I just wanted to know. I'm using opera. My List: opera > all other browsers > firefox > IE What about you?
Firefox mostly although I am trying out Opera again. I don't want to browse the web with explorer. Opera probably is quicker for loading a lot of content but it feels like it downloads most of the content before actually throwing it on the screen. A different browsing pace than with firefox anyway. And the spell check is not real-time. Memory is a non-issue for me. These browsers hardly have anything to push 2gb of memory. But Opera seems to use on average less memory so far.
I just did a quick test on my system. Probably get different results if I actually browsed the net for a while but I loaded 4 websites each as a tab in 1 window. anandtech.com, Youtube (then did a search), halflife2.net, and steampowered.com Firefox ~55MB Opera (tab picture thumbnail enabled) ~61MB Opera (disabled) ~49MB IE 7.0 ~65MB Then I minimized the windows (they should dumb memory to the pagefile). FF 55MB Opera 7MB IE 7.0 5MB I'm surprised iexplore.exe used as much memory as it did considering part of the memory usage for Internet Explorer would be under explorer.exe as well. I've had a few times when my browser hit above 100mb but that was after going to many sites. Don't want to try to recreate that. hehe Some tests regarding how fast they load websites.
The reason was they wanted it to perform better rather than load data back from the pagefile when you bring the window up again. But FF only drops to 30MB when minimized with that setting enabled.
Just recently switched to Opera recently after reading http://www.firefoxmyths.com. Love Opera, Im using 9.50b Preview Release and its super fast!
Current version of firefox is a memory hog due to its poor handling of extensions and addons that seem to create memory leaks in places. I still use it but in its barebones form. Beta 3 release candidate 1 of firefox is just around the corner and should streamline firefox further and fix its memory usage isuses.
I use Firefox, but I hate how much memory it uses. You open maybe 7 tabs then close them down to just 1 but the memory usage stays at the level it was when you had 7 open.
Eh hem Memory usage too high? You obviously haven't been doing your homework. Web Browser Memory usage Expandabilty? Opera has all the stuff you need right out of the box.
Firefox. Let me know when Opera gets: Automatic updating lists of banner ads to block Status bar icons/updates for Google Reader and GMail A mass downloader An FTP client McAfee SiteAdvisor NoScript StumbleUpon Stylish (user CSS) View Source Chart Web Developer extension (does a ton of stuff) Otherwise, I ain't budging.
Fireferret. Occasionally I'm forced to use Internet Exploder for some web development (.net and shit). Hence why it sucks, it's trying to be too many things at once and thats damn annoying. Not to mention most of what it offers is usually handled by other programs to begin with, then you have the poor choice of widgets available. Firefox is far more customizable than Opera and offers a megaton more options when it comes to third party add ons. I'm not sure what demographic Opera is targeted at but certainly not the standard internet/office user.
I am kinda always on the go so I had Firefox Wonder Edition(A non-installation firefox that doesn't use the registry). I've always been big on Opera, but I had no idea Opera had an equivliant till about a week ago. Anyway, I recently got a virus on this laptop im writing on thanks to FX and t. Yes, I got pwned through Firefox by a virus. Thankfully I got rid of it rather easily. Switched over to usbOpera. Working great. Opera is an awesome browser. The usbOpera is much MUCH better on memory than Firefox Wonder Edition. What the hell are you talking about? How is Opera trying to be to many things at once? Opera is great out of the box, but in no way is annoying. It works a little differently than most browsers. Thats what I love about it. It's all those little things about it. Like Speed Dial. Do I need speed dial? No. Is it nice to have instead of typing in my most used websites or looking through 30 bookmarks just to find a commony visted website? It's just a nice small feature that helps define the experience. Plus how much stuff you get without having to go search for a bunch of extensions is great. Everything from User CSS, enabling/disabling damn near anything, allowing Opera to pose as another browser, etc... And yes Opera does have developer tools. I would call Opera a Mac. Great out of the box, everything just works. Unique and nice feel. Great on memory, very fast, has best support for web standards, and most secure.
@cyk: a mass downloader: yep stylish? as in skins? if so: yep ftp client: yap MyCafe siteadvisor: that's just for dumbos ok but it's lightweight with NO MEMORY LEAKS!!
When I was installing some widgets I just realized a nice little feature I never noticed before. Pages that are to big horizontally... Opera can make them fit to your screen.
No, Stylish, the mod that lets you apply custom CSS to pages. It's like GreaseMonkey for- wait, Opera doesn't have that. Seriously. I don't understand why a browser made in 2007 that's supposed to compete with IE and Firefox wouldn't have extensions. It just doesn't make sense.
Sounds like Firefox is for you, although for me, I dont need that BS. Oh and Opera does have Stumbleupon btw
Yes Opera has custom CSS. Its had it since.... as long as I can remember. Probably around version 7. You can also control various aspects of the custom CSS sheet you provide. For instance you could do "Hey use the sites CSS sheet, but use my fonts and colors". Whats next you're gonna tell me Opera doesn't have mouse gestures? Also one thing I hated when I was using FX, is sometimes I would accidently close out of a tab. If I do that with Opera the undo button brings it back! Opera supports plugins(flash, java, acrobat reader implementions) and does have extensions, except there called widgets. When it comes down to it, techy users will probably find most use out of firefox and extensions like greasemonkey. For website developers... (i havn't checked out the Developer Tools) Opera does have an error console. It's actually a very good system to find errors in your code. As it will go through and say "uhh WTF is this?". Opera has the best support for website standards. I could go through Facebook and point out a lot of the errors in the code that doesn't meet standards. It's a great tool for debugging your own code(javascript, CSS, html, etc..) However for the average user/luxury user/power user is where Opera comes into play. It's the most secure browser (Especially after a site used an FX exploit to hit me). It's simple and easy to use. Yet it does offer a ton of things right out of the box, however Opera doesn't force you to deal with all those things. It keeps it simple, but if you're curious you can find a great deal of power options hidden beneath its hood.
Damn, I like new the Firefox 3.0 beta. Last night, as I was trying out this new Firefox beta; I had at least 20 Pron pages open (Uhm! for Firefox experimentation purpose) and, you know how sometimes browsers kick the bucket? My entire 20 pages came tumbling down. Windows Error came up saying "Something faced unexpected issue" I said "Damn!!! My pages!!!". I double-clicked Firefox icon and I got this message "Do you want to continue last session?" I clicked yes and, Boom! My entire 20 pages of pron came back (Swweeeet) Uhm! I mean marvelous, Well done. IE is in really tight spot as of now.