefox remains the most
customizable in terms of interface and display out of the five on our
list.
Safari
Safari may not have the
admirable extension catalog torival its peers, but it does have offer a good
deal of extensions and utilities for productivity and organization. Unlike
Firefox and Chrome, though, the third-partyextensions are rather bland and
aren’t as integrated into the software as they probably could be. The bulk of
them also lack the “fun” factor found on other browsers, but hopefully Apple
will take a cue from the current market and work more accessible and
entertaining extensions into the Safari Extensions Gallery. Other awesome
built-in extras include the ad-free Safari Reader, which lets you view solely
text without all the unnecessary clutter, and comprehensive iCloud integration
for syncing pages across all your devices.
Safari’s mobile version comes
preinstalled on iOS devices. It’s not available on other mobile platforms.
Internet
Explorer 11
IE11 sports heavy integration
and optimization for windows 7 and 8. Many functions, like turning tabs into
new windows, are much easier with Microsoft’s new browser. It retains some of
the unique features introduced in IE10, like individual tab previewing from the
task bar and a new feature called site pinning, which lets you ‘pin’ a website
to the Windows 8 task bar like you would a normal application. However, unlike
an ordinary taskbar shortcut, pinned websites can offer customized “right click”
menus. For example, pinning the Facebook toolbar will let you right click and
auto browse to different sections of the Facebook site like News, Messages,
Events and Friends. In addition, when you open a pinned site, the IE11 browser
customizes itself to resemble the site you’re viewing. Currently, this only
means the icon in the upper-left corner will change along with the colors for
the back and forward buttons, but we like the idea.
Opera
Creating a browser that can compete with the browser giants is an an uphill
battle for Opera. That said, the decision to embed Chromium has proven to
pay dividends for the Scandinavian company. Opera’s add-ons
library utilizes Chrome’s major apps, including mail and pocket.
Thankfully, Opera doesn’t attempt to beat Google at its own game. Sure, the
extensive Web-app store offers a variety of mostly-free apps, but Opera’s
extensions are centered around the browser’s signature tool, Speed Dial — a
touchscreen-optimized homepage. Each extension can be tacked to Opera’s Speed Dial homepage. The
simplicity of having your Gmail account stored next to a dependable news
aggregatior on your homepage is hard to pass up.
Edge
At this point, Edge doesn’t
offer any extensions. However, extensions have proven to be more than
just a niche feature given their wide-spread adoption in other
browsers. Microsoft has confirmed that Edge will support extensions
in one capacity or another, but there’s no word on what exactly that will
entail as of yet. However, Edge does offer an attractive and easy to use reader
mode, that removes clutter and formatting from web pages and articles to make
for comfortable reading on the web.
Security
and Privacy
The most valuable tool for
secure browsing is user discretion. Every browser has encountered security
broaches in the past. And Internet Explorer and Chrome’s reputation for
protecting users’ security and privacy credentials is spotty at best.
Chrome, Safari, and Firefox
rely on Google’s Safe Browsing API to detect potentially dangerous sites.
Thanks to constant updates, Mozilla, Chrome, and Opera all make constant
security updates. But Chrome takes security a bit further by also scanning
for potentially harmful downloads. There’s also encryption ad-ons
currently in the works at Google.
All browsers offer a
private session option, too. Private sessions prevent the storage of
history, temporary Internet files, and cookies. For example, Internet Explorer
11 features a security measure called Do Not Track. Only Internet Explorer goes
so far as to to block trackers completely from communicating with your browser.
What’s more, according to a 2013 NSS study, only Internet Explorer blocks
trackers used on more than 90 percent of potentially hazardous sites.
Nonetheless, Microsoft has
stated that Edge won’t offer IE’s Do Not Track
feature, though you will be able to enable some tracking
protection. This change of heart is because Do Not Track isn’t honored by many
websites, including Facebook and Google.
Popularity
NetMarketShare’s latest
numbers for desktop browser share show Internet Explorer 11 as the top
dog, at 25 percent. It’s followed by Chrome with 15 percent, Firefox with 7.5
percent, and Sfari with 3 percent. Edge only has 2.5 percent and Opera is way
down on the list, at half a percent.
If you’re wondering why those
statistics don’t add up to 100 percent, it’s because there’s also a wide range
of people using older versions of browsers. Mostly, this means Internet
Explorer — version 8.0, which shipped with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and
Windows Vista, is still used by 11 percent of browsers.
StatCounter provides a much
different view. According to its data, Chrome is by far the most popular
desktop browser, with over 56 percent of all traffic. Internet Explorer and
Firefox are tied at around 16 percent, while Opera has 1.86 percent. Edge is
not yet listed.
Why the big difference between
these reports? It’s because NetMarketShare counts unique visitors, while
StatCounter tallies all visits. In other words, NetMarketShare’s numbers
reflect how many people are using a browser, while StatCounter reflects how
much a browser is used.
Once you know that, the numbers
make sense. A lot of people default to Internet Explorer because they don’t
know any better, and only visit a few websites each day. Chrome is often preferred
by people who browse heavily and might visit hundreds of sites in a day.
Which
browser is best?
For now, it seems safe to say
Chrome is the best browser on the market. It boasts the largest and
most useful selection of apps and extensions, along with a frequent update
schedule. The performance lead it used to have is no longer in evidence, but
it’s still a fast browser. Chrome should be your first choice if you care
about your web browsing experience.
If you like it please share and
comment. If you have any query or conflict with my views then, post it as comment or email at
dhruvik2001@gmail.com .
