Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
A technology confession.
I like the new IE better than Firefox.
There. I said it.
Why? Because one of my biggest problems with Firefox is that it has always displayed HTML in its own way including doing things like putting lines around tables even when you specify none etc, and they still haven’t corrected that in the new version (as far as I can tell). And, the new version of IE makes text crisper and colours bolder – as though I’m working on a Mac (and to be clear, these comments apply only to the world of Windows, I’m happy with Firefox on my Mac).
Anyhow – for now at work I’m switching back to IE – because it is what 90% of the world is using and what I have to design for – and it has tabbed browsing and built-in search now which is what made Firefox rock in the first place.
5 Comments on “A technology confession.”
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Red Cedar 
I like Safari better than Firefox. Firefox is awesome for web development but the reality is it takes way longer to load up than Safari. Safari loads quicker and eat less resources…. I only usse Friefox when I am testing and building sites. IE for Mac bites…..
well, if i’m going to live up to my ‘open source hippie’ label, i’m going to have to weigh in on this one.
now, to be fair, my exposure to windows is about zero and my usage of ie is only slightly higher… but, gosh darn it, how could i live without foxmarks, the firefox extension that allows my synchronize bookmarks across multiple computers? how could i live without torbutton, the handy add on that lets me flip onion routing on and off with the click of a mouse? how could i get through the day without document.cookie, the extension that makes it possible for me to track, alter and save cookies quickly and easily?
firefox may have it’s problems, sure. but the massive library of extensions available make it a far more versatile and powerful browser than any monolithic made-by-a-team one could ever be (well, except perhaps omniweb). i really need those. extensions, they have become an integral part of how i use the web.
and ie doesn’t have them.
now haymarketeer:
fair enough if you don’t ever have to operate in the world of windows or design websites for the hordes of windows users out there – i would certainly stay away from anything microsoft if i had the choice…. but unfortunately the world out here (and particularly my working world) is a most anti-open-source landscape! and so my own usability is really secondary to the usability of sites i work on that the masses (and i do mean, masses) have to access.
in my perfect world, everyone would use macbooks, there would be a nice gui desktop interface for debian, and microsoft would never be allowed to screw up another machine… but i’m talking *hard* reality here. nasty, cold, brutish, dark – corporate reality 😉
and yes – IE for Mac sux in that it is non-existent and never worked properly in the first place – but Safari doesn’t have tabbed browsing. tabbed browsing has become essential to my existence.
Everyone knows that if you don’t use the correct browser, you won’t get into the nerd afterlife. Infidel!
Meh, use whatever works, but i hope your new IE has some better security than the old ones, because the old ones are downright dangerous to use.
…but Safari doesn’t have tabbed browsing. tabbed browsing has become essential to my existence.
Wha??? Safari has tabbed browsing. In fact, it had tabbed browsing before FireFox was more than a twinkle in Mozilla’s eye.