The article describes the main characteristics of the most popular web browsers, statistics (market share), comparison in terms of user friendliness, disadvantages, usability, flexibility, capabilities, speed, customization.
Market share data for the most popular browsers (2021):
- Internet Explorer – 53, 60%
- Mozilla Firefox – 20.05%
- Google Chrome – 19.13%
- Apple Safari – 5, 10%
- Opera – 1.60%
- Others – 0.53%
Microsoft Internet Explorer
MS Internet Explorer is the market leader, but it is constantly losing popularity. This is explained by the fact that MS IE does not support some modern standards, besides, it does not execute some commands correctly.
As a result, developers spend a lot of time and effort to ensure adequate rendering of web pages on this browser. As a result, many stopped caring about it altogether, hoping that the mass user is becoming more advanced and more and more using modern browsers.
Undoubtedly, the MS Internet Explorer interface has improved recently, but it is far from the leaders in usability and functionality. It is not clear, for example: why each new tab in IE in the control panel is a separate window? What happens if you open 50 tabs, as many users do? In terms of Internet surfing speed, IE, purely subjectively, is also inferior to its competitors. The main advantage of MS Internet Explorer and the secret of its popularity is that it is part of Microsoft Windows. Many users actually use other browsers, and IE remains installed on the computer, but is not actually used.
Mozilla Firefox
FF is a popular product among power users and developers. This browser has a very convenient and intuitive user-friendly interface, in addition, it supports most of the modern web standards. The latest version of the browser is Firefox 15. 0. 1. This browser has many amateur assemblies, such as Palemoon. Mozilla Firefox has been very popular in recent years, but according to recent reports, it is gradually losing its position.
This is due to weak marketing, in addition, in some versions there were problems with speed: when you open a large number of bookmarks, the browser takes up all the RAM and starts to slow down. Otherwise, this is a very decent product. The browser supports a large number of add-ons and has many plugins. Mozilla Firefox is a good choice not only for ordinary Internet users, but for advanced users and developers.
Google Chrome
The most dynamic browser in terms of market penetration. This is due to both aggressive advertising and the popularity of the Google search engine, which constantly recommends installing Chrome on your computer. But the secret to success isn’t just advertising. Chrome is the leader in the speed of loading and processing web pages. Google Chrome supports all modern web standards and is irreplaceable for demanding users. I am writing this article in Chrome because I switched to it from Firefox a year ago due to the slow work of the latter.
Chrome has advanced functionality and an advanced interface. Everything is customizable to the user’s taste: minimalism and any bells and whistles are possible for owners of huge screens. High speed of work, full compatibility with the latest web standards, excellent design and usability – this is modern Chrome.
Opera
Opera is a product of the Norwegian company Opera Software. The share of this web browser is 1.58% of the market, which is slightly less than in August 2011 (1.68%). Opera does not pretend to be massive, but it is a very interesting product.
The browser has a simple and user-friendly interface. Customizable design and the ability to install additional bars – all this is available in other browsers. However, Opera is very popular with developers due to its flexibility and openness.
Concluding the review, it should be noted that the Opera and Safari browsers have mobile versions, which, unlike the leaders in the desktop browser market, are the leaders in the mobile market. Safari is the leader in the mobile sector of the market – 66, 43%. It is followed by the browser for Android and Opera Mini: 19, 97 and 8, 59 percent of the market, respectively.
The Internet browser market has only recently become a market, previously dominated by Microsoft. But with the development and penetration of the Internet to the masses, new products have appeared that more quickly and efficiently follow the latest technology requirements and user preferences. It is possible that new products will appear in the future, including those of Russian production. Yandex has already set its sights on this market, we wish him good luck.
