The main browsers that I use are:
Opera Browser 9.2 // www.opera.com
Firefox 2.0 // www.getfirefox.com
Safari 2.0 // www.apple.ca
There is IE6 and IE7, but those are not for me.
I use
[Opera Browser 9.2] mainly on my
Main computer which has a 20" Wide Screen LCD. Websites are very annoying on widescreen displays because they only use up 1/3-1/2 of the screen down the center. Opera Browser allows you to hold Ctrl+scroll to
ZOOM in and out on the webpage. It fills up the x-plane so its much easier to read and you get the full use of your display area. The 2nd reason I use Opera Browser for is that it has built-in
Mouse-Gesture support. For example, you can right click and move your mouse left or right to navigate BACK or FORWARD on a webpage. This becomes habit and a very smooth operation. The 3rd reason I use it is it has a
FULL SCREEN mode that is REALLY full screen. The 4th reason is that it really is
extremely fast. Goto the website if you want to learn more of the features. There are at least 5 more reasons to use it over IE6,7 or FireFox.
I use
[Firefox 2.0] on my
laptop and my
Apple Macintosh computer. It, to me, is the default web browser, these days. I feel IE6 is dead and IE7 is going to loose out on users because of the long wait for an updated web browser from Microsoft and because of its probable security issues and immense size over the alternatives.
Firefox runs fast and smooth. 95% of websites are compatible with it and you get tabbed browsing. IE6 still doesn't and probably never will have native tabbed browsing, now that IE7 is out. Firefox is lacking mouse gestures and Zoom feature. I'm sure there are plugins for these features, but it looses points for not having those features built-in.
I rarely use Opera Browser on the laptop because I don't have a mouse hooked up to it, just the touchpad, so Ctrl+scroll to Zoom is not an option, mouse gestures are difficult on a touchpad, though you can do it and you can use the zoom feature by using various keyboard buttons. I do use it when viewing photos online, as you can use the Zoom feature to resize the image on the fly.
I use
[Safari 2.0] on my Macintosh (obviously) on occasion. It's a great browser which is certainly superior to IE5,6,7, but I don't find myself using it, except by accident with some Apple programs. I have nothing bad to say about it, but just isn't for me when I know i can use FireFox or Opera on my Mac.
I use
[IE6] at work because our acceptable use policy prevents us from using an alternate browser, though I think we actually can physically install the application, its not worth my job, so IE6 it is. IE7 has been banned company-wide where I work and its an International company. I've heard of many companies and gov't department banning IE7 and even Vista for security and compatibility issues.
I was a strong supporter of
[Netscape Navigator] when I first started using the Internet at home (97+), but in the past few years, it has been strangled out by IE5,6 and now Mozilla FireFox has pretty much taken their market share and will hopefully continue to gain users who will defect from IE6/7 to FireFox.
Those are my opinions.
I would like to see that voting poll have more options, such as Safari and Opera. They are major players in the browser market, though many of you may not use them because your either not on a mac (Safari) or simply never dug far enough on the net for an alternate browser.
Cheers.
PS: On FireFox using my Laptop right now.
Andrew