Browser Usage - Retired [Archive]

kato13

06-16-2009, 05:07 AM

Just trying to wrap my head around what browsers are common amongst our users.

IE's refusal to play nice with Google Maps more advanced functions has led me to actually think about different versions of my new maps for Firefox/safari/opera and IE.

EDIT this thread has been retired see the new version here Poll: Browser Usage? 2021 Update

TiggerCCW UK

06-16-2009, 05:52 AM

I'm on IE on my PC, but thinking of swapping to firefox. At the minute though I'm mostly browsing via my BlackBerry - saves me climbing the stairs with my (still!) duff knee.

Cdnwolf

06-16-2009, 06:39 AM

I do general browsing with IE, any secure things like banking etc, I use Firefox and I use Opera when Windows decides to pull one of their stupid tricks and not want to work.

Now the interesting question is... what version of Windows are you using. I am still using XP on my main computer and the laptop came with Vista which I hate.

Targan

06-16-2009, 08:08 AM

I use IE at work (like now) but when I'm at home I use Firefox and at home is where I post new threads and write my lengthier posts.

chico20854

06-16-2009, 08:45 AM

I use IE at work (like now) but when I'm at home I use Firefox and at home is where I post new threads and write my lengthier posts.

+1

As far as operating systems, I paid an extra $200 on my laptop for a version of Vista that came with a free "downgrade" to XP. Capitalism...

Fusilier

06-16-2009, 09:19 AM

Absolutely Firefox.

Rainbow Six

06-16-2009, 11:38 AM

IE for me, both at work and home. XP at work and Vista at home.

copeab

06-16-2009, 01:09 PM

Firefox and XP, although I hung on to Netscape for a couple months after it was no longer supported last year.

(As recently as spring 2007 I was on the web with a P200 computer running Win98SE and Netscape 4.79)

OT: Huzzah, this is my 100th post here!

kato13

06-16-2009, 01:38 PM

kato13

06-16-2009, 01:49 PM

I am glad that Firefox seems to be getting some traction. Unfortunately Internet Explorer users will have less of a good time on my new project. Nuclear strikes take like 25 times longer to display and are visually crooked, due to the fact that Microsoft insists on using their graphics rendering engine rather than the one Google provides.

Example below.
http://games.juhlin.com/images/forum/netscape_IE.jpg

See how the circles are not centered and crooked in IE. I suppose that it could be considered to be random effects, but the fact that IE takes 7-8 seconds to less accurately render 25 nuclear strikes while Firefox does it perfectly in less than half a second is just really annoying.

IMO anyone who uses Google maps regularly on IE should consider trying out Firefox. Personally I had no idea that there was such a difference in rendering speed when displaying complicated routes and traffic or such.

Legbreaker

06-17-2009, 12:21 AM

I use Opera at home and IE at work.
I'd seriously consider ditching anything to do with Microstuffed if I could.

Adm.Lee

06-17-2009, 11:26 AM

I alternate between Firefox and AOL, whatever it uses.

Marc

06-19-2009, 04:51 PM

IE at home and Firefox at work. In both cases with XP. Most probably I will end using Firefox at home, too.

Grimace

06-21-2009, 01:33 PM

AOL uses IE and some of it's own. Essentially you can't run AOL if you remove IE. But if IE isn't working, chances are AOL is.

I know this because I use AOL and/or IE at home, and IE at work.

XP for both places.

I tried Firefox but too many sites that I visited didn't support or display correctly with Firefox. So I junked that browser. What's the point of getting a browser that you can't see half the sites you visit?

kato13

06-21-2009, 01:55 PM

I tried Firefox but too many sites that I visited didn't support or display correctly with Firefox. So I junked that browser. What's the point of getting a browser that you can't see half the sites you visit?

I am actually very surprised by that as most developers I know use Firefox. Although Firefox follows web development protocols more stringently than IE does, so an improperly built site can have issues.

If this experience was more than 18 months ago, I might give it another try. As you can see from the results here developers now have to consider Firefox to be a significant portion of the user base.

Other than a site where active-x is required I only open IE for testing purposes and I have not seen a site that has not rendered properly in Firefox for quite a while.

Targan

06-21-2009, 10:55 PM

I've been using Firefox for about a year and I don't remember ever having seen a website that Firefox hasn't displayed properly.

pmulcahy11b

06-29-2009, 09:56 PM

Firefox, absolutely. And Thunderbird for email.

