Opera, Chrome, Firefox, OR?

[phlip]

For my stupidity, could you explain how to take text from vim to lynx? Then I could start posting in lynx...

Ctrl+X, E with the cursor on a text area (Esc, E also works) dumps the text to file and runs $EDITOR. Then reads it back in when you close the editor.

Note that you still need to stick to Lynx's limit of 1KiB to a line (it'll truncate longer lines when it reads the text back in).

[tsevenhuysen]

I use Chrome because I can't stand the look of Firefox or Opera. I realize you can change the designs they use, but I still find them both incredibly ugly.

[Soljer]

I use Chrome because I can't stand the look of Firefox or Opera. I realize you can change the designs they use, but I still find them both incredibly ugly.

Firefox has a skin that will make it look identical to chrome, if memory serves.

[Xanthir]

Searching is easy!

[Minilea01]

For my computer, I have most browsers on it. I use internet explorer for doing webpages and stuff, but besides that, rarely. I use Firefox most extensively though every now and then, I switch back to chrome. Chrome looks incredible on a Vista.

Opera was the fastest web browser, though Firefox beat it in the end. The fastest one now is Chrome apparently. I like Opera because of the widgets ^^.

[Area Man]

Firefox. It's fully featured and has the plugins I want & need, and is standards compliant for rendering (enough). That's what I look for, not so much speed; I'm only human, so 0.34123 second difference in rendering time is useless and I can only manage a half-dozen tabs or so at once and still be focused & productive.

[ash.gti]

Ye-gods.... IE8 was released yesterday. Now I have to go check all our websites in yet another browser :-\ *grumbles*

[inhahe]

I heard IE 8 is microsoft's last one, that they're going to switch to webkit. hope it's true.. would sure make things easier on us .

[ash.gti]

No, not webkit, some new rendering engine they are working on called Gazelle

http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/79655/gazelle.pdf

with all their legal battles with the EU they will probably start removing IE from the tight integration it has with the OS for future version of Windows. Making their web browser more standalone, but apparently they are determined to not be kicked out of the browser game.

[inhahe]

No, not webkit, some new rendering engine they are working on called Gazelle

http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/79655/gazelle.pdf

with all their legal battles with the EU they will probably start removing IE from the tight integration it has with the OS for future version of Windows. Making their web browser more standalone, but apparently they are determined to not be kicked out of the browser game.

i never understood why they care so much. browsers are free, and they don't display their own ads or anything. what do they stand to gain? they might as well ship windows with Firefox

[ash.gti]

Well, if you can control the browser you can influence the way things are developed (web standards) and you can influence the direction of the internet. I know a lot of people are excited about the canvas tag but IE doesn't it, in any version. Someone hacked together some limited support using some fancy trickses for IE8 but because IE is over 60% (varies depending on who's stats you look at) of the browser share then most people will avoid using a new and good tag that would give developers more options when it comes to websites.

There are other things too, like that IE7 & 8 have integrate into them some proprietary things like XAML which has to be displayed through Silverlight and is really kinda crappy of them to try to push a web technology thats not standardized and not open (ie, linux would be SOL, there is a mac version of silverlight but it still is a stupid thing to do). This also has to be run form a windows server, which further promotes people to use proprietary windows stuff. Its basically, use windows because we don't want you to have any other options.

Just because the are free doesn't mean they aren't a heavy influence on a wide area of things.

[Anathema]

Chrome, but in general I hope the Opera-Safari-Chrome trifecta will destroy the overrated puffy memory hog that is Firefox. Once Chrome gets apps and actually integrates Google services then the sky's the limit.

[cArebEarStare]

I'm a big Opera man. I'm not a programmer, I got through the first two basic missions at hackthissite.org, I tried booting Knoppix from a CD, but I couldn't get the gui to boot(although to be completely honest I'm not entirely sure that it has one...), but I did use PBASIC a bit when I was like...15, so any features that aide in development etc. are lost on me. I just like its features better, it seems more intuitive to me. Although, the fact that many wobsites, including my school email page, aren't supported, and others are glitchy, e.g. arstechnica, gets annoying. When that happens I use firefox. I hate IE with the same fiery passion I think most people do. I tried Chrome for about three seconds and immediately didn't like it, I suppose I never gave it a chance.

