Browser Comparison - Firefox 2 b1, IE7 b3, Opera 9

mikemuch writes "The browser wars have heated up again, with Microsoft putting Beta 3 of Internet Explorer 7 out for all to download (not just developers anymore), Firefox coming out with the first beta of its version 2, and Opera releasing version 9. ExtremeTech has a shoot-out of the three browsers, with feature comparisons and tests of resource usage, startup time, and Acid2 standards compliance. Standout features are Opera's built-in BitTorrent support, Firefox's spellchecker for forms, and IE's Quick Tabs view. Firefox is still ahead in extensions, while Opera has some slick UI conveniences."

Comments

One Page (printable) version

[xmas2003]

Entire report on one page.

Submitter did a nice summary. BTW, another table shows memory usage, and looks like Firefox Beta 2 comes in a bit heavier (compared to 1.5.04) at least for startup and an initial load of six tabs - unknown if the memory leaks that cause this to skyrocket when viewing dynamic sites (such as this) are fixed.

Also talks about the anti-phishing protection, but says they were unable to have this engage, so maybe it's not functional yet? That seems to be an area where more inovation could be done.

Re:One Page (printable) version

[eqisow]

I call bullshit on the startup time for FF 1.5. I'm sitting here encoding a DVD (100% CPU usage) and FF 1.5 still opens in 4-5 seconds, and that's with 13 installed extensions.

Then again, I'm not using the Windows version either.

Re:One Page (printable) version

[killjoe]

Firefox has a preloader. If you really can't wait then load the preloader and then it will act pretty much like IE. With the preloader it launches much faster then IE.

Re:One Page (printable) version

[bwilson]

Ben Goodger is standing over my shoulder (I swear) and says "I've seen some retarded comments, but this is pretty good."

Alphas and betas are not shipped in debug mode.

It's unfair

[Sohil]

It's unfair to compare Beta versions with a completed version (Opera), besides IE has been out in Beta for ages compared to a few weeks on Firefox's side. And Firefox 2 doesn't pass Acid 2 because no work has been done on Gecko (it still uses 1.8, the same as Deer Park) Firefox 3 (which will use Gecko 1.9) will pass the Acid 2 Test.

I've seen better

[dtfinch]

The "Features at a Glance" table is very inaccurate with respect to Opera. For one, Opera has very good theme support.

And the author mixes up kb and mb on another page.

Re:Opera?

[creepynut]

Are you also aware that Opera has been free for some time? That is, Opera on the Desktop, their mobile versions still cost money.

No new tab buttion?

[turbo_magic_hat]

One peeve [about firefox]: Why isn't there still a one-click button for adding a new tab?

Not exactly rocket science to add one (Right-click > Customize > Drag the new tab button > Done) but I wonder why it's not there by default.

Re:Opera's UI is slick?

[bartkusa]

Opera's UI is extremely customizable. Skinnable interface and lots of flexibility with toolbar and button placement, on the output side. On the input side, you can set up your own keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures if you don't like the default ones.

Re:Opera?

[Troed]

Opera Mini - a-less-than-100Kb Java ME application that makes web surfing on a bog standard phone a joy.

Free, of course.

Re:Opera?

[14CharUsername]

ActiveX empowers webdevelopers. FF extensions empowers users. ActiveX can be used by bad people to exploit your system because it allows remote sites to do stuff on your system. FF extensions are run only on your own system, most of them have nothing to do with the webpages you load. And the ones that do just filter out ads. Some are more complex, such as greasemonkey, but you only run those only on sites you trust.

Also extensions aren't installed by default, so there isn't any danger of a feature you never use compromising your system.

Re:Opera?

[Rob T Firefly]

FF extensions enhance the capabilities of the browser, and only the browser. ActiveX controls can affect your entire computer (hurrah for integrating the browser with the OS!.) Also, the "authentication" of an AX control is being "signed" by something as trustworthy as Verisign, an agency I wouldn't trust to make me a peanut butter sandwich without somehow setting my kitchen on fire and charging me thousands of dollars for the bread before feeding it to some random kid on the street.

Re:Opera's UI is slick?

[bartkusa]

Tools > Appearance > Skin > Windows Native

Re:Searching from the address bar

[doti]

One of the things that kept me with the original Mozilla suite for so long, rather than switching to Firefox was the ability to trigger a search from the address bar.

You should learn to use Quick Searches.

I don't use the search bar in firefox (custumise toolbar and drag it off), rather search directly from the address bar.

These are some I have (removed http:/// so /. won't create links and mess the % char).


g: www.google.com/search?q=%s
img: images.google.com/images?q=%s
w: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s
man: www.linuxpakistan.net/man.php?query=%s
fm: freshmeat.net/search/?section=projects&q=%s
ext: addons.mozilla.org/search.php?app=firefox&type=E&q =%s
sf: sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words= %s
sl: slackware.it/en/pb/search.php?v=current&t=1&q=%s
pkg: www.linuxpackages.net/search_view.php?by=name&name =%s

Re:Spelling checkers

[Bogtha]

Contrary to your statement, opera does not have spell checking out of the box. It's available as a 3rd party add-on.

I know that's what the article says, but it's highly misleading. Opera hooks into the native spelling checker on each platform it runs on. On OS X, this is an official system service. On other platforms, it uses Aspell - which comes as standard in virtually every Linux distribution and installed on most UNIX systems. Windows doesn't provide a standard spelling checker, but Opera still uses Aspell if it's installed.

So "third-party add-on" is a long way from the truth. It's automatically available without any add-on necessary on most platforms, and it automatically recognises a common spelling-checker if it's installed on Windows. It's nothing like Firefox 1 and the Google extension at all.

Re:What about extensions?

[Breakfast Pants]

It isn't just images that need to be zoomed; it is also the layout. A site like penny-arcade or digg is almost unreadable on my tiny laptop screen because they use a fixed pixel width layout. Opera shines here as it zooms everything. You currently can't get the same out of firefox, even with an extension.