O'Borg

06-30-2009, 03:58 AM

Firefox at home, IE7 at work. The company intranet was designed for IE and although Firefox works, the website flashes an error message after every click.
I tried Firefox but too many sites that I visited didn't support or display correctly with Firefox. So I junked that browser. What's the point of getting a browser that you can't see half the sites you visit?
I get this occasionally, especially when displaying newspaper column style pages with embedded pics - often the text gets pushed the wrong way.

There's a nifty little addon for Firefox called IEView which does exactly what it says on the tin - a right click menu option to open that page in IE.

Grimace

06-30-2009, 09:35 PM

Thanks, O'Borg! At least ONE other person knows what I'm talking about. I know it wasn't just my imagination.

mikeo80

08-02-2009, 06:22 PM

I've been using XP and IE7.. No problems so far.....???!!!

pmulcahy11b

08-03-2009, 07:24 AM

I've been using XP and IE7.. No problems so far.....???!!!

My mother's using XP and IE8. The only problem she has is every time she tries to go tvguide.com, the browser crashes. I'm thinking of putting Firefox on her computer.

Targan

08-03-2009, 08:22 AM

My mother's using XP and IE8. The only problem she has is every time she tries to go tvguide.com, the browser crashes. I'm thinking of putting Firefox on her computer.
Well you could reassure your mum that Firefox is easy to use. I think it is a good idea.

MajorPo

08-04-2009, 03:55 AM

Firefox is the current winner for me mostly because of the addons that are available. I've also played with Google's Chrome browser and I think it might be a bit better but lacks the third party addons. Once they start appearing I will probably move to it

Dog 6

08-25-2009, 12:53 PM

Firefox FTW!

SSGMike

09-12-2009, 02:20 AM

Firefox is the best in my opinion. Firefox is safer than IE, has loads of add-ons, and the latest version is about a fast as Chrome. As for incompatibility with certain web sites, that would be the fault of dimwitted web designers. :D

Tegyrius

09-12-2009, 06:45 AM

Firefox. In Mac OS X. What is this "IE" of which you speak? :D

- C.

Mohoender

09-12-2009, 09:03 AM

Firefox. In Mac OS X. What is this "IE" of which you speak? :D

- C.

Wild guess of a naive guy. The world computer pain and best virus highway.:p

Dogger

11-11-2009, 02:16 AM

Firefox as of about six months ago, but still use IE8 for some things.

Box is running XP.

copeab

11-11-2009, 02:59 AM

My PC a few weeks ago stopped running Firefox of any version, so i moved to Opera (IE8 and Google Chrome won't run on the system, either)

pmulcahy11b

11-11-2009, 03:47 AM

My PC a few weeks ago stopped running Firefox of any version, so i moved to Opera (IE8 and Google Chrome won't run on the system, either)

Are you having any problems with Java applets, Flash applets, or Acrobat/Acrobat Reader?

copeab

11-11-2009, 04:48 AM

Are you having any problems with Java applets, Flash applets, or Acrobat/Acrobat Reader?

Not that I know of, no.

IE6 and Netscape 8 run (as well as such dinosaurs can be expected) but I try to avoid using them for security reasons.

IE8 failed to run after two automatic updates this spring I had to uninstall it and go back to IE6.

Firefox 3 was working fine until a few weeks ago, when it tried to update after a computer malfunction (for only the second time, the laptop failed to hibernate after being folded up, this time staying powered until the battery was totally drained with Firefox open, them Firefox attempting to do an update shortly after I plugged in the computer and turned it on). I have deleted all Firefox files, installed and uninstalled Firefox 3.5 and 3.0.14, but it won't run. I get an hourglass for a couple of seconds, then nothing. Google Chrome won't even get that far.

pmulcahy11b

11-11-2009, 05:26 AM

Not that I know of, no.

IE6 and Netscape 8 run (as well as such dinosaurs can be expected) but I try to avoid using them for security reasons.

IE8 failed to run after two automatic updates this spring I had to uninstall it and go back to IE6.