[Rachel!]

Once you can middle click and scroll in chrome with adblock and noscript, I'll switch from firefox. Til then, I'm stayin sly.

[LockeTheGreat]

Chrome is the best thing ever.
lol.
I love it because of how quick it is. Firefox is too slow. though before Chrome I used firefox only.
I even got my FF to open up IE windows for those pesky homework assignments.
I liked how customizable FF was and I hope Chrome becomes like that.

[Area Man]

in general I hope the Opera-Safari-Chrome trifecta will destroy [...] Firefox

Two closed-source browsers and one that barely functions is not not my ideal solution. Say what you will about it, firefox is the one (libre) browser which finally kicked microsoft's ass into attempting standards, and made people aware that msie is NOT _the_ Internet.
Chromium will probably be nice someday, but it will not remain as light when it actually works properly (esp. on Linux). Opera lacks many of the features/addons I rely on. Safari is not even an option.

[ash.gti]

Safari is only the front end of Webkit and Webkit is open source. You can download Webkits for free for a number of OS's (including linux).

Safari (and Chrome) both use webkit for rendering, although chrome strips the javascript components and replaces them with V8. So while rendering will look the exact same in Chrome and Safari (assuming the same version of webkit is being used), Javascript functionality does differ between them.

Really, the changes from Webkit to Safari are relatively minor, most of the changes are settings tweaks because when your compiling Webkits built in front end its usually for testing purposes.

What exactly do you mean about Chrome when you say 'when it actually works properly' anyway? Its already at a stable release, its not in beta anymore. Chrome 2.xxx is already being beta tested and they are actively moving forward with support for new features.

[Anathema]

in general I hope the Opera-Safari-Chrome trifecta will destroy [...] Firefox

Two closed-source browsers and one that barely functions is not not my ideal solution. Say what you will about it, firefox is the one (libre) browser which finally kicked microsoft's ass into attempting standards, and made people aware that msie is NOT _the_ Internet.

yes but for all of the much-vaunted benefits of the open source community FF3 is bloated, ugly, and turning into something that Microsoft would make. The open-source community is grand for add-ons and hacks and nifty little additions that make your life easier but making a good browser that lasts? The memory usage and speed of Firefox compared to Chrome shall testify.

[Justice]

I'm using Chrome at the moment... But Firefox has a lot of stuff that makes it easier and better for me.
Split between Chrome and FF, so I voted for IE.

[hotaru]

there are only two things chrome needs to replace firefox (for everything except testing whether certain html/css/javascript features are implemented) for me:

1. gopher support. implementing navigator.registerProtocolHandler would at least let me come up with a decent workaround for this.
2. working virtual earth 3d. actually it works if you add " Firefox/3.1" onto the end of the useragent string, but doing that breaks certain sites, including http://www.google.com.

the list is a lot shorter than it used to be, thanks to user scripts like adsweep.

[MHD]

Firefox for me.

Auto image savers are ivaluable when browsing /b/

[Berengal]

Auto image savers are ivaluable when browsing /b/

That's like saying a big freaking magnet and a hat made out of blinkenlichts are invaluable in a warzone.

[headprogrammingczar]

That's like saying a box of matches is a good way to find a gas leak.

[phlip]

The most useful extension for browsing 4chan would have to be Greasemonkey...

Spoiler:

Code: Select all

// ==UserScript==
// @name           4chan savior
// @description    Automatically detects any mentally dangerous content on 4chan, and removes it from view.
// @include        http://4chan.org/*
// @include        http://*.4chan.org/*
// ==/UserScript==

document.body.innerHTML="No."; // You'll thank me later.

This'd probably also work without changes with Opera's user scripts function (it has a GM-compatibility mode that'll read that header). I know Chrome has user scripts too, but I haven't looked into them... I don't know what their format is like.

[zombiefeynman]

Nah, this is the best script for browsing 4chan (bourne, I believe).

