IE vs Firefox

Just a quick question. Could anyone enlighten me as to the advantages of Firefox over IE ?

 

Firefox has:

- Better tab browsing
- Add ons (Ad block and noscript pretty much block everything except what you want to be shown)

 

Security, is the main advantage, IMO. FF isn't nearly as vulnerable to exploits as is IE. Also, FF seems much faster to me.

 

. current FF2.0.0.11 vs IE7?
. why dont u install both side by side and use ur browsing needs as personal benchmarks?
. advantages from one browser to the other = personal browsing preferences
. the forum has good inputs for BOTH browsers (and others...)

cheers ...

 

Internet Explorer 7 does a fair job on its own, but I'm used to firefox and likes alot of the addons. The only reason I use IE is to access certain websites that is only accessible / display properly with it, which doesn't happen very often.

 

Good point. Windows Update, for example.

 

Windows update is the only reason I launch IE nowadays.

 

FF is a internet browser while IE I'm not sure

You tend to use IE until you start using FF. Once the transition is made then there is no going back, especially when u get used to all addons

FF is safer and addons like AdBlockPlus makes it gr8 !! FF does take more memory than IE. That is something to look for in FF3

 

FF3 Beta, latest trunk version, 8 tabs now, 2 with flash, one with Java, Adblock+ and some other smaller addons, using 40Mb of memory at the moment

(C2D and 2Gb DDR2 RAM in the machine, so it's not the downscaled version of FF that use less RAM)

 

Yeah I know.....Thats why I chucked FF3 beta....hopefully it gets better in the final version....Some of my addons also don't work in FF3

 

Thanks for the input guys much appreciated, think its time to jump the IE ship and onto the Firefox bandwagon

 

Firefox is good, started using opera now because i couldn't do a clean install of firefox (removing it/deleting folders/removing registry, and still came up with the same problem that no addons worked when i reinstalled it)

 

It's not really about advantages to Firefox. It's a nice browser and all (and has an insane number of extremely useful extensions that you'll *really* want to look over).

A much bigger deal is the disadvantages of IE.
It sucks. You don't always notice it because web developers across the world are willing to literally triple the time they spend developing a website just to work around all of IE's quirks and limitations. Do them a favor, and use a real browser. If you don't like Firefox, use Opera. Or Safari. Anything other than IE.

Of course you'll also be more secure, and have much better support for quite a lot of clever features you didn't know existed and a dozen of minor visible improvements.

 

How about opera?

I have been tempted lately to try it.

 

I have IE7, Opera 9.25, and Firefox 2.0.11 installed.

I use Firefox almost exclusively, IE almost never, and Opera now and again.

I would really like to like Opera better, but it just feels incomplete in so many unusual places ....

 

@skerryman - did not mean to steal ur thread

all ur addons would work in FF3 (or minefield) if u u do really need them. Just download Nigthly Tester Tools extension and u r all set

cheers ...

 

well, jump on the bandwagon is a bit ...., try it out first and see

cheers ...

 

what version of FF were u playing with? how about opening a new thread and see if we can all chip in

cheers ...

 

Best thing about Firefox is AdBlocker Plus. That add-on alone makes it my preferred browser. I also find that it's more processor efficient than IE7 when scrolling. I don't know what IE is doing, but it sure consumes a lot more processor cycles when scrolling down the scree than FF.

I don't buy that FF is any more secure than IE7 - especially IE7 in Protected Mode under Vista. I also think that IE looks better under Vista with Aero. But the lack of add-ons drives me to Fire Fox most of the time.

 

my personal observations:
. this symptom is INDEPENDENT from whatever browser one is using
. it happened with FF, Opera, Safari as well (my current testing)
. issue was traced to as how the page was being coded and FLASH bugs
. this is being flagged as "bug to be worked on and to be fixed" under Minefield aka FF3 (cannot vow for other browsers)

cheers ...

 

I am pretty much satisfied with IE7

 

I went back to IE after IE7 came out. I like the cleartype text smoothing it does. With newer hardware, the performance difference becomes negligible. Firefox was starting to crash a lot as it became more popular and more targetted for security threats. Opera was nifty but like another poster said, it seemed incomplete.

 

I like Firefox. But it's preference. I suggest you stop being lazy and install Opera and Firefox and try all three. BTW, when you said "quick question". I know you had no idea, but you have no idea...

 

I've tried both on the same site, and IE consistently spikes the processor where FF doesn't. I noticed it because the fan on my laptop kept coming on, and it was always when using IE. Using FF, it rarely came on. I started checking processor utilization and it was always higher with IE when scrolling.

It may very well be Flash related. Adblocker removes a lot of that from Firefox.

 

I was perfectly happy with IE7. About year ago I gave FF a try and thats what I use now 99% of time. IE only for windows updates.
I like the ad ons, and slim, minimalistic single toolbar.

