Browser Wars

[lordvader]

As a means of stopping a certain thread from being derailed, I've started this thread. My personal belief is that Phoenix isn't yet good as a browser. It's buggy, and crashes a lot. On my computer, the speeds of Mozilla and Phoenix are about the same. Do not let this turn into a flame war, or I will delete this thread.

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[gbk]

Im using Phoenix 0.5 as my defult browser. It has crashed a total of 2 times, in the entire time Ive used it. (Ive been running Phoenix since an early beta) IE, on the other hand, crashed at LEAST 5 times a day. (and yes, I was running the latest version. They are all unstable) Mozilla, which I used for some time before switching to Phoenix, never crashed ONCE. Not once. Never. Completely stable on my machine. Granted, its a little slow, and thats why I switched to Phoenix.


I tried to use Opera when I first got Linux installed on a spare box. I used it for about 30 seconds. (the amount of time it took to load the interface) Once I saw the ad banner, I immediately uninstalled Opera. If they think they can take up a quarter of my screen space with some ad banner, they are nuts. Yeah, I know, the full version of it has no banner. But Im not going to pay for a browser, when there are such better free alternatives, like Mozilla or Pheonix.


If Opera were free, I might consider trying it. But, it isnt, so I wont. Mozilla/Phoenix is free, and open source. Two very good things.

[Is_907]

Phoenix has NEVER crashed on me.
and i've run 0.3, 0.4 and now 0.5.

not to mention I can't stand how long it takes Mozilla to load (especially in Linux)

[Korin]

I use K-Meleon under Windows and Opera under Linux. I would try Mozilla (and derivatives), but installing GTK+ would taint the non-bloated perfection my system possesses. A statically-compiled version of Opera seems much cleaner.

[Emon]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by lordvader:
My personal belief is that Phoenix isn't yet good as a browser. It's buggy, and crashes a lot. On my computer, the speeds of Mozilla and Phoenix are about the same.</font>

I agree.

[lateralus]

Phoenix - I'm using Phoenix 0.5 as my default browser and I love it, despite the fact that it crashes every once-in-a-while. It is small and streamlined (or, it will be soon enough) and that's what I want in a browser.

Opera - I used Opera 6 as my default browser for a few months, it had all the features that I wanted, tabbed browsing, personal bar, and built in Google search (Pheonix has this now). Probably the feature that I miss most about Opera was the fact that when it crashed (and it did, when I had about 20 tabs open) it gave me the option to start where I left off (ie, it opened all those windows back to where I was). No other browser that I have used has given me that option.

Mozilla - My first non-IE browser. I really hated it, though it did have tabbing which I fell in love with. It was just too bulky and took FOREVER to load, even with the little quicklaunch thing activated. I got so tired of it's slowness that I eventually went back to IE, which I found to be faster.

Galeon - I used this browser when I first started using Linux. It was very simple, easy to use, and worked fast and efficiently, but without lots of special features.

Internet Explorer - Used this for a good part of my life, it crashes some, but its main advantage is that everything is geared toward it, so it's safe to assume that most pages that you see will be shown correctly under IE. However, its lack of popup blocking and lack of tabbed browsing make it inferior to other choices. Now, I only use IE to make sure my web pages are compatible with it.

Grail - Python based browser, fun to play around with, but not very functional in today's market.

Lynx - Classic and fun to play around with, especially when you have accedentally deleted your other browsers.

Amaya - Browser built by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to test out their new technologies (CSS, XHTML, SVG, etc). It's good as a debugging browser, but not too much else.


Final result (for me) - I believe that Phoenix (once it is completed) will be THE choice of browsers. It is simple, effective, and has everything the average computer person needs. It is what I am using now, and it will continue to be my default browser.

[Aglar]

For a long time I used K-Meleon under Windows, and loved it. What I didn't like, however, was lack of support for the fouth and fifth mouse buttons common on so many of today's pointing devices. In light of that, I switched back to IE, for lack of a better alternative. It has never crashed since I've been running Win2K. I might give Mozilla a go, though.

Oh, and for the record, I can't stand tabbed browsing.

[This message has been edited by Aglar (edited December 24, 2002).]

