Things have changed a lot since the birth of the Internet. With everything moving to cloud services, media streaming, shared calendars, collaborative online workplaces. Web browsers are perhaps the second most heavily used piece of software after the operating system itself. In many cases, web browsers have overtaken office suites. Think about that.
If you spend one third of your life sleeping, shouldn't you have a comfortable, healthy bed? A good pillow? Yet many people prioritize things like drinking obscene amount of coffee to get them through their weariness, caused by poor bedding situations. Web browsers are like that, we spend so much time on them, but don't realise when a choice we might have made "way back when" is negatively impacting us.
You dear reader, might not be using the best browser for your needs, and your life might well be impacted by that choice.
Before you get upset....
Every Internet-enabled device, whether that's a Windows PC, your iPhone, or your smart TV will come with some sort of pre-packaged web browser. However, whether you're a die-hard Chrome fan, or have simply run with the default browser, the chances are that you have fallen into the trap of using "one tool for every task mentality".
How did we get here?
Brand loyalty, comfort zones, and preferences. Each reason (however well considered) have equally sparked many arguments over which is the best browser. Now I'm going to cut to the chase here and say this categorically:
No browser is the best in every situation.
I know you have your favourite. I know you've come to know and love whatever browser you've chosen. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have your preferences. I'm just saying that the more militant browser zealots out there should perhaps step back, take a deep breath, and relax a little. Let me tell you why.
A browser is just an application, and there are many ways to design and code one. Differing priorities and ways to design a user interface will appeal to some, and repel others, but which are popular?
At the time of writing, the browser rankings came in at:
- Google Chrome (80% of all Internet browsing).
- Mozilla Firefox (7%)
- Microsoft Edge/Internet Explorer (5%)
- Apple Safari (4%)
- Opera at a little over 2%.
So let's look at some of the big ones, and delve into the pros and cons of each.
Google Chrome:
When Google Chrome was released, it revolutionised the layout of the browser user interface. The simplified interface not only makes the browser simpler to use on larger screens like computer monitors and TVs, while simultaneously saving precious screen real estate on smaller mobile interfaces. The design was so successful, other browsers have since emulated Chrome's interface to varying degrees, because the interface works so well.
Chrome is undeniably popular partly... because it is the default browser on every Android powered device. Obviously, Chrome has grown in popularity as mobile devices grew in number. Google has really saturated whatever market share Apple and Microsoft have left because they provide their software to any hardware manufacturer who is willing to pay for it, and it's designed for wide compatibility.
One of the other keys to it's success is that Chrome's compatibility is almost universal with other, (non Android) operating systems like Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Apple's mobile operating system, IOS. So it runs on almost any computer and mobile device... but you might not know that it also runs on some smart TVs, Bluray players, and streaming devices. Not all of those run Android, favouring a custom OS... but still offer Chrome since it's so ubiquitous.
The bottom line...
The reason that 80% of people use Chrome usually stems from the clean interface, ability to use it on every device, and the fact that it is very fast. Speed is perhaps one of the biggest features to draw people to it.
Powering Chrome.... it might be sleek and fast, but that performance comes at a power cost.
However, while Chrome might be "nigh on universally compatible" it is also universally resource intensive. In fact, in many situations (on Android OS included), it chews up insane amounts of memory, CPU processing time, and as a consequence, power. This might not matter on desktops, and other devices on mains power. However, the battery life on your mobile devices can be cut significantly, sometimes hours, even if it's running in the background. So it might be worth considering a different browser for battery powered devices.
Do you care about security and privacy? If so, you probably shouldn't use Chrome.
Now I use Chrome some of the time, but I have a love/hate relationship with it. One of my greatest concerns is the long history of security vulnerability... combining this with Google's data harvesting track record, and shameless third-party information sharing, I just can't bring myself to trust it fully. As such, I would not do my Internet Banking on it, or manage anything particularly sensitive on it. I've also worked in several places where security policies exclude all Chrome installations from the internal network, so there are some serious concerns by IT security specialists.
However, if all you do is email, chat with your family, and look for tasty recipes/gardening tips, then maybe you don't care. Google might use your data to merely customise the ads you see to something you might actually buy... so some might even see that as a benefit, rather than a drawback. Remember, what you share on social media is another integrated, highly connected means to track and profile your online behaviour... regardless of the browser used.
Interestingly, there have been more secure variations of Chrome (notably NOT made by Google.... like "SRWare's Iron") which are available on Google Play, or directly downloadable for free from the SRWare site. I humbly encourage Chrome fans to give it a go. You can get it here:
Apple Safari:
Safari has long been the default browser on all Apple devices. However, Safari has come a long way in the last few years, and offers a similar interface to Chrome, is almost as "snappy", but because it has been optimised for Apple devices, Safari can substantially increase the battery life of Apple Devices in certain circumstances. If I'm browsing heavily, with many tabs open, I can get as much as an extra hour to 90 minutes of battery life on my IOS devices by using Safari over Chrome.
I use Safari on my Apple mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone. I have never had a problem with it, and strikes a balance between power usage and speed. I like the fact that it's regularly maintained by Apple and you know it's not likely to have any major incompatibility issues with MacOS (Apple computers) or IOS (that runs Apple mobile devices). However, I did find some Java applications to run better on Chrome, so I've used it for that in the past.