Code: Select all

echo "Thank you for installing 4chanbrowser.  This upgrade will improve your 4chan experience.";
echo "echo "127.0.0.1         http://www.4chan.org" >> /etc/hosts;

(sorry about the semicolons or whatever)

[LTK]

For a long time, I wasn't actually aware that there were other browsers than IE to be used. When I did, I was still too lazy to try Firefox or something. Then I heard about Chrome and switched to that, and I like it a whole lot better than IE or Opera. The only thing I miss is the smooth scrolling that you have in Opera, it would be nice to implement that in Chrome.

[enjoyeverysandwich42]

FF @ home (linux) and at work (xp) - and not only because MSIE is a piece of garbage. Add-ons make my life.


To the dudes who like lynx - how about links?


Also, on a bit of a tangent, for anyone who runs windows and looks at a lot of PDFs - Foxit reader is much, much, much better than Adobe. I look at a lot of PDFs at work and almost switched back to IE because Adobe reader kept causing FF to hang, but foxit gives no trouble, ever. And its loads PDFs so much faster.

[Amnesiasoft]

Not really, any reasonably recent version of, well, pretty much any of Adobe's products are far quicker than they used to be.

[phillipsjk]

To the dudes who like lynx - how about links?

The multiple window feature is nice (being able to keep browsing while downloading).

I don't like how it lays out the page like a graphical browser: requiring side-scrolling.

[b.i.o]

Not really, any reasonably recent version of, well, pretty much any of Adobe's products are far quicker than they used to be.

Counterexample: linux flash plugins.

[sje46]

I know Chrome is supposed to be less intensive, but it took a lot longer for the pages to load than Firefxo.

[Emu*]

Nah, this is the best script for browsing 4chan (bourne, I believe).

Code: Select all

echo "Thank you for installing 4chanbrowser.  This upgrade will improve your 4chan experience.";
echo "echo "127.0.0.1         http://www.4chan.org" >> /etc/hosts;

(sorry about the semicolons or whatever)

hosts holds host names not urls... you probably want to block ftp, ssh and all other access to 4chan don't you?

[Amnesiasoft]

Counterexample: linux flash plugins.

Well, flash is an abomination to begin with.

[b.i.o]

Counterexample: linux flash plugins.

Well, flash is an abomination to begin with.

Right. And it hasn't gotten any better. My CPU takes less effort to decode 1080p video than it does to watch flash movies in a browser under Linux.

[hotaru]

Well, flash is an abomination to begin with.

flash isn't that bad as long as you're using the windows flash plugin (possibly via wine), and it's used for what it was intended to be used for.

[headprogrammingczar]

Well, flash is an abomination to begin with.

flash isn't that bad as long as you're using the windows flash plugin (possibly via wine), and it's used for what it was intended to be used for.

Read: Flash is fine if you like being annoyed by crappy games made with proprietary software by dumb teenagers.

[hotaru]

Well, flash is an abomination to begin with.

flash isn't that bad as long as you're using the windows flash plugin (possibly via wine), and it's used for what it was intended to be used for.

Read: Flash is fine if you like being annoyed by crappy games made with proprietary software by dumb teenagers.

flash isn't that bad as long as [...] it's used for what it was intended to be used for.

that is not what it was intended to be used for.

[Amnesiasoft]

Can we get an answer for this: What IS flash supposed to be used for? I've never seen a single GOOD use for it ever.

[phlip]

Originally? Vector animation. Some scripting was added, to make things like play/pause buttons and the like possible... theoretically possible to make actual programs and games in, and people did do it... but seriously painful, since that's not what it was intended for. But obviously Macromedia saw what people were using it for, and worked on it... and now, it's still not great, but it's actually usable (though, I haven't played with AS3 at all, I hear it's almost decent). Anyone who can look at the latest Flash with all its (not necessarily great but certainly existent) programming tools and say it's intended solely to make vector animations would probably also look at a modern web browser with all its Ajax objects and say it's intended solely to download and display static HTML pages.

That's not to say it's the best tool for the job, for any job you'd care to name... at least when looked at in a vacuum... but then the network effect kicks in, and the best tool for the job is often simply the one that makes programs that the users can use. And the Flash player is pretty goddamn prevalent.

[Emu*]

Magical Trevor.

</discussion>