[Darth Evad]

I don't like Mozilla. I know you can change the graphics but it is too NS 2.0 looking for me. Stupid reason, but I just can't get past it.
Won't use NS anymore since any of the version 4 releases wouldn't support CSS. I use 7 for developing any pages I'm fiddling with at the moment.

I used Opera for quite awhile. I really liked the mouse gestures and still right/left click in IE to go back sometimes. What I found with Opera though was, with some pages it wouldn't render properly. I think it was the table layouts (although I never really investigated it too much). See below.
http://members.rogers.com/darthevad/pics/opera.gif
http://members.rogers.com/darthevad/pics/opera1.gif
I liked Opera but finally gave up on it after the most recent release still gave me the same troubles with page rendering. It was no good to me when checking to see how my pages looked if it wouldn't render anyone elses pages properly.

So I'm stuck using IE. Haven't tried Pheonix yet but I'll dl it soon and check it out.

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It was in Bobcaygeon, when I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time.

[Is_907]

yeah I experienced that with Opera as well...

i have yet to try anything other than Mozilla, NS and Galeon in Linux (other than lynx and links =) and will be in there again soon to test Phoenix in Slack and Debian.

[SAS | nauticus.enigma]

I used to use Mozilla, but one day it ceases to work. So now i'm using phoenix0.5.
BTW: there is a program that puts mouse gestures into mozilla: http://optimoz.mozdev.org/

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LEET OWNAGE (http://leetownage.iwarp.com)

[dalf]

I dunno. Mozilla took forever to load on my system. (WinXP and Win2K) And yeah it had the God-awful Netscape 2 look. Ugh. I do have a Mozilla.

I use AvantBrowser (http://www.avantbrowser.com). It takes the IE browsing componets (for those who can withstand them) and adds more features. Such as tabbed browsing, a built in pop-up stopper (works well). Have a looksie
http://public.csusm.edu/bcline2000/imgs/abrowshot.jpg

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"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives pricisely when he means to!" --Gandalf

[Darth Evad]

Yeah, Mozilla seemed to take forever to load at home and at work. Win 98SE and 2k.

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It was in Bobcaygeon, when I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time.

[happydud]

I was born and bred with IE. It was all I knew. I got my new computer, then said, Hey, what the hell, and installed Opera. I can't go back.. It is faster, easier to use, more efficient, and just about better in every other way then IE.
GBK- Yes, the banner add in the top was a slight turnoff, but you know what? I don't even notice it anymore.
Give me a link to Pheonix (s?), and I'll download and try it though.

Can't. Stand. IE.
I always try to use mouse gestures in IE too... heh.

[gbk]

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/phoenix

[lordvader]

AvantBrowser is spyware.

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[GHORG]

mmmm guess i'll repost here...

i've used phoenix for the past couple of months, these are my beefs-

going back a page isn't instant like IE, takes longer depending on bandwidth

caching is almost non-existant

images are displayed as little logos which resize themselves when they start downloading, so when i scroll down past them, and they resize themselves, the page jerks upwards spontaneously

[dalf]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by lordvader:
AvantBrowser is spyware.

</font>
It is? Time to run Adaware.

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"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives pricisely when he means to!" --Gandalf

[Trigger Happy Chewie]

I use IE, It's never crashed on me.
But I have ever tried Mozilla, Opera, Phoenix, or any other browser, so I can't say which one I like the best.
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"Bantha's are filthy animals.......I don't eat filthy animals."

"Laugh it up Fuzzball!"
-Han Solo

[This message has been edited by Trigger Happy Chewie (edited December 26, 2002).]

[gbk]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Trigger Happy Chewie:
I use IE, It's never crashed on me.
</font>

You are either the luckiest man alive, or you simply browse very little.

[Aglar]

It hasn't crashed on me since I installed Win2K a year ago.

[Cool Matty]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Aglar:
In light of that, I switched back to IE, for lack of a better alternative. It has never crashed since I've been running Win2K. I might give Mozilla a go, though.

Oh, and for the record, I can't stand tabbed browsing.
</font>


That's me in a nutshell.


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"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice, but is determined by the conscious decisions of you and me."
I am addicted to ellipses!!! AHHH!!! ...

[Aglar]

Oh, not to mention I don't have to worry about nearly all pages loading properly.

[Malus]

IE hardly ever crashes under WinXP. If you're having a lot of problems with IE, you probably have a lot of computer problems in general.