Firefox 3 was working fine until a few weeks ago, when it tried to update after a computer malfunction (for only the second time, the laptop failed to hibernate after being folded up, this time staying powered until the battery was totally drained with Firefox open, them Firefox attempting to do an update shortly after I plugged in the computer and turned it on). I have deleted all Firefox files, installed and uninstalled Firefox 3.5 and 3.0.14, but it won't run. I get an hourglass for a couple of seconds, then nothing. Google Chrome won't even get that far.

OK, this is going to sound strange but bear with me. Re-install one of those programs (do them one at a time). Don't try to open the program. After you re-install it, immediately uninstall it again. This should clean out your registry. Reboot. Manually search for and delete any files related to the program (put any personal files, such as bookmarks, into a ZIP file so you can get them back later, and leave the ZIP file in the directory). Reboot again. Re-install the program. It should work properly this time. Unzip your personal files.

Anton_Lysenko

02-24-2010, 11:02 AM

Privyet!

I voted other. Google Chrome here. :)

kato13

02-24-2010, 11:10 AM

Privyet!

I voted other. Google Chrome here. :)

Hey welcome aboard.

Chrome fits the non-IE model I was hoping for :) . I think when I created this poll Chrome was just out of the starting gate.

Owen E Oulton

02-25-2010, 07:01 PM

When my personal computer is working properly, I use Firefox, but right now Firefox won't recognise that the Modem is installed, so I have to make do with an old obsolete Netscape 4.7, which is the only thing that will recognise the modem at the moment (besides my FTP software, thank Gods). The high-speed here at the hospital uses IE upstairs or SiteKiosk downstairs. I hate both, and hope I can get my modem working right soon.

Abbott Shaull

02-25-2010, 07:21 PM

I would say about 94% of the time I am Chrome and Thunderbird, which I use when I am here. 5% of the time I am Firefox at school or viewing hotmail since Chrome has a fit when I try to log in there. 1% of the time when I am force to use IE since Microsoft seems to only recognize only their stuff.

Up until year or so ago, I would of said I used Firefox 99% of the time for quite a few years since it was so much faster and more secure than IE. Yet, it seems to have gotten bloated and moving slow. I have used Safari, but I use it mainly if I am going to Apple site for anything since it seems to be gear to explore there faster much like IE only seems to load fast when you are at Microsoft site. Gee, I wonder why....

Oh well. There you go and more than you need to know...

helbent4

11-11-2010, 11:52 AM

Chrome is the way to go for me, always a lot quicker than Firefox and less cluttered in every regard (like the toolbars) because I like to be looking at what's in the windows and nothing else. IE is a non-issue, I maybe used it once in the last year.

Tony

dragoon500ly

11-27-2010, 08:14 AM

I'm such a dinosauer, still using IE-XP...

pmulcahy11b

11-27-2010, 02:13 PM

I'm such a dinosauer, still using IE-XP...

My mother was using that until recently, when her hard drive failed. I may have to go to the Goodwill Store to find her a hard drive small enough for her restore disks to accept -- hers was 120 GB and the smallest I have on hand is 400 GB.

mikeo80

11-27-2010, 03:38 PM

My mother was using that until recently, when her hard drive failed. I may have to go to the Goodwill Store to find her a hard drive small enough for her restore disks to accept -- hers was 120 GB and the smallest I have on hand is 400 GB.

Paul,

400GB is not an issue for Xp. Format the drive using a FAT32 format, and partition the drive into 120 - 150 gb logical drives.

MIke

pmulcahy11b

11-27-2010, 04:19 PM

Paul,

400GB is not an issue for Xp. Format the drive using a FAT32 format, and partition the drive into 120 - 150 gb logical drives.

MIke

I'm not worried about it being an issue for XP -- I'm worried about the information on her restore disk expecting a 120 GB hard drive and going bonkers when it finds a 400 GB hard drive. Then again, the DVD drive is not original either (it failed a few years back) and we removed the modem since she has broadband, and I don't know where the modem is either...have to hope for the best. Some restore disks are picky.

dragoon500ly

11-27-2010, 05:57 PM

My mother was using that until recently, when her hard drive failed. I may have to go to the Goodwill Store to find her a hard drive small enough for her restore disks to accept -- hers was 120 GB and the smallest I have on hand is 400 GB.

Will say this, it has been three years (knock on wood) since I've had a Big Blue Screen of Death!

You do realize that I just cursed myself, right?

LOL