Types of Web Browsers

Web browsers in the early 21st century have evolved with many new advanced features that go far beyond simply retrieving information from a website. Popular browsers such as Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Opera Software's Opera and Mozilla's Firefox allow you to browse websites in private sessions, preserve a Web session when a Web application crashes and sync passwords between different computers. These features allow you to work more efficiently and gain access to the information you need more quickly.

Background

According to W3Counter, as of March 2011, about 39.3 percent of Internet users were using some version of Internet Explorer, which was first introduced in the mid-1990s and is included on every Windows-based computer. Ranking second with 30.1 percent of the browser market was Firefox, which was introduced in 2004. In third place with 15.6 percent was Chrome, first made available by Google in 2008. Safari, a browser that comes with the Mac OS X operating system, had six percent of the market, and Opera had two percent.

Chrome

Google's Chrome can run on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. In a March 2010 speed test by Tom's Hardware, Chrome ranked as the fastest among all Web browsers on several types of benchmarks measuring how quickly the browser could load a page and memory usage. Among the key features of Chrome are an "incognito mode" where users can visit websites without having cookies stored on their computers. In addition, Chrome provides a display of most visited pages when a new tab is opened.

Firefox

Firefox is an open source Web browser developed for Windows, Mac and Linux. Many Firefox users prefer its simple interface to other browsers. According to PC Magazine, there is an ongoing debate as to whether Firefox is safer to use than Internet Explorer because it was designed better or because few hackers want to target open source software. Firefox offers a "Speed Dial" feature that displays a series of thumbnails of recently visited sites on a single page. It also offers an "AwesomeBar" that allows users to do a keyword search in their URL field for recently visited or bookmarked sites.

Internet Explorer

Though it's still the most widely used Web browser as of 2011, Internet Explorer is not available for Mac systems. Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer 9 in 2011 for Windows 7 and Windows 7 users, while users of older Windows operating systems had to use Internet Explorer 8. Key features of IE9 include the ability to pin websites to the taskbar in Windows 7, an address bar that shows suggested websites as the user types and privacy features that allow users to limit sites that can track their information while online.

Other Browsers

Opera works with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. According to PC Magazine, Opera is known for fast rendering of Web pages and some unique features, such as enlarging text or graphics on a page. Other flavors of the browser include Opera Mobile and Opera Mini for mobile devices. Safari, which runs on Mac OS and the iPhone, offers numerous browser extensions, such as Twitter integration, news updates and an eBay manager.

References

• Lifehacker: Battle of the Beta Browser Built-In Features; Gina Trapani; September 2008
• Tom's Hardware: System Specs And Testing Methodology; Adam Overa; March 2010.
• W3 Counter: Web Browser Market Share; March 2011
• PC Magazine Encyclopedia: Definition of Opera
• PC Magazine Encyclopedia: Definition of Firefox