There is absolutely no question about it, if you are running, developing or writing for a website or blog, the only browser you should be using is Firefox.
The reason for this is very simple – there is a massive community of programmers and developers writing addons which make it much more than a browser. It becomes a major part of your online toolkit.
What can it do?
The default installation of Firefox is reputedly very secure and it’s much smoother and faster than the world’s most popular browser, Internet Explorer, but the real boon is the addons. With which you can take screen grabs of whole pages or a chosen section of a page, study and amend HTML and CSS code, post to Twitter, download multiple files at once, ftp content to a server, change the way Firefox looks, integrate the most popular social media websites, send instant messages, get weather reports, check broadband speeds, get help with WordPress as well as hundreds of other tasks you didn’t know you wanted a browser to do.
There are literally thousands of addons available on the Firefox website, all neatly seperated into the following categories:
- Alerts and Updates
- Appearance
- Dictionaries and Language Packs
- Download Management
- Feeds, News and Blogging
- Language Support
- Photos, Music and Video
- Plugins
- Privacy and Security
- Search Tools
- Social and Communication
- Tabs
- Themes
- Toolbars
- Web Development
- Other
At the time of writing, there are 387 plugins in the web development section alone.
A word of warning
Installing excessive addons can slow down your browser and seriously impede its performance. I have found it best to keep a fairly low number of Firefox addons installed at any one time. There is no need for me to check the weather or ftp files to the server (although these addons may come in useful if your are running a weather or travel website), however, I do need to make screenshots and I like to use the StumbleUpon! toolbar.
Choosing which addons you install will depend upon what you want to do. My best advice would be to have a look through the vast lists and read the associated reviews. Only install addons that will actually add value or save you time. Avoid addons which will only be used occasionally or are a bit gimmicky. I have found these tend to use more resources than is appreciated.
Once an addon has been installed, it can be unistalled at any time. Most addons also have a disable function so they can be switched off.
Tabbed browsing
Tabbed browsing was introduced by Firefox and has now been adopted by all of the major broswers. Gone are the days of opening multiple browsers to view a multiple websites at any one time (something I have always done and still do now – I currently have six tabs open, all related to research for this post).
Browser usage around the world
During the past few years Firefox has become an extremely popular browser because so much can be done with it. It has taken quite a large percentage of the browser market and it looks like the rise will continue for the foreseeable future. As Firefox is an open source browser, you do have to worry about security, which is another reason to be cautious when it comes to choosing addons.
The competition
The only real competitor is Google’s Chrome browser, but it will always lag behind unless a community similar to the one associated with Firefox is created. Internet Explorer will never be accepted by the tech community and whilst Opera is an extremely capable and very fast browser, it just doesn’t have the kudos Firefox or Chrome has. Flock is a recent addition to the browser market and is aimed at social media users. It is very functional and works on quite a few levels, but it has not been able to tempt me away from Firefox.
Related posts:
- AutoPager 0.3.0.3 plugin for Firefox
- Down Them All! – Firefox extension to manage file downloads
- How to test your website design or blog theme in multiple browsers
- Another attack warning for Internet Explorer
- Can’t login to Google AdSense?
- Twitbin – A neat Firefox plugin for Twitter
- How to Find Out Which Pages From a Website Have Been Stumbled
- Google Chrome open source browser released today
- The Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Interactions – A Simple Guideline
- Advice for Bloggers Who Get Easily Distracted (like me)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You’ve pinpointed many valid points as to why web developers should be using Firefox. Sometimes I wonder though – how much should we cater to browsers like Internet Explorer? Many people still use the browser. Do we cater to them as well, and feed the beast? Or do we leave them in the dust, but lose some compatibility. It’s a tough question to answer.
It would be great to ignore Explorer and leave it floundering in the dust. However, if you do so, you will be “cutting your nose off to spite your face”. You simply can’t ignore it, it is a beast that be must be fed if you are to gain traffic from a mainstream audience.
I try to encourage your average joe computer user to use Firefox, and have had some excellent feedback when it has been adopted as a default browser. Most people love the speed of it.