The Browser War, or: Fanboys, Trolls and Flamewars June 5th, 2010
I admit it: I’m a fanboy. A big fanboy. I LOVE Opera since 8 years now. AND NO, i don’t mean an Opera, i mean the Opera Web Browser.
And to make it worse i do care about other browser companies insulting my beloved browser with statements about loading speed:
Luckily “my” browser company can take it with much humor:
But to be honest: i would not write this article to simply show you these videos. there’s more to say, i’d like to tell you why the browsers rendering speed is the least important feature on a browser.
First of all: What is the most important feature in a browser? Simple: That it can display Websites.
Most people out there are satisfied with that feature and leave it there. That’s why MSIE is still the most used browser worldwide.
Second of all: There are many urban legends out there about browsers that are simply not true or mostly outdated.
1. A website can not be shown in all browsers the same without a browser switch using different CSS files. THAT IS SOOO OUTDATED. Today you can use XHTML the same on all (modern) browsers, so you don’t have to care about some selectors oder tags not working properly. (Please note: MSIE 7.0 is an OUTDATED browser)
2. My website is best shown in browser XYZ. Well, if that is the case you are most likely the worst web programmer out there.
3. Javascript does not behave the same in all browsers. That is only the case if you use JS methods that are browser specific (That are not specified by the W3C, like many Methods MSIE introduced). So stop moaning.
4. This or that browser does not give me the ability to do [Tabbed browsing|Cookie filtering|security features|Mouse gestures|Feature XYZ]. WRONG. All Browsers out there have these features build in or have the ability to do it with plugins.
5. MSIE is the most vulnerable browser out there. Well, at least in parts wrong. Secunia has released 2008 an report about security vulnerabilities and Firefox was leading the list with the most bugs, in 2009 it was MSIE again.
To come back to the rendering speed of browsers: All modern Browsers are so fast at rendering a web page that you will most likely never notice a difference between the browsers. The rendering speed nowadays is ranging in the milliseconds area, and there are much more parts on loading a page that affect the loading speed than that. For instance: The browser trying to load a website has to follow this path: Browser asks DNS server for ip, DNS server searches and delivers IP, browser asks for website on webserver, webserver renders the website (which takes the most amount of time, normally), webserver delivers the website, browser renders it.
What i am trying to say is that it does not count which browser is the fastest or the securest (Although i suggest not to use MSIE for security reasons). What really counts is that you are comfortable with the features your browser has. Firefox is not better than Opera, it is different. The other way around it’s the same. (besides the fact that most features your cool Firefox/Chrome/Safari uses where invented by opera ;o))
When it comes to bugs it’s almost the same, every browser has bugs in javascript, the rendering engine or other parts of the browser. But on your own beloved browser you are more willing to connive at the bugs instead of shouting out loud.
There are many Fanboys out there stating that Firefox is better than Opera because it is Open Source. Why should it be better? because everyone gets the chance to add worms to the source code? On the other hand is “security through obscurity” (means using closed source programs) also a bad approach.
But, what to use if both is not the best thing to do? Well, choose a browser you like. That’s it.
I, for instance like Opera because everything i use and like (Mouse gestures, Tabbed browsing, Speed dial, Opera link (saving my bookmarks on a global server), A good page search highlight, and so on) is build into the browser with no need to add many plugins like in Firefox. Other people like Firefox because it does not much on a fresh install, but can do almost everything with the right plugin. that’s also fine.
To all the Trolls and Flamewar starter out there: Shut up. Use the browser you like and stop teasing other users for using a different browser.
No browser is “cooler” or “better” than another. That is only your troll sight of things.
