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Browser Wars: Chrome vs. IE9 vs. Firefox

Safari and Opera, too, should be among your considerations of which browser you should use, based on speed, safety, and features.

March 14, 2012

A huge number of people simply use the browser that comes with their computer: on Windows, on the Mac, on Linux. If you're one of the few, proud Chromebook users, your only choice will be Google's , and if you're using an iPad or other iOS device, you won't be able to choose any browser other than Safari. But desktop and laptop users still have choice when it comes to their most-frequently-used app.

On what is still the most-widely used operating system, Microsoft Windows, you have a choice of five major players: The company's own Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox, or Opera Software's chock-full-of-features browser. Platforms other than Windows can't use Internet Explorer. Three of the browsers are available on all three major platforms: Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.

And if you're adventurous, there are a few lesser-known options that bring their own special twists: integrates social networking buttons and notifications, incorporates the underlying page-rendering engines from all three of the major browsers. And Maxthon is a fast, highly customizable option that includes its own cloud storage and screen-capture tool.

So how do you choose? These days, the default OS browsers are all fast, have clean interfaces and helpful features like bookmarking. And they're all compatible with nearly any site you'd care to visit. The biggest differences are in support for the forward-looking HTML5 Web markup standard, hardware acceleration, and privacy tools.

In HTML5 support, Google's Chrome is the clear leader, at least according to the HTML5Test. Com measure of supported HTML5 features. At the back of the pack in this measure is Internet Explorer, though the upcoming IE10 significantly narrows the gap. The maximum score is 475, with points awarded for each HTML5 feature implemented and bonus points for extra features that aren't technically part of the standard. Here's how the current big browser names stack up:

Browser HTML5Test.com Score (higher is better) Bonus Points
Google Chrome 16 374 13
Firefox 11 335  
Firefox 10 332 9
Opera 11.60 329 9
Safari 5.1 302 9
Internet Explorer 9 141 5

 

 

One point of digression concerns HTML5 video, which is destined to replace the Adobe Flash plugin for video playing on the Web. Safari and Internet Explorer utilize the H.264 codec—long the most widespread format for HD video—while Chrome, Firefox, and Opera implement Google's newer (and somewhat unproven) WebM format.

Hardware acceleration, which uses your PC's graphics processor to speed up many browser actions, was introduced by Internet Explorer 9, and Microsoft's demo Web applications at IETestDrive.com graphically show the effects of this turbocharging technique. Subsequently, Firefox and Chrome have implemented hardware acceleration, but in Chrome, I've only seen a performance boost with particular graphics cards. Safari has hardware acceleration only in the Mac version of the browser, while with Opera we won't see any till version 12 ships.

Here are my latest results for one of Microsoft's hardware acceleration tests, Psychedelic Browsing, using a 3.4GHz quad-core desktop with an ATI Radeon HD4290 graphics card:

Browser Psychedelic Browsing RPM (higher is better)
Internet Explorer 9 4414 (correct sound
Firefox 10 2936 (no sound)
Firefox 11 2748 (no sound)
Google Chrome 17 2190 (correct sound)
Opera 11.60 13 (no sound)
Safari 5.1 7 (no sound)

 

 

Privacy Choices
Every now and again, the topic of Internet privacy comes to the fore in the world of tech news. We've seen the FTC privacy plan, the Commerce Department's plan, a recent White House-proposed privacy bill, and most recently, the Google fiasco in which the search giant was bypassing Safari privacy protections. So what approach has each browser taken with regard to privacy?

First was Internet Explorer, with its Tracking Protection. This allows users to subscribe to block lists, which simply won't give access to ad networks that try to exchange data about your browsing habits. Then Firefox came up with the Do Not Track header tag. This would be analogous to the phone-based Do Not Call lists—indicating your preference to the advertiser. But in testing, I found that IE9's method block interactions with third-party advertisers on sites I visited, while Firefox's didn't, even though I'd turned on its Do Not Track option. Chrome, Opera, and Safari have yet to implement any tracking protection.

Syncing has become another differentiator. This feature lets you synchronize your bookmarks, passwords, browsing history, and more on any computers or mobile devices you've install the browser on. Opera pioneered this (as it did many a browser feature, including tabs and built-in search) with its Opera Link, but Firefox and Chrome have gone on to equal it, with their ability to sync tabs and even browser add-ons. Safari started offering bookmark and "reading list" syncing, while Internet Explorer can only be synced via third party software.

You Can't Go Wrong
I hope that gives you some ideas of what to look for when choosing a browser, but seriously, it's hard to go wrong—you're spoiled for choice when it comes to Web browsing software these days. You'll find an unprecedented crop of fast, good-looking, compatible options at your disposal. And best of all, they're free for the trying; just head to the pertinent vendor's download site. For a deep dive into each product's performance and capabilities, though, click into the review links below.

FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP:



Price: Free
Chrome Instant means your Web page is ready to read before you finish typing the address. On top of this parlor trick, Chrome's speed, minimalist design, and advanced support for HTML5 have deservedly been attracting more and more users to the browser. It's dominance in JavaScript speed tests is waning though, and it still lacks tracking protection.





Price: Free
Firefox 4 got Mozilla back into the game, with its lean look and fast performance. Now at version 11, thanks to a new rapid release cycle, it's still the most customizable browser, and can hold its own against any competitor. Firefox is also ahead of Chrome in offering some graphics hardware acceleration, though few sites take advantage of that yet.





Price: Free
Microsoft's latest browser is faster, trimmer, more compliant with HTML5—a major improvement over its predecessor. It also brings some unique capabilities like tab-pinning and hardware acceleration, but only Windows 7 and Vista users need apply. Its Tracking Protection and anti-phishing mechanism lead the pack.





Price: Free
Like the other current browsers Opera is fast, compliant with HTML5, and spare of interface. Long an innovator, recently it's added unique things like Unite, which turns the browser into a server, and Turbo, which speeds up the Web on slow connections through caching. Since it's far from being a market leader, you still run into the occasional site that says Opera isn't supported, and it currently trails in hardware acceleration and tracking protection.





Price: Free
Safari is a fast, beautiful browser, but the Reader view and Reading List panel make it even more enticing. Leading support for HTML 5 features will also be important, but you can already get that in other browsers, too. Safari's strong bookmarking, RSS reader, and vivid new-tab page will also appeal to many. But like Opera, it trails in hardware acceleration and tracking protection.