Today I went back to Opera, after having it for about 2 months, then switching to Internet Explorer for unknown reasons (I would have had some at the time) - I believe it was because it added .url on my favourites within Internet explorer [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] (stupid reason I know). Anyhow, today I've switched back, got a great new skin, imported my favourites, added my hotlinks, and am loving the mouse gestures.

What Browser do you use, and what forced you to switch to it?

Real men use Firefox.

Internet Explorer. Nothing forced me to use it.
And anyone about to tell me to switch to Opera or Mozilla or anything can fuck right off. I've never, ever had any problems with IE, and I just HATE it when people think they know what I want.

PS. I had Firefox installed before I formatted last week. I noticed no difference between it and Internet Explorer. And don't say "omgwtftabbrowsing", you big-headed evangelists.

I am currently using Firefox on my PC (with dabbles of IE for certain things that require it...the bastards..) On my Mac, I am using Safari and Firefox and another one I can't remember the name of.

The reason I switched (which has been quite some time ago, actually..) is just that IE has way too many unpatched holes and doesn't allow me the ability to customize things the way I want and as easily as Firefox or some of the other options available.

And remember kids, you can blame your browser all you want for your woes, but the root cause for most problems still remains as user error. =]

I use Maxthon because the UI is similiar to IE but it has mouse gestures and tabbed browser windows.

damn MoP you're a wee bit angry huh?

anyway I'm using Firefox it just suits me the best. I love the tabbed windows instead of having everything open in a new window, the extensions are great and I like the themes.

Additionally I dont get 8 or 9 pop ups every time I open a window like I do with IE. Firefox is just a better browser for me.

Went to Opera during my "detach from Microsoft" move. I like its user interface, especially the RMB+LMB back and LMB+RMB forward combinations (other things like select text -> "go To URL"). Also, the MDI is handy for keeping your task bar clean (it's already full enough when I'm running Visual Basic, Blender and Photoshop plus a few Explorer windows at the same time) and reducing the effectivity of full-screen popups (those few that circumvent popup blocking, I think we should DMCA-blast those ad agencies). No ActiveX is another bonus.

Opera.

It's true it's way faster than IE. Loads faster and loads pages faster too. Now you would think that's BS, load time would depend on conection speed. But in test after test Opera would have the page loaded way before IE. It make you wonder what is IE doing to cause the page to load slower?

It has a bunch of nifty stuff that KDR_11k mentioned also - 'insert note', Deletes cookies, history on shutdown. and I love the multi-page set up. Never go back.

THe wife will ask me -"can you lad this page it won't load for me." Type in the url- boom loaded.
"why won't it work for me?"
"Don't use IE"

"It won't R-click on this image"
"Don't use IE"

Avant Browser is my friend.

Mozilla...

somehow I like it much more than firefox, althought it is basicly the same... just less dumbed down for the masses [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Wasn't the main difference that Firefox is LESS BLOATED?

firefox. wanted to get used to tabbed browsing.

firefox. makes me sound like i know what i'm talking about when i tell people i don't use IE.

[ QUOTE ]
Wasn't the main difference that Firefox is LESS BLOATED?

[/ QUOTE ]

I like complex preference menus and lots of buttons to press [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Something CAN be oversimplified, though.

Firefox 4 life.

OMFGWTFTABBROWSING!

I like the tabbed browsing firefox offers, and the fact I never get spy slipped into my OS with it. I think IE is good too, but I like firefox for those extra +'s alone tehehe.

I'm always praising Opera, and IE tend to get annoyed when you suggest they're using outdated software. I rarely get people to switch software by talking to them.
DEMONSTRATING what you can do in Opera, on the other hand, converts people almost instantly.

Scenario:
You're visiting an artists' website. There are masses of thumbnails that link to JPEGS. You decide you want 30 of these pictures.
INSTANT headache in IE.
In Opera: Middle click the links(opens links in the background by default), mark all the pages in your window view, CTRL+S to save then CTRL+W to close said windows.
Mouse gestures: Just a flick of the hand to go forwards, backwards, close a page, minimize a pages, etc. I don't see how people can do without this.

How about you go to a web page that offer a set of big downloads. In IE you can only initiate three of the downloads and any further attempts will time out. Huh?

I easily have 20-40 web pages up simultaneously in Opera, try to do that in IE. If you manage to stop it from crashing, keeping track of all those windows is a major pain.

Of course IE is nowhere near as efficient as firefox and Opera, but a lot of people aren't out to maximize their efficiency. I've seen plenty people use max and photoshop without ever using a keyboard shortcut. You tell them how much faster shortcuts are and they just stare at you dumbly, like so what? Same with the Browser war: to some people more options just mean more confusion. MoP doesn't have time for this crap, he's got to focus on staying buff and looking sharp, so stop wasting his time. You-all insensitive person-people.

I'm viewing this forum in IE, i can see evertthing in the forum.. so aparently IE is working fine, when i come here and I can't view it, then i'll switch.

not being able to rt click on a image is not IE's fault, its the way the page is made to not alow it, i'm sure if people wanted to they could make it where opera or firefox could not do it either, its just not worth the hassle to keep the 2% of your viewers a day from stealing your junk

What MoP said.

In Opera you can click+hold+quickdrag on any image and it will open just that img with url at the bottom on it's own page.

Also highlight any text, R-click on it and you can Google (or 4 other engines)it or Dictionary or Encyclopedia it instantly

But Opera still dosen't display most pages 100% correct
Brain Fart- Ignorant Exploiter [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I'm a big opera fan.

I think one of the main reasons for me to switch was that I was having a lot of trouble fitting all my running windows on my taskbar.
Once I got it I got immediatly hooked on gestures and tabs. There's just no going back.

Firefox is also an alternative as most things Opera has it can get but I prefer Opera's UI.

Per: Yes, totally. *buff*

Sinc eI do web dev stuff, I have Opera, IE, Mozilla, an old netscape and Firefox all installed. When IE 6 came out I was a devotee- I had loved IE from 5 upwards when Netrscape became shite.

THese days I'm Firefox all the way, but Opera is a much better browser than IE.

But I understand that most poeple dont care, and to be honest, for the casual home user all browsers do the same job.

However, there is a new free Productivty Pack out from Microsoft. Its got games, Google for the program bar, a paypal link in the systray etc. When you go the site in Firefox you cant download it. You have to go to the site in IE to get the software.

i've been using Firefox for around 2months or so now and like it alot. true its not that much different that IE but i like it better. only have a few problems with Firefox, mostly when Firefox crashes it takes the entire cache of websites with it, so i have to wait for every website i visit to reload. when IE crashed it only took the cache from that day oh well...

go tabbed browsing! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Opera at Home, Firefox at work.

Opera has the edge for me with mouse gestures, and no wierd 6 second delay when I try to save an image (Firefox locks up for about 6 seconds while it saves even the tiniest image for some reason). Both are better for me than IE merely because of the tabbed browsing. I fucking hate having a bunch of tasks on my taskbar that are ultimately the same fucking program. It drove me crazy when Tins was using my machine for a few weeks and there's be like 5 IE windows there - she asked me not to close them, and like a good hubby I didn't, but it was hard work.

I have to use Firefox at workfor the most part, after we had some security issues with IE a few months back. It's OK, but that save delay annoys the hell out of me when I'm doing a reference run.