The need for advanced browsers

[Lordenlil]

These questions are related to my web browser project, but at the same
time maybe something for you to think about.


I was wondering about how much of the functionality you people
use in your web browsers? Is it there need for a browser to be really
advanced to fullfill its purpose?

So what functions do you use a lot? What buttons and menus.
Here's my top list:

-Address field
-Back/forward buttons
-Reload
-Home (cuz I got google as home)
-Favorites (didn't use them so much before actually)
-Reload (F5)
-Save (images / html files)
-Status line (need to see load status and when I hover a link)
-Mouse gestures (when I use Opera)
-Tabbed browsing (when I use Opera, Mozilla)
-Find (Ctrl-F)
-Print (seldom, but a necessaty function)
.....


That's the basic stuff, really. It does what I need it to - get and send
info on the web.
For those unaware of Opera/Mozilla etc. These browsers are actually
smaller, faster and has a LOT more functions than IExplorer. AND they follow W3C standards, unlike MSoft. And they look similar to IExplorer.
(Of course there are some textbased ones and so on but that's another story)

 

[YaYo]

well, apart from the usual things... (all these in opera)

mouse gestures,
the button to turn loading images on or off (i use this all the time!)
holding down ctrl+shift when clicking a link to open it in the background
etc
etc

i use lots of such little things, and i get annoyed if i have to use IE which doesnt have them!

 

[YaYo]

i use 'reload every..." whenever UM goes down too So yeh, quite often!!

 

[Lordenlil]

You use the images on/off on UM in particular?
I need images, but maybe it's good to use when loading to get the text and then turn images on?

Also: There's a HUGE difference in loading UM pages with IExplorer 6 and Opera 7! (as in much faster in Opera)

 

[FuckinShit]

For those unaware of Opera/Mozilla etc. These browsers are actually
smaller, faster and has a LOT more functions than IExplorer. AND they follow W3C standards, unlike MSoft. And they look similar to IExplorer.
(Of course there are some textbased ones and so on but that's another story)

i disagree about this one...tried Mozilla couple months ago when I got sick of IE and it was much much slower, and there weren't as half privacy/security options as in the 6th version of explorer...

 

[YaYo]

You use the images on/off on UM in particular?
I need images, but maybe it's good to use when loading to get the text and then turn images on?

Also: There's a HUGE difference in loading UM pages with IExplorer 6 and Opera 7! (as in much faster in Opera)

Yeh i use the images thing quite often. Some times i just want to read the most recent reply on a thread, and there's avatars and signatures everywhere which waste my time loading on this 56k, so i turn images off for that thread.

I do generally like to have images on for UM though, it's other sites that i use that feature for. Especially if i'm researching and only care about the info, not the pretty pictures.

 

[Lordenlil]

i disagree about this one...tried Mozilla couple months ago when I got sick of IE and it was much much slower, and there weren't as half privacy/security options as in the 6th version of explorer...

What you say is correct. I dunno why, but I did a series of tests and Mozilla is always faster, EXCEPT on UM. I have no idea why.

Opera 7 on the other hand beats IExplorer easily (with pictures enabled of course). I prefer Opera btw

About security - are you sure you looked deep enough into it?
I'll give IE credit if it deserves it, but Mozilla also offers security like:
Cookies, Images, Forms, Passwords. Master Passwords, SSL, Certificates,Validation...

Check this out - 101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that IE cannot. Fun: http://www.xulplanet.com/ndeakin/arts/reasons.html

 

[FuckinShit]

hehe...
didn't know about some of these thingies...

maybe I sHoULD reinstall it then...

 

[Lordenlil]

Even better: Opera. Testing it in depth now. I cannot believe all the features in there.... *coughandthenfindcracktoremoveadvertisementbannercoughs*

Anyhow - the new release of Mozilla is probably better than the previous one. It seems more stable this far... but I'm not gonna bet on it.

 

[veil the sky]

how do i get opera? would mind giving it a shot.

btw i upgraded to iexplorer 6 a while ago and the damn thing froze consistently after 10 minutes with NO obvious advantages other than the easy image save thing

 

[Pancakes]

If it can view porn sites, I don't care.

 

[veil the sky]

but if it can view porn sites quicker then i DO care!!!!

 

[Lordenlil]

http://www.opera.com/

Check out navigation with mousemovements. Oh, and if it crashes, it starts up with the internal windows that you used as it crashed. Same if you just close the whole browser and surfed with lots of internal windows. They're there when u start it again - if you want them to be. F*** cool.

 

[DE]

Tabbed browsing is a must. Pop up blocker would be good. It definately needs a status bar, back, forward, home, favourites, history (with search).



Basically, look at Opera, Mozilla and IE, take the decide which browser does each thing best, and integrate all the features.



Just out of interest, what language will you be working in?

 

[Lordenlil]

If I make it into a master degree assignment (this course is about design,
so I don't actually have to program at this point) I have 2 obvious
choises
1. Make it from the ground up myself - interesting, but a lot of work and
it WILL limit the result because of lack of time. And I don't wanna make it
in Java because of obvious limitations, but it would be cross-platform at
least.
2. Use open source as foundation. At least Gecko. For now I'm going for
this one, and that means C and JavaScript cuz that's what it's based
on. (Mozilla uses CSS, RDF, XUL and such as well...)

But I need reasons for the things I decide to do. I just asked here just
to see, it's no valid survey or anything

But I think it's interesting because browsers are the most used program
to many people, yet most of these people have NO idea about the
possibilities. Hell, if they only knew - I bet only 10-20% would still be
stuck with IExplorer today. It's already there when Win is installled so
why bother changing, right? It's easy and it does its job. Besides the
average human is naturally opposing change to what they're already
comfortable with.

MSoft wins because they were clever enough to beat Netscape when
they had the chance. They put a LOT of effort into IE and it became
more stable and faster than Netscape, which seemed like a wreck at
the time. And they distibuted it with Windows. After this they kept it
the way it is, just added a few features in the next versions. But behind
the curtains other firms have been busy and innovative, creating really
great software. I wasn't pleased with Mozilla nor Opera, but now they're
really getting somewhere.

But think of your parents (or typical parents) - if they bought a PC with
Windows, and IExplorer. You know they most likely would NEVER even
think of the fact that there are other alternatives. Hell, they don't even
need it because they don't have the need.
But why not use technology if it's available?


So basically by asking the initial question about the functions you use,
I was just curious about something I already know. People in general use
only the most basic functions, and their mentality is not to search for
better alternatives or extended functionality. Some do, of course! but
most don't. Hell. a lot of ppl don't even bother to upgrade their browser
. Because of ignorance or that they are satisfied and don't care?
Both, I think. So if you design something you should be aware of the
mentality of people as well.....

This eneded up being a book, so whoever bothered to read it. Congrats