Accessible Web design and consultancy

advice on browsers

You are probably viewing this page using Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), which is the default Web browser for Windows. See my advice on IE below. But there is a choice of browsers available to you and several have long since overtaken IE in security, sophistication and ease of use. You will find below my advice on the major browsers and versions in current use and whether you should consider either upgrading or choosing an alternative browser. Your choice of browser may be affected by your need for your browser to integrate functions in addition to browsing, e.g. Instant Messaging; e-mail; newsfeeds. To discover your browser's version, go to its Help menu and select "About ...".

Opera

I highly recommend Opera. Opera is free and carries no advertising. It is excellent at displaying Web pages fast and correctly and has advanced, innovative features including high security and privacy; fit-to-width for screen and print; spam filtering; tabbed browsing; multiple windows; popup blocking; password management; page loading in background; and Web page notes.

Opera has many useful facilities that will make your browsing easier and it is highly customisable to your preferences. It offers secure, virus-free browsing and its support for accessibility (e.g. for vision-impaired users) is excellent. Opera contains an e-mail facility with advanced spam-filtering, spell-checker, and support for newsgroups and newsfeeds (newsreader/feedreader).

Opera will run on less powerful computers as well as the latest machines and is widely available on small-screen devices such as mobile phones and PDAs.

The latest major version is Opera 9, released in June 2006 and with minor updates since then. Opera is now free (since Release 8.5) and carries no advertising. Amongst other features, Opera 9 offers protection against phishing attacks; fit-to-window-width; and fit-to-page-width when printing. I suggest you install Opera alongside your existing browser and try it out. Installation is very easy (download file size 4.8 Mbytes).

Firefox and Netscape

I also recommend the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser. Like Opera, it is excellent at displaying Web pages fast and correctly and has advanced features including increased security and privacy; tabbed browsing; and popup blocking. I am of the opinion that Opera is the more advanced product but, as an alternative to Internet Explorer, Firefox would also be an excellent choice. There is no built-in e-mail facility (although there is a companion e-mail package, Thunderbird). Firefox is free. The latest version is Firefox 2, released in October 2006. Installation is very easy (download file size 7.4 Mbytes).

I am no longer recommending Netscape because it is no longer supported as from February 2008 (important for security updates). Netscape 7 and 9 used the same browser engine as Firefox. Netscape 8 was a hybrid product. It had the Netscape branding (look and feel) but browsed Web pages using Firefox and Internet Explorer. There was therefore never much value in using Netscape rather than Firefox itself.

If you are using Netscape 7/8/9, I recommend that you switch to Firefox (and perhaps Thunderbird) or to Opera.

Internet Explorer

At present, you are probably viewing this site using Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), which is the default browser for Windows. See my advice on the longer-term future of IE.

Although it is not possible to uninstall IE from Windows, I cannot recommend the continued use of any version, with the possible exception of IE7 (see below for reasons). I recommend switching to Opera or Firefox.

IE7 was released in October 2006. It can be installed only on Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista. If you are using Windows XP and haven't yet installed SP2, you will need to do this first.

During the five years between the release of IE6 and that of IE7, other browsers such as Opera and Firefox greatly surpassed IE in features, facilities and sophistication. IE7 is significantly better than IE6 but is still a long way behind its competitors. It has had no updates for over a year (apart from security patches). There remains the issue of IE's poor security track record. Security flaws are still being regularly reported in IE7, so it's not possible to have confidence in it.

For all IE7 users I recommend installing Opera or Firefox alongside it and progressively reducing your use of IE7 as you become comfortable with your new browser. The more you use alternative browsers, the lower your exposure to virus and fraud attack through IE's security weaknesses.

IE6 was released in August 2001 with Windows XP. It is also possible to run it on Windows 98 and ME (but not W95). With no update for over 6 years (apart from security patches), it has fallen far behind other browsers in terms of features and facilities and support for modern Web sites. Its security is a serious issue. The current version (called Service Pack 1, released September 2002) requires the latest cumulative critical update to be applied. But other security updates available to Windows XP users of IE6 are not available to W98 and ME users.

For all IE6 users I recommend switching to Opera or Firefox. If you wish to continue to use IE and have Windows XP SP2 you should upgrade to IE7.

IE5.5 was released in 2000. It is now 7 years old and has fallen far behind developments in the Web. More importantly, support by Microsoft has no longer been guaranteed since December 2003, which means that several critical security updates have not been made available. I strongly recommend switching to Opera or Firefox.

IE5 was released in 1999. It is now over 7 years old and has fallen far behind developments in the Web. Even more importantly, it is no longer supported by Microsoft, which means that the many recent critical security updates have not been made available. I strongly recommend switching to Opera or Firefox.

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