Free Internet applications – webbrowsers

In a series called “Free Applications” I will introduce many good programs and applications to you, sorted into different categories depending on their usage. Let’s start with the basic ones needed to browse Internet as these applications will help you to download all the other software I will talk about in the series. Start with webbrowsers! There are many fish in the sea and I chose the best ones (and biggest ones) for you:

Opera

Opera is the best webbrowser you can find I think. With every new major release it arrives with some innovations that other browsers “copy” than. Despite this, Opera is used just by 1.62% of people browsing Internet (Wikipedia statistics for August 2009). Asking why? I think a huge part plays the fact that Opera was proprietary software in the past and changed its way completely to free application just in 2005 with version 8.5. At that time Firefox was already gaining more and more popularity. I use Opera as my main browser since version 9 or so and never had a thought of switching to something else (even after trying other browsers).

But let’s talk about features Opera offers. Tabbed browsing and pop-up blocker are must in modern times, but Opera includes also its own RSS reader (you can read RSS feeds directly in the browser), e-mail and IRC chat client (yes, Opera has integrated Opera Mail and also chat client), BitTorrent client (I keep it disabled as I want to use external one) and download manager (will continue downloading when interrupted).

Visiting your favorite websites is easy with Speed Dial function and navigating couldn’t be easier with use of one-key shortcuts (like for example “z” for previous and “x” for next website) and mouse gestures (no need for touching a keyboard when browsing sites). I wasn’t using mouse gestures for very long time, thought it is just a fancy useless feature, but found out last couple of months that it is sooo cool and sooo easy everybody can get used to it quickly.

Of course Opera supports all current standards and doesn’t have a problem even with Acit3 test. Beside all of this it looks great and you can even install skins and widen features with widgets. Handy panels on the left side of the screen can contain everything you need. There is also portable version of Opera to take it anywhere on your USB flash drive, or Opera is available for mobile devices too.

Download English or international current version 10 of Opera from its homepage (available for different platforms too).

Firefox

The most popular alternative browser (meaning alternative to Windows’ native Internet Explorer) is free and open source multi-platform Mozilla Firefox. It has 25.69% share as of August 2009 according to Wikipedia.

I was using Firefox before I found Opera. It is great and fast webbrowser but missing a lot of functions “right out of the box” I found very handy (like Speed Dial or mouse gestures). Definite plus for this browser is ability to install add-ons like skins (themes) or plug-ins. And there is myriad of add-ons for Firefox.

Firefox contains features like tabbed browsing, download manager, improved phrase searching, private browsing, RSS reader. Other features can be implemented, as I’ve already mentioned, by add-ons.

Although Firefox loves web standards and supports even the newest ones that are just in development, it passes the Acid2 test from Firefox version 3.0 but does not pass the Acid3 test (link earlier in the article).

Download current version 3.5.3 from Firefox homepage. You can find also portable Firefox and take it anywhere on your USB flash drive.

Chrome

Google’s great webbrowser is the youngest member of this family. Although Chrome was first released in December 2008, these days you can download already its 3rd version. Google itself offers huge advertising space and this definitely helped Chrome to become 4th most popular webbrowser with 2.84% share. Unfortunately original Chrome is not multi-platform application yet but developers are working on versions for Linux and Mac OS X. (UPDATE 17. Dec 2009: You can download also Mac and Linux versions already.)

This is small, fast, standards loving and neat browser with minimalistic user interface that focuses on browsing experience. Chrome’s address bar is also search bar. So no need to open Google in another tab or type your request to special field, just input the phrase directly into address bar and Chrome will search Google for it immediately. Tabbed browsing (tabs are located at the top of the window, in titlebar), pop-up blocker, most visited sites view (similar to Speed Dial) and secure browsing, all can be found in Chrome.

UPDATE 17. Dec 2009: Nowadays there is even possibility to extend Chrome with different add-ons.

Since current version 3, Chrome offers skinable interface and passes Acid3 test. Download Chrome from its website or I’m sure you can easily Google it ;)

Safari

Want an Apple bite thrown to your Window(s)? Try Safari – beautiful, great, function-rich browser from Apple. Originally developed just for Mac OS X but since the mid 2007 available also for Windows users. With its 3.74% of usage share (August 2009) is the third most used webbrowser.

Safari offers tabbed browsing, pop-up blocker, spell checker, RSS reader, top sites view (this is really beautiful, as is browsing the history of visited sites), download manager, font-smoothing and private browsing. Also this browser loves web standards and supports many of new features, passes Acid3 browsers test.

Download Safari from Apple’s website.

Internet Explorer

Oh my God, what to say about this? Actually, if I speak about current Internet Explorer 8, it is pretty OK. Just don’t use previous versions and I would suggest really to use IE (in general) just when you don’t have other choice or you need to – like for example at work because company’s applications are adapted best to work with IE…

Internet Explorer would be probably dead by now if it wasn’t integrated into the most used operating system – Windows. And we need to blame Microsoft and its Windows for fact that IE is the most used webbrowser with 65.29% (all versions that are in use) share in August 2009. Incredible number considering that this browser lives its own life outside web standards.

But to say something positive, Internet Explorer 8 supports web standards a way better than previous versions. Finally it supports whole CSS 2.1 and passes Acid2 test. Lemmonaid.info uses some features of CSS 3 which Internet Explorer users can’t see.

Among features of IE8 you can find tabbed browsing, pop-up blocker, phishing filter, private browsing, Accelerators (speed up actions with web content, like passing selected phrase to search engine, translate it (have look at screenshots of right-click menu for other browsers)), Web Slices (snippets of pages in Favorites bar).

If despite of all the other superb browsers you would like to use Internet Explorer, install it through Windows Update or download from Microsoft’s website.

Conclusion

So what browser to choose? It’s simple:

• If you want functions and peace of mind, go for Opera. (Although, in rare cases, you can have problems with websites specifically designed for Internet Explorer and Firefox, like for example internet banking sites.)
• If you want simplicity with possibility of extending in the future, go for Chrome or Firefox.
• If you want functions with a touch of Apple, go for Safari.
• Don’t go for Internet Explorer ;) Really, use IE just when you need to. It’s slow development tempo pushes it far behind other browsers.

Oliver Juhás 30.09.2009, 15:46 Software free software free windows applications internet webbrowsers