Hey Vin

[tank]

Thanks for the recomendation for FireFox. You didn't specifically recomend it to me but I can read between the lines in your posts concerning browsers

I've been a diehard IE fan for 8-9 years and decided to give it a shot. Looks good so far!

[Connie]

Tank I think you read between the lines correctly. Based on Vins Post I use firefox about 75% of the time. Keep in mind for web-page design you still need IE. 98% of browsers use IE. Firefox will display pages a little differently than IE.

[wgiese]

Originally posted by clssam
TankKeep in mind for web-page design you still need IE. 98% of browsers use IE.

Differring viewpoint here, Connie - I rarely use IE, and never for web design.

Reason being - the many developer friendly functions included in Firefox/Mozilla, and the many developer plugins available. Here's a link to my favorite. The form/variable functions, and instant window resize tools help tremendously.

Aside from the developer-friendly nature of Firefox, I've not had any pages that render correctly in Firefox be problematic in any other browser - including IE.

Also, my IE usage shrunk below 90% for the first time last month in the logs - 6 months ago, it was always 98-99%. I think it's just a matter of time before IE is de-throned; every person I've switched to a recent version of Firefox has had a near-religious experience with it...

[CeleronXL]

Originally posted by clssam
Tank I think you read between the lines correctly. Based on Vins Post I use firefox about 75% of the time. Keep in mind for web-page design you still need IE. 98% of browsers use IE. Firefox will display pages a little differently than IE.

That's a pretty old statistic. I'm pretty certain IE usage is below ~90%-92% now.

[Connie]

Not accoriding to my Stats. On the other hand if your right. Who are you going to design for? 90% of your vistors who use IE or the 10% who are using 15 different browsers? By the way I still use Netscape 4.7 for checking Browser comapatibility.

[tank]

I've bit the bullet and gone 5+ on version design. I typically try to design first for IE and then follow up with a mozilla based browser. Typically it's not too hard to design to both. Especially on the newer releases.

After surfin for a couple days I've very little differences between IE and Firefox in the way that the page is displayed. I love the addtional functionality of FireFox.

Being that it is all about target audience, my latest stats from teh past few months:
MSIE: 97.50 % (2778976)
Netscape: 1.928 % (54959)

[Vin DSL]

Let's cut to the chase...

I tried, for years, to like Netscape/Mozilla, but took it up the bunghole every time I attempted to use it.

Don't act shocked. I know everyone else had the same experience, and know that now YOU aren't going to use Mozilla to save your life; once burned, twice aware, right?

Having said that, the 'new' Mozilla/Firefox is what you were looking for 10 years ago, but never got. If YOU don't give it another chance, YOU are a fool!

All I can tell you is, if you log into your web site as an admin, using Internet Explorer, you're too dumb to be an admin. All it takes is some bonehead leaving a hex-encoded 'news submission' or whatever, and you checking it with IE, to give up your whole user db, complete with passwords, et cetera transported to some pirate site - invisibly, blah, blah, blah. IE is buggier than a lollipop in an ant farm; always has been, always will be. If you love IE, stop being a sucker and check back in around 2006. That's when Microsoft figures they'll have it fixed. I can submit substantiation of this, if you like...

Mozilla works nicely these days, but it's bloated. A certain contingency in the Mozilla community finally had enough of it and started their own Mozilla subset browser, e.g. Firebird. To make a long story short, the name Firebird was already taken, so they changed it to Firefox.

So, where does that leave us? I don't feel like preaching to the choir tonight. Use Firefox and forget everything else. Sure, you need to check your code with IE, 'cause that's what all the mullet-heads of the world use, but if you're smart you'll use Firefox (or Mozilla) the rest of the time.

As stated above, Firefox plugins are skewed toward web developers, so the choice is obvious for us. For casual users, i.e. everyone else, Mozilla is the way to go...

[wgiese]

Originally posted by clssam
Who are you going to design for? 90% of your vistors who use IE or the 10% who are using 15 different browsers?

My point was, if it renders in Firefox correctly, it will most likely render correctly in 100% of modern browsers. Which is better than 90%...

Also, that 10% of non-IE folks are the cream of the crop. I'd like to make sure my most intelligent visitors have a nice experience when they visit.

[mattsiegman]

Originally posted by Vin DSL
Mozilla works nicely these days, but it's bloated. A certain contingency in the Mozilla community finally had enough of it and started their own Mozilla subset browser, e.g. Firebird. To make a long story short, the name Firebird was already taken, so they changed it to Firefox.

Actually, the first name was Pheonix. However, there was another project called Pheonix that already had some browser thing going on. The name was changed to Firebird around version.4 I think. The Firebird database community did not like that. I, myself, hadn't even heard of a Firebird database. In version .7, I believe, the name was again changed to Firefox. They are currently registering it with various trademark-type offices worldwide.

[orbic1]

I've read a lot about it, now I'm testing it. Firefox that is.
I shall let you know my progress as have had my doubts...

[Vin DSL]

Originally posted by mattsiegman

Actually, the first name was Pheonix. However, there was another project called Pheonix...

• Mozilla Firefox - Brand Name FAQ

[Ron]

http://pantransit.reptiles.org/image...7/redpanda.jpg

[CeleronXL]

Originally posted by wgiese

My point was, if it renders in Firefox correctly, it will most likely render correctly in 100% of modern browsers. Which is better than 90%...

Also, that 10% of non-IE folks are the cream of the crop. I'd like to make sure my most intelligent visitors have a nice experience when they visit.

Unfortunately, not necessarily. If you use the latest and greatest web standard (CSS2), you're likely to be able to design a page that works in every browser absolutely perfectly -- except IE. So you have to import all kinds of stupid work arounds. But that's not too bad.

[Oldfrog]

I was content to sit back and read the other folk's posts about their intitial Firefox experience before taking it on myself until I followed Ron's link. Gee, how could anyone resist that little fellow? Anyway, I now have it downloaded and installed and am in the process of learning its behaviors.

Do any of you experienced users have any 'must have' plug-in suggestions? I don't want to hog tie a lean application with a lot of window dressing but if you have found something really useful I'd be interested in hearing about it.




I think that the browser I have the most problems rendering pages in is Netscape, particularly if sound or video is involved.

[Galen]

Still using IE (and sometimes Netscape) and couldn't care less about all these new hippy browsers. Everybody's gotta be "different" I guess....

IE is full of bugs, but what isn't. Firefox has just as many security holes, they just haven't been found yet.

Relying on your browser to provide security isn't a very smart idea in the first place. My IE is nicely secure, because it doesn't connect directly to the Internet, but instead all incoming and outgoing data is filtered through 3 different security programs.

Don't rely on your browser (ANY browser) to be secure. You should always assume that your browser is one massive bleeding wound in your system's security and take steps to MAKE your connection secure, instead of wasting your time trying to find a secure browser - there is no such thing.