Resources: Research Summaries

Which Browser is best for You?
The single best way to make sure that your internet browsing experience is safe, optimal, and pleasing
is to make sure that you're using a good browser. But what exactly makes a "good browser"? And
with so many browser options, which should you choose? We compiled a list comparing popular web-
browsers to help you choose the right browser for you.

Mozilla Firefox
One of the world's most popular web browsers. Firefox has a vast array of plug-ins, and is highly
regarded for their adaptation of web standards. These days, Firefox is used as a web design and web
development standard. We highly recommend using Firefox, especially after Mozilla's recent release of
Firefox 4.

Features: Enormous plug-in library, large community for support issues, standard among designers
and developers

Verdict: Highly Recommended
These days, the majority of the websites that you see are designed for viewing in Mozilla Firefox. We
highly recommend using Firefox for your browser of choice.

Apple Safari
This is the browser you will see on all fresh installs of OSX and iOS. Known for it's quickness and it's
crystal clear font smoothing, Safari is a simple browser that keeps up with Web Standards and gets
things done. However, the experience in Safari is subtly different on a Mac than a PC due to some
Javascript behavior (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1678273/stopping-key-event-bubbling-in-
safari-4-windows).

Features: Popup Blocking, iPhoto integration, Quartz Font Smoothing

Verdict: Recommended
Safari is a good, clean browser that is perfect for those just browsing the web. However, some have
been critical about Apple using safari to push their other services, like iTunes and Quicktime, during
auto-updates.

Google Chrome
Developed by Google in 2008, Google Chrome was designed to make surfing the web a delightfully
fast experience. Google also designed Chrome to make their own services, such as Analytics and
Gmail, run smoothly and as fast as possible. Stat-Counter shows Chrome gaining a lot of momentum in
the market of free browsers.

Features: Themes, Extensive plug-in library, very smooth google apps

Verdict: Highly Recommended
A clean, quick browser that gets the job done. Super fast Google apps are a huge plus, since many
people are using Gmail or Google's search engine (among their many other services, like Google Maps
and Google Translate).

Opera
Created in 1994, Opera is one of the web's earliest browsers. Opera has been tested to be faster than
Internet Explorer, and is the most popular mobile browser on the market. Users can use Opera on iOS,
WebOS, Andriod, and Symbian phones.

Features: Ad Blocking, Download Manager, BitTorrent Client, Tabbed Browsing

Verdict: Recommended
While not nearly as popular as the other browsers we've covered (for computers that is), Opera still is
something to write home about. After all, they did invent tabbed browsing, and more mobile phones
use Opera as their browser than any other. browser.

Microsoft Internet Explorer
IE is the one of the world’s most ubiquitous browsers, mainly because of its bundling with all Windows
OS's. However, there have been some concerns on it's lack of security, along with it's slow adaption to
web standards (notably with CSS standards).

Features: Page Zoom, Tabbed Browsing

Verdict: Not Recommended
With its lack of early web standard adoption and its multiple security issues, we don't recommend using
Internet Explorer. Though there are brilliant minds over at Microsoft, it seems as if IE is not a huge
priority for them.