Category Archives: Web Browsers

Unknown's avatar illiniguy 1:20 pm on January 2, 2004  

Browser Wars – Mozilla Strikes Back

So I finally made up my mind. Mozilla has won over my heart once again….well not the current Mozilla browser, but their ‘next-generation’ browser and email programs, Firebird and Thunderbird, respectively.

I was sitting around watching football and started searching around for a good newsreader. I had given up Mozilla a couple weeks ago and started using those tabbed IE browsers, but today I couldn’t find a good newsreader. One that could let me bottom-post if I wanted. So lo and behold, I went back to revisit Mozilla, specifically those new-fangled technology previews of Mozilla’s future browsers. I had downloaded both before, but wasn’t impressed with Firebird’s rendering at that time. Reminded me alot of Opera’s engine….

But now they’re up to version 0.7, I must say they’ve come quite a way since then. The browser is much crisper in rendering pages, and more plug-ins and skins are being built for Firebird than ever before. And, most impressively, I noticed Thunderbird (the email/newsreader program) now has a ‘Vertical Layout’ option, which makes its interface look almost exactly like the new Outlook 2003 layout I just love. So when I saw that, and made sure a few more bells and whistles were there, I knew it was time to switch. (You’ll notice my mind is sort of like the Friday the 13th movies; just when you think it’s settled on an ending, it springs back to life, looking for something new to seek out.)

So be sure to download them both; they’re both small in terms of size, no installer program needed (just unzip the files), and of course they work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Once done, you may want to check out:

Unknown's avatar illiniguy 10:10 pm on December 31, 2003  

IE 6.05 beta

found a link to the IE 6.05 beta that will be available with XP Service Pack 2 (which BTW is available as a beta from MSDN downloads). Just unRAR to a local folder (it will run out of a folder on its own, no installer needed). Not much to see, other than a fancier look to it….

Unknown's avatar illiniguy 7:22 pm on December 30, 2003  

Lord of the Tabbed Browsers

So a week or so ago, I was raving about AvantBrowser as the best thing out there for tabbed browsers (that actually run IE). Well, I was a little fed up with AB’s shortcomings in customability, so I went and checked out one of its competitors again, MyIE2. To be honest MyIE2 has much better mouse gestures and options, and now has support for the Mozilla engine (whatever that means). The rendering engine (or should I say how it looks while rendering) still hasn’t sold me completely. It seems a tad bit slower, and a little choppier, but I’ll have to see. Overall it’s a draw with AB right now….I’ll let you know the final verdict.

BTW, the interesting thing is they have very similar popup dialogs, for like donations, etc. They are both written by Chinese developers, although MyIE2 does have a team of developers as opposed to AB which has just one (another reason I’m considering the switcheroo)…..OOOO, kids stay tuned for the end of this cliffhanger!!!!!!!!

Unknown's avatar illiniguy 5:47 pm on December 8, 2003  

Avant Browser rocks

OK, I know it’s been a week and a half, but what a week and a half it’s been. I’ll be posting alot more about that in the next few days. But I hope everyone had a good turkey day, as we look forward to the end of the year….

As some of you know, and as I’ve posted here before, I was on the bandwagon of Mozilla in a big way as the best browser out there. It has everything IE won’t have until Longhorn: tabbed browsing, tons of plugins, and a sleek rendering engine. But in the past week I’ve come to hate its one downfall. It’s not IE! There are so many sites where I can’t stand it anymore, it doesn’t render pages correctly! But it’s not Mozilla’s fault, it’s the fact that we have too many developers out there coding for one browser. Not to mention the scenario where most of Microsoft’s site is not friendly to it as well.

So after stewing over it for awhile, I decided to try out one of the IE ‘skins’ or applications that are built as a wrapper for IE. What do I mean? Well, I have fallen for another browser in the past few days, Avant Browser. AB isn’t really a browser per se, it’s really an application that is built on top of IE’s rendering engine in Windows. Granted it can therefore only run on Windows systems, but at least now I don’t have problems with those damn banking sites and MSDN!

Sorry, Mozilla! I was tooting the horn for you, but I can’t put up with non-compatible sites….just a lesson for those of you out there not coding to DOM-level browsers, get your crap together and promote competition!

BTW, I’ll pry change my mind in another month and be looking for another alternative….

Unknown's avatar illiniguy 4:27 pm on November 17, 2003  

Delta Guide Series technical books -AND- Mozilla’s new site

Ah, finally someone figured it out! A friend of mine mentioned the Delta Guide books to me before, books that give you the ‘what’s changed’ view instead of starting every new version from the beginner’s level. It’s perfect for when you have the knowledge of let’s say IIS 5.0, but wonder what you need to know about IIS 6, what’s changed, what’s new. And don’t worry, there’s plenty of online articles and resources they provide as well for background info, in case you still need it.

So hopefully it’ll save a lot of time and money in those ‘need to know’ situations….here’s to hoping they keep going in this direction….

Also, support your local Mozilla developer! Their site recently underwent a small renovation, mainly look-and-feel, but needed as they start out on their own as AOL dumped Netscape…this browser should become the new de-facto!! Be sure to check out their add-in project site where various people post add-ins for Mozilla.