 

I've been looking at Opera and it's darn good, but I'm sticking with Firefox for the moment. IE is fine for those who like to read ads and run any script embedded in the page. However, I of course still use IE when required, such as with online banking. I don't think anyone can afford to delete the browser at this point.

I may migrate to Opera unless Firefox show it can catch up.

 

Firefox works fine, without the IE plug-in, for internet banking. If it doesn't for you - change banks.

And I have found a number of websites that Opera cannot load.

 

ff 2.0.0.11 ftw!

 

Security mostly + the option of themes

 

sorry OP, for kinda hijacking ur thread ... but

. catching up on/to what? might expanding ur statement?
. and what about Opera is trying to catch up with site acceptances, regardless what they might say how bad site developers code or non.standard or whatever excuses they can throw out to poor users?
. try reading the current change log of O9.5beta and see what is it that Opera is trying to catch up!
. FYI that Opera is being using many tools offering from Mozilla dev to improve (catch up) with plugging their security holes

FF does not need to show it can catch up, it just improves/adjusts all the time (like IE, like Safari, like many others...). I personally believe that Opera started to learn this (improve/adjust) with the current 9.5 project.

cheers ...

 

i have problem saving a webpages via Firefox:
i click file-save as-webpage all, but then offline, when i try to open it there goes an error, and i can't open it..

 

u might want to create a new thread on this

cheers ...

 

Yeah, once u go FF, you'll never go back to IE
Add-ons are nice.. AdBlockPlus is like the god of the add-ons for me.. it makes surfing quicker because it won't load those wicked ads.

I've influenced people to try FF... they snubbed IE in a snap.

 

I've been using FireFox for over 2 1/2 years and it is a great browser, it is much more secure with add-ons and much faster than IE.

 

I've used both FF and IE... I stick with IE since the fonts are much smoother. I don't see how anyone can stand to read online text with FF or Opera. With IE7Pro I also have all the ad blocking and such that I like.

There is no benefit in using FF over IE in the security house... that is a myth. Ok, not a myth, but good marketing. Far as being faster, lol... ok, whatever... lol... did they ever fix the memory bug?

 

probably my favourite function for firefox is the "add a keyword for this search"
you can right click on any search box and then in the keyword slot type anything you want. what you designate as the keyword will be the prefix you put in the address bar to any query you would have typed in that search box.

example: (in firefox you can press ctrl+l and it takes you to address bar, or just open a new tab: ctrl+t) so in the address bar if i want to search wikipedia for what calpella is can just type: w calpella in the address bar and it brings up the proper page as if i had done the search from the webpage itself

for the imdb search box i set the keyword as i so I'd type: i cloverfield

.....etc..

 

I agree, though I like features found in all three browsers. IE wins hands down in rendering. Here is a shot of the text on CNN's main page. First in Firefox and then in Internet Explorer 7.

 

Hum I don't see any differences beside the fact that the text look "washed out" in the IE shot... I don't like Cleartype anyway, I gives me headaches if i read blurred out text for too long.

 

It may be different for each person, but I find the FF text very difficult to read. It appears to me that different sections of individual letters are of different thickness and color saturation. It makes the letters and words seem garbled to me.

In IE the text appears smooth and uniform to me, easy to read.

 

It's the MS-made Cleartype that makes IE easily readable.

 

. saw ur examples in the previous post - well can only say that Minefield is making the example from IE looking pretty sad
. for current FF2x, u might want to try this: tools, options, contents, advanced and then set ur own font and size, then UNcheck "allow page to choose their own fonts .bla bla ..." and see if it can satisfy ur need

cheers ...

 

FF faster than IE is false. IE has a faster page rendering engine. What makes FF seem fast is that it loads page on the fly. The fastest is probably Opera though Opera has problems especially with Flash.

 

Same here.

Yep, it's time.

Same here.

Great tip.

 

Is Minefield FF3? If so, I look forward to it. Page and font appearance is the only thing I'm critical of in Firefox, for my own preferences. I remember you mentioning that FF3 has also rid itself of broken image icons during page rendering. The combination of that and improved text rendering should be very nice.

Edit: I see that Minefield is FF3. Thanks!

 

Yep FF has some problems with smooth rendering of web pages.

Some fonts appear dark, some washed out, etc unlike IE's uniform appearance.

 

I have to give a big thumbs up to FF3 Beta2's font rendering. Big improvement. Looks awesome.

The second attachment is also a screen capture taken from FF3 Beta2. Unfortunately the broken image icons displayed while pages are loading are not gone. Perhaps there is a setting to be rid of them? In IE they are called image download place holders and are off by default.

Edited to add a third screen capture of IE7 loading the same page. You can see how IE loads the page elements without the place holders. A much cleaner, unbroken look.

 

Preference. I never liked IE. I used Netscape until Firefox came out and then switched to it.

Mike

 

I just use IE tab