FF vs IE

[Tacet]

In this thread I'd like to discuss the merits of the two browsers against each other. In a more light-hearted tone - I'd like to know if there are actually any advantages to IE?

FF is free with a well-established, open and public developer base. Numerous add-ons, skins and themes exists, and it integrates well both Windows and Linux (the merits of which aren't to be discussed here).

IE is currently still bundled with Windows, so you have to pay for it. It is also possible to develop add-ons for it, though the developer base is smaller than for FF. I couldn't yet find a decent, easy to install ad-blocker on the official add-on site, but there are third-party software that does the job.

As for loading times - those are very link dependent. Different sources gives widely differing results, making them very suspect. Please don't base arguments on those, unless you can present a scientific method with which your measurements were taken (hypothesis, theoretical analysis, experimental verification, hypothesis evaluation). Also take into account the presence of cache servers and dynamic routing.

I left out advantages to both browsers, to give room for comments.

[Mister Sandman]

FF

no debate about it.

[[BoT] Jason]

FF for browsing and IE for farming

[Tacet]

Why IE for farming?

FF have a "macro" plugin. I have to admit that the temptation is there to try and automate things like banking, training, etc... Sad thing is - the temptation is born out of curiosity to see if it can be done rather than any desire to use it!

I like the way IE8's address bar works, it highlights the main address itself and leave the rest normal:

http://herebegames.com/StarGateWarsNew/posting.php?mode=reply&f=134&t=145784

[Solus]

of the 2 browsers, FireFox, with no competition. in my experience IE is just a load of crud, the majority of extensions impact negatively on browsing and gaming, and generally is just too basic for a lot of things.

however, if you're looking at 3rd party browsers like firefox, Opera is another alternative which is available on windows, apple, various linux versions, unix systems, and a lot more. extremely customiseable etc. and while the dev community for plugins may be a bit smaller than FF, I find it to be superior.

~soul

[Tacet]

I use Opera mini for my mobile - it works very well. Haven't really tried it for pc, though.

[[BoT] Jason]

I use Opera mini for my mobile - it works very well. Haven't really tried it for pc, though.

I also use it on my phone

FF have a "macro" plugin.

Cheater
lol joke

[Caprila]

FF for 99% of things. It's more stable, works better over all with sites, and is most importantly, pretty

IE6 ( not 7, not 8, they should have been burned before release ) is lovely to mass with though.

Broke my damn weapons with it last week mass-raiding, you can't say that ain't fast

[Kit-Fox]

Browsers based on the mozilla engine such as firefox are usually much easier to find extras too as well as tending to have better extras because of the competition.

Opera isnt bad but lacks the sheer extensibility of ones like FF

All IE releases should now be banned from the internet and all computers, they are the bane of any IT literate person and the source of most of teh vulnerabilities that windows has experienced since XP was released (ok, exageration a lil, but i really hate IE) Anyone caught using it should be dragged out of their house and chained up in the local square for some good old fashioned 'community policing' of rotten fruit/veg

There are of course others, many in fact and most do well, but dont expect me to bother naming them all here.

[agapooka]

I would feel naked without Opera.

[[KMA]Avenger]

Browsers based on the mozilla engine such as firefox are usually much easier to find extras too as well as tending to have better extras because of the competition.

Opera isnt bad but lacks the sheer extensibility of ones like FF

All IE releases should now be banned from the internet and all computers, they are the bane of any IT literate person and the source of most of teh vulnerabilities that windows has experienced since XP was released (ok, exageration a lil, but i really hate IE) Anyone caught using it should be dragged out of their house and chained up in the local square for some good old fashioned 'community policing' of rotten fruit/veg

There are of course others, many in fact and most do well, but dont expect me to bother naming them all here.

excellent post lol

[Solus]

I would feel naked without Opera.

YOU.

ARE.

SEX.

/spam..... seriously though i find opera not needing many add ons to function how i want it, and the small number of things i do get are just so easy to track down, and in general i find browsing a more pleasurable experience with Opera than even FF. dont get me wrong, FF is good, i highly recommend it, but i reccommend Opera just that little sliver more. (also gives me an excuse to be somewhat elitist and scoff at not just IE users ...jks )

~soul

[Tacet]

Sounds like I might have to give Opera a try, sometime. Does it have AdBlock-like plug-ins? And maybe a decent IM (Jabber, MSN) plug-in?

Also - all Opera Mini traffic goes through their servers, afaik, from where it is compressed and then sent to my phone. I hope the full Opera doesn't do the same?

[iron spiderman]

Biggest problem I have with FF is memory demand. It will take up a lot of memory as one whole process. Google Chrome actually breaks up each tab as a separate process so it is handled by memory faster. But I wouldn't stop using FireFox for anything.

[Tacet]

My FF normally takes up about 75 - 90 MB of memory. That's at about 5-6 tabs.

I'm trying to not use Google for EVERYTHING (chat, email, searching, mapping, browsing....) so I've kept away from Chrome thus far. Might be a good idea to install the 4 next to each other, find good add-ons and test them that way. IE, FF, Opera (how do you abbreviate that!) and Chrome (same here?).