That said, Safari is heavily integrated with iCloud accounts, so if you're particularly security conscious, you might want to adjust the settings a little bit. However, it can also share browsing history between your Apple devices and that may be very handy if you're hopping from one Apple device to another. Cloud integration can be seen as a convenience to some, or a security flaw to others.
I feel that Safari has improved enough to be considered as a power-saving alternative, and yes.. it's a little slower than Chrome, which is built first and foremost for speed, with little regard for anything else, but Safari hasn't ever let me down, or had major issues. So it's a steady choice.
The down side to Safari is that it is limited to Apple devices. So Windows users have to look elsewhere. I've seen Safari being ported to Windows in the past, but that was back in 2012.
Again if you're paranoid, using a third-party browser like Firefox should reduce the "default" cloud integration somewhat, so your data should be stored on local devices (your computer for example). However, even Firefox can be integrated into cloud systems... where your data will likely be stored in places on the Internet somewhere, and others do have the capacity to access it without your knowledge.
Mozilla Firefox:
Firefox has been around for a long time, and when I switched from what was then called "Internet Explorer" (now called Edge), I really liked the speed of it. Firefox is my browser of choice for desktops. It doesn't integrate with Apple's iCloud, it doesn't report to Google or Microsoft. However, it can synchronize your bookmarks and browsing history between devices if you wish it to.
It works on Mac, Linux Windows, Android, IOS, so it is as universally compatible as Google Chrome. I would say it's nearly as fast as Chrome, but goes easier on the battery for my mobile devices, but your mileage may vary... depending on how you use it.
That said, you may have to install some plugins to make it work the way you want it to. I tend to run several ad blocking packages... which cleans up my viewing experience and saves me precious download quota.
In contrast, Chrome has almost everything but the kitchen sink prebuilt into it by default, all the systems are loaded and ready to go, just in case you use a streaming site, or open a PDF....which is why Chrome loads things quickly, but also sucks down the power. Firefox has a similar appearance because has also emulated a lot of the Chrome interface, but allows you to choose which bits to install and run. I feel it's a little more tailored, it's more secure, and is one of the few truly "non-aligned" browsers out there.
Firefox and family...
There are some Firefox-inspired alternatives like "Ice Weasel" that are mostly built for Linux distrubutions, but if I had to recommend a browser for general purposes, Firefox would be a good choice.
Mozilla has done a great job in maintaining Firefox's compatibility through numerous OS updates over the years. It runs very well, and the worst I've ever had to do is empty out the cache when eBay's CSS stopped working. A situation I've had to do on all of these browsers at some point or another.
Microsoft Edge (Formerly Internet Explorer):
I suppose it's a running joke that Internet Explorer (Now Edge) has been the browser of choice used by many Windows users... merely to download one of the more popular browsers when Windows has been reinstalled. Somewhat ironically, Microsoft has improved it in several important and security-related ways, yet most people still perceive this browser (and core part of Windows) as inferior in one way or another.
As a part of Windows, Explorer/Edge does a lot more than merely decoding web pages in your everyday browsing activity. It is actually a means to read all web-related files, it also forms numerous interfaces, and integrates several web technologies into Windows itself. You can remove it, but what's left of Windows.... will be be interesting. If you get bored, look it up. Linus Tech Tips has done it to varying degrees over the years and has videos about this on YouTube.
While I still have reservations about the security of Microsoft products in general, and I detest the house-of-cards structure of their updates. (You need to install all the previous updates to get to the current version, rather than the modular, skip 50 updates and just plug in the latest option of other alternatives) it's a completely serviceable web browser.
I'm not going to lie, Windows can certainly suck the power down without any help from Edge, and so I feel it's a little unfair to blame the browser. Windows is often installed with numerous third party applications (some manage your WiFi/ethernet adaptors and their resulting power usage with varying degrees of success) that happen to correspond with increased browsing activity caused by Edge. It's not always easy to separate the browser from the rest of the running apps. With Apple, there's the "Apps currently using significant power" feature which is a big help toward this goal. Windows doesn't seem to have an equivalent that I'm aware of. However, task manager may give some circumstantial/suggestive insight.
"Historically Quirky"
As a web administrator, I feel that I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the "Quirks" with Internet Explorer/Edge. For many years, web pages have had to include a second version of the code especially for Internet Explorer/Edge users. Microsoft didn't fully comply with the standards of the Internet (despite being on the board that made these decisions), and so the browser interpreted the code a little differently to the others. Things that would work fine for every other browser fell apart, or had unexpected behaviour. So a lot of web developers, even to this day detest this browser based on the conditioned negative experiences Microsoft's "unnecessarily independent" streak engendered.
The different code interpretation was officially called "quirks mode", and in days gone by... had to be tested extensively before letting any site to "go live". Now that Edge/Explorer has lost much of the market share, it isn't the concern it was.
So what conclusions should you draw here?
I'm not saying that you need or should change. I'm saying that you should consider using the best app for the situation. Using one browser in all circumstances may offer consistency and possibly useful integration options. However, this may be at the expense of battery life, security, performance, and dare I say it, reliability.
I just want you to broaden your horizons, and try others, so you know that the browser you use is indeed the best for your needs.
Take care and happy browsing!
Ham.