Similarities & Differences Between Firefox & Other Browsers
Mozilla's Firefox was developed by a not-for-profit foundation and is one of the most used browsers today, but it faces stiff competition from industry giants Microsoft, Google and Apple. All Web browsers are similar in many regards because they serve the same essential purpose, but they take different approaches when it comes to adhering to Web standards, providing accessibility tools, optimizing performance and offering additional features.
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Standards
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Websites don't display exactly the same on every computer because of differences in Web browsers. Modifying websites to accommodate these browser quirks can be costly. In an effort to standardize the way browsers render websites, the World Wide Web Consortium publishes standards regarding how browsers display websites. Microsoft has long been criticized for not adhering closely to the standards. According to a comprehensive chart maintained by David Hammond on Web Devout, Mozilla Firefox and Opera continue to surpass Internet Explorer in standards-compliance.
Accessibility
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Accessibility features are an important factor for some users when choosing a Web browser because they help people with disabilities navigate the Web. All the major Web browsers provide some accessibility features, and specialty browsers have unique features. For example, WebbIE is optimized for use with screen readers by the visually impaired. Firefox has tools to zoom in on Web page content, use a high-contrast theme or override website color choices that can be helpful to people with visual impairments. Firefox also offers keyboard shortcuts and an instant search feature that makes it easier to browse the Web with a keyboard. However, Firefox has limited support for text-to-speech and voice navigation software.
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Performance
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The speed at which Web browsers navigate between Web pages and render website content is an important factor in creating a pleasant Web browsing experience, and browsers compete for the reputation as the fastest. However, with the variety of technologies used on websites, there is no single test to determine which is fastest. Performance tests provide benchmarks that browser enthusiasts use to rank browsers, but with updates and new versions of browsers released frequently, no browser can authoritatively be declared faster than another. However, in an August 2011 analysis by Adam Overa of Tom's Hardware involving numerous benchmarking tests, Overa reported that Firefox lagged behind Google Chrome and Internet Explorer in startup time, page load time and rendering cascading style sheets (CSS) constructs. Firefox did outperform the other browsers in tests involving Java and HTML5 hardware acceleration. Ultimately, Overa declared that Google Chrome beat Firefox to be the fastest browser on Windows 7, while Safari had the best performance on Mac OS X Lion.
Additional Features
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All browsers have similar, essential features for browsing the Web, such as the ability to refresh and bookmark Web pages. However, Firefox users can also assign keywords to bookmarks, allowing them to type a keyword into the browser's address bar to open the associated website. Firefox also gives users more control when deleting browsing history than found in Internet Explorer, allowing them to choose how much of the history to delete. Google Chrome provides the most control when deleting browsing history and gives users the ability to delete individual Web pages. Additional features and tools can be gained through add-ons and extensions. Firefox has an extensive collection of add-ons that far surpasses the number offered for Internet Explorer, while Google Chrome's collection has grown fast since the browser's release.
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References
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