Five Major Browsers Benchmarked

The WebDevelopment blog 6Revisions.com recently published an interesting infograph with the results of the benchmarking they performed on all five major browsers (Mozilla Firefox 3.5, Google Chrome 3.0, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0, Opera 10.0, and Apple Safari 4.0), measuring JavaScript speed, average CPU usage under stress, DOM selection, CSS rendering speed, page load time, and browser cache performance. Full article here.

Google Chrome 3, Faster, Smarter and Customizable

A few days ago Google announced the release of the third version of their flagship application: the Google Chrome browser.

New version highlights

• Speed: Chrome 3 remains the fastest browser to launch from the desktop, and in this new version it is supposed to run javascript 25% faster with a better handling of rich internet applications.


• Better New Tab page: The New Tab page has always been one of the best features from Chrome and on this version it has been redesigned and contains new features. It now allows you to rearrange the thumbnails, stick them to a particular position to preserve them even if you change your browsing habits, and even hide parts of the page that you do not wish to see.


• Improved Omnibox: The address bar with search capabilities has been tweaked to add icons to your websites allowing you to easily identify them.


• HTML 5 Support: Getting ready for the next generation of internet applications, Chrome just added new HTML 5 capabilities, such as the "video", "audio" and "canvas" tags.


• Themes: Following the steps of its main competitors, Google has been working on the customization side of Chrome, and it now allows you to install skins and theme your browser. Check out the theme gallery for samples.

If you are a customization junkie like me, you would have noticed that this and all the previous Chrome versions lack one big important feature: EXTENSIONS. If this is what keeps you from using Chrome as your default browser, you might want to check out the open source project Chromium which is shaping up quite well.

Firefox 3.7 to Improve UI and Visual Effects

Long before the release of Firefox 3.5, developers at Mozilla were already working on v3.6, v3.7 and even 4.

In the next 2 updates of Firefox (3.6 and 3.7) we are going to see several interface improvements, being the most impressive the addition of Vista/W7 Aero effects. Check the screenshot below for a sneak peek:



As you can see not only the Aero effects have been activated. XP and non-Aero users are going to see improvements too, since this version also features several changes in the buttons positioning, menus and tabs navigation.

Visit the Firefox UI discussion page to see the UI changes as it progresses.

There is also some interesting progress, although still experimental, being worked on Firefox 4. It seems the designers are trying to implement a Chrome-like tabset. Take a look at the mockups, but keep in mind, these are mockups! and not the definitive look of Firefox 4.

Download IE8 or the Kitten Dies

It is a well known fact that Microsoft is losing ground in the web browsers market, specially in Europe where the laws are harder against the monopoly.

This plus the fact that the worldwide acclaimed Firefox has been capturing MS users since about 2004 when the 1.0 version was out. Back in 2005 Firefox had about 4% of the users around the world, and that number constantly increased to 13% in 2006, and 16% in 2007. Then Chrome appeared only to make the market even a bit more diverse.

As of today the statistics are mixed depending on who elaborates them, and where are they tracked. Net Applications Market Share says:

1. Internet Explorer: 65.85%
   
2. Firefox: 22.39%
3. Chrome: 1.74%

(Source: Wikipedia - Usage share of web browsers).
Check the link for other sources.
I edited this post due to wrong statistics. Thanks Daniel for clarification.

Internet Explorer 8 has been around for a few months now and since Microsoft already has bad numbers with the 7th version, they are beginning to do weird things to get people to install IE on their machines.

Browser for the Better

Browser for the Better is a Microsoft charity campaign that states that for every download of IE8 made through the website: http://www.browserforthebetter.com/index-htm.html, 8 meals will be donated to the organization Feeding America.

They were honest enough to explain below in small letters that the "8 meals" are for illustrative purposes only, and they will actually donate 1.15USD to that organization per download (because as we all know, in the US you can buy 8 meals with 1.15 bucks). Also it looks like tracking the downloads through the official MS website is an unattainable quest, because they will only donate money if you download through browserforthebetter.com, if you get IE8 from the MS page or through Windows Update, forget about the donation.

Dig up the treasure!

Now this is a funny one, they put somewhere in the internet a hidden element that is only viewable through IE8, and if you see it, you get 10.000 USD. Wouldn't it better to donate those 10 grand to Feeding America? I would have downloaded it!

Lets tell some lies...

Now MS created a get-the-facts website that shows you what are the IE8's "benefits" over the other browsers. I am afraid that one day they will get serious and remove this joke, so just in case this link gets removed or obsolete, I took a screenshot of it.

Videos

Well we can't deny that MS has more money than Google and Mozilla so they can spend a bit more money on their marketing campaign, just look up in Youtube the IE8 ads and you will see pretty much the same things that I wrote here but in film format.

What's next?

I can see it coming:

Come on Microsoft! You have the resources, spend some money on improving your browser, marketing can wait.