Who's Your Browser, Now

byKyleManning

499 followers

8 years ago

The Browser War

Well, the war has been over for quite some time now. Most people still don't know who won. Reminds me of a story of a Japanese soldier that was hiding out for 20 years after the war ended, and when he was discovered, he didn't know the war was over. Don't be like him.

Below are the current statistics on browser usage in the Whole Wide World. There is a link below to get updated on this info as these figures might change periodically.

* Chrome -----------------------------------58.9%

* Safari ------------15.2%

* IE & Edge ----8.8%

* Firefox ---7.2%

* Opera - 3.8%

https://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

Here's Why I use Chrome

This list below is not exhaustive, but it's just what comes to mind. I was an avid Firefox user up until 3 or 4 years ago. I loved Firefox actually. I had my girlfriend who was a silver jewelry maker create a pendant to go on a neck chain for me in the exact replica of the Firefox logo. Now, that is total GEEK. Anyway ~~

I'm not going to bash the other browsers, but let's just say there are plenty of reasons to NOT like them.

Here's my impromptu list benefits for the Google Chrome browser that I enjoy.

1. Many Easy to install Extensions

Because of the huge fan base of Chrome and because of the huge budget Google has and the incentives Google has to maintain chrome, there are a TON of developers creating add-ons and extensions for Chrome.

An extension is generally a plug-in that extends the user experience somehow when viewing a page. Chrome even has it's own URL prototype to make it easy to find new extensions. If you use Chrome as your browser, just click the link below and you should be directed to the available extensions for Chrome.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extens...

If you aren't using Chrome, you'll just be redirected to some ugly page telling you something bad. Just install Chrome and make the pain go away.

Chrome extensions are easy to install as well. No downloading, un-ziping, unpacking, finding install programs, etc.

Just click the link above, find a plugin - click the "add-to-chrome" button and voila!

2. Many Chrome Based Applications

Similar to extensions, you can also find apps, themes, games etc for Chrome. Applications are 3rd party stand-alone applications that use the Chrome browser and tools to make-up the application.

An example would be GMail. If you use GMail this is what a Chrome application might look like. However, GMail is not an application because it doesn't depend solely on the Chrome browser. But, similar stand-alone application that do depend solely on the Chrome browser environment are called applications.

3. Chrome is an Operating System in It's Own Right

Because of point #2, Chrome offers application developers and extended amount of functionality to make browser applications and extensions.

In fact, if you've ever heard of Chromebooks, these are laptop type devices that solely use the Chrome platform as the operating system for the machine.

When you use a Chromebook device, you could easily become confused and think you were just using the Chrome browser.

4. Tools for Website Designers and Creators

As you become more advanced in website development, you might venture into customizing dimensions, colors, shapes and sizes of elements in your web pages.

However, ordinarily, it's not very easy to inspect the elements when looking at a page in a browser live.

Google Chrome, however, offers very sophisticated tools to analyze and visualize existing settings as well as experiment with live changes.

This is for the more experienced user though.

5. Speedy

Google Chrome does an excellent job at caching (storing) important files to speed up the experience so that reloading pages is not so long and burdensome.

There isn't a whole lot more to say about this.

6. All Your Settings Follow You From Computer to Computer

Once you get your browser all set up with your favorite plugins, applications, background settings, theme settings yada yada ~ you probably would despise the thought of using a different computer that doesn't have all your settings properly installed.

That's okay, though with Chrome.

Because Chrome is a Google product, when you launch Chrome, you have the option of logging in with your Google ID and PW. After logging in, Google will synchronize all your settings which are stored in the Google Cloud.

This is a really sweet deal. This alone keeps me coming back to Chrome.

7. Natively Supports Most Common and New Internet Technologies

Software and Web developers depend on web technologies such as HTML and Javascript to make most of the web sites / web applications that you depend on. These technologies are provided by the browsers.

The most common problems that is at the pique of browser discussion lists is the technology support and to what degree the browsers support those technologies.

Chrome is very good about not only supporting those technologies but taking leading roles in the development and advancement of those technologies.

For example Google Chrome is pretty much completely HTML5 and Javascript 6 compliant.

That about wraps it up.

I hope you have enjoyed this little overview. If you feel compelled, go ahead and give Chrome a shot. If you already use Chrome, look into some extensions and applications that you possibly weren't aware of.

As always, I look forward to your feedback.

Kyle