Internet

Foxy Browsing

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I was checking out some numbers related to visitors to the site today, and was (pleasantly) surprised to see that the majority of visitors are not using Internet Explorer as their browser. Here’s how the numbers break down for the past month:

• Firefox (49.68%)
• Internet Explorer (32.48%)
• Safari (15.92%)
• Opera (1.91%)

This is a trend that I enjoy watching. Browsing the Internet has, for me, been much safer, faster, and more enjoyable since I stopped using Internet Explorer. (I guess you could say I’m BrowsingHappy.) I used Firefox exclusively up until about 4 months ago. It’s now a toss-up for me between Firefox and Safari. With Apple’s recent update to Safari 3.1, I have noticed a significant increase in speed and reliability compared to Firefox. This has been a huge factor for me not to use Firefox 100% of the time.

Although it’s faster than anything out there right now, I still have a major gripe about Safari: no plug-in support. Firefox got this right when they created the ability for third-party plugins (aka Add-Ons) to enhance the browsing experience. These are little pieces of code that become a seamless part of your Firefox browser. As a student, I have relied many times on the Zotero add-on when attempting to format a citation or a paper. Zotero is incredibly useful and easy to use. If you use Firefox, you should go get it.

Another favorite add-on of mine has been the Del.ic.ious Toolbar. I use this at least on a weekly basis to tag sites that I want to refer back to. I’m not a power-user of Del.ic.ious by any means, but this has really helped me to keep track of my Internet bookmarks. Read more about it here.

I’ll close up this post with a classic clip from a classic movie. I like to think that Garth was paying tribute to one of the safest Internet browsers around. Enjoy:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=EvQikr1bmJE[/youtube]