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During development of website design one should take into account which of existing browsers visitors will use for browsing the site which is now under development. There were times when “e” icon could always be found on the desktop of all Windows users because inexperienced users did not know any other alternative to this Internet browser. But these times have passed away. Today there are several popular and a lot more unknown browsers in this segment. Let us consider the main differences between different popular browsers.
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (hereinafter referred to as IE) is one of the most popular browsers all over the world today. This application is the product of Microsoft which has been developed since 1995. It is supplied free together with Microsoft Windows operating system. That is why to install it you should buy a licensed copy of this operating system.
IE has a lot of versions the latest of which is IE 8 (in December 2010). According to the statistical data of StatCounter during the period November 2008 – November 2009 the most popular version of this browser was IE 7. Let us consider the main facilities of IE. For instance, this browser (beginning from the 7th version) provides an opportunity of working with tabs, pop-up blocking, built-in RSS aggregator, support of international domain names. Besides IE browser has a fishing filter and scumware protection.
One of the most important browser quality criteria is W3C standards support, and every browser interprets these standards in its own way. Thanks to the fact that Internet Explorer is not too “strict” as far as observance of W3C standards is concerned it presents web pages correctly in most cases even if the source code of the page contains errors.
IE provides an opportunity of individual adjustment of security level, search on default, work of accelerators, work with cookies. The main advantages of Internet Explorer are: supply as a unit of Windows OS, free update with Windows Updating.
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free browser which exists on the Internet browser market since 2004 (version 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004). In December 2010 the freshest version of this browser is Mozilla Firefox 3.6.12.
Mozilla Firefox is more demanding to the observance of W3C standards in comparison with IE.
Mozilla Firefox 3.6.12 blocks pop-ups, permits to control privacy in the Web, “covers the tracks” of surfing in the Net thanks to instant removal of network log data or cookies. Firefox also supports RSS.
Thanks to the presence of smart address bar it is easier to enter the URL. During entering the browser shows hints in which coincidences with the entered text are marked out in bold. These hints work both for URLs and titles of websites. Besides Firefox has a function of automatic spell-checking for multiline entry fields and supports spelling dictionaries for different languages. Adding of websites into bookmarks is quite convenient – Firefox permits to create special groups of recently added bookmarks and most often visited sites.
Built-in download manager is one of the most important advantages of Firefox. This manager permits to resume broken downloads even after connection release. The state of current download in always displayed in the status bar of the browser.
Mozilla Firefox includes a set of instruments for web developers including JavaScript and CSS. Flexibility and extensibility of Mozilla Firefox have won it a fame of the most customizable browser in the world. The most popular extensions for Firefox are:
- JSView (for the view of external files of a web page)
- HTMLValidator (checks the code for accordance to W3C standards)
- View Source Chart (visualizes page layout)
- Firebug (switches on debug tool, DOM-navigator and JavaScript console).
- Web Developer (switches on the functions for pages debugging)
Opera
Opera browser was released in 1994. It was the first browser which supported the system of tabs. Opera is a whole line of browsers both for common personal computers and various mobile gadgets such as smartphones, communicators and pocket computers. Earlier this browser was paid, but since 2005 all versions of Opera (except Opera Mobile) are free.
The freshest version of this product (10.63 in December 2010) includes pop-up blocking, fishing protection, download manager, built-in BitTorrent client, search menu, RSS aggregator, customized system of visual tabs, built-in spell-checking, password manager, closed tabs restoration, integration with web services.
Opera as well as Mozilla Firefox has built-in instruments for web developers – Opera Dragonfly, cross-platform complex of JavaScript debugging, CSS and DOM checking and editing.
Opera 10.63 also has a built-in mail client Opera Mail which helps to work with e-mail messages directly from the browser. IRC-network client permits to communicate and exchange files with other users of Opera. Besides Opera includes a free service Opera Link for data synchronization between different computers or other appliances. It is enough to undergo free registration on this service just once and any individual preferences of bookmarks, express-panels or other options are always available from any computer with an installed browser.
Mouse control is a distinctive feature of Opera browser. With the help of this function you can simplify and quicken navigation, work with links, work with open windows in the browser just by several special mouse movements.
Advantages of Opera browser:
- displays site page before its complete load;
- speed of JavaScript processing is twice higher than that of other browsers;
Thanks to the fact that browsers which are described above enjoy great popularity among Internet users most web designers, specialists in web layout and web programmers test functionality of their websites in these very browsers. But one can notice that described modern browsers have similar enough functional despite their different position in the popularity rating. But it is worth mentioning that Opera and Mozilla Firefox are better integrated with various instruments for website development and different web services than Windows Internet Explorer. They provide web design specialists with more opportunities in the field of website development.
TAGS
website development,
browser,
internet browser,
popular browsers,
internet explorer,
opera,
mozilla firefox,
website design,
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