Firefox vs. Chrome: Who Browses Best?
No matter which of the many internet service providers you choose, you’re going to need the right browser to take advantage of advances in high speed performance. The two main contenders in the Internet Explorer alternative fight are Mozilla’s open source Firefox and Google’s sleek Chrome. Are these two major players in a game of inches, or does one outmatch the other?
Appearance
Chrome definitely impresses with its trademark minimalist look. All the usual taskbar options are collected under a single wrench icon on the right. This cleans up a lot of the clutter present with the usual menu bar. Tabs are even tucked away at the top of the window. A no-nonsense approach is definitely Google’s forte and it definitely works here. Chrome gets you right to the internet with no frills and distractions.
Firefox is more usual in its presentation, though not unappealing. There are many ways to customize the vanilla appearance by downloading different themes and skins, but if you use Firefox out of the box there’s not much different than IE, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s simply may not be as punchy as Chrome.
Usability
Google promoted Chrome on the strength of its fast loading speed, and it doesn’t disappoint. In technical terms, Chrome should be a resource hog. Chrome runs on a main executable process for the whole program and tabs run on their own smaller processes. This means that every Chrome tab is like its own little program. Even so, Chrome runs smoothly and swiftly, even opening and tabbing with little delay on a year-old netbook.
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At its base state with no add-ons, Firefox theoretically uses much less memory. There is a wrinkle to this point, though. Firefox has been notorious for memory leaks, causing the browser to use much more memory to run than should be necessary. Even with no add-ons used, a Firefox process is in danger of eating up all your power. It doesn’t matter which of the internet service providers gives you the best speed; if your browser runs slow you might as well be on dial-up. In actual feel of use, Chrome edges this one forward.
Compatibility
For the most part, Chrome and Firefox are tied in this area. It’s extremely rare to find a site that does not run or runs poorly on either browser. Flash and HTML5 ran quite well on both browsers. This is no surprise, as both companies have worked hard to be as compatible with websites as IE is.
Extras and Add-ons
In terms of volume, Firefox has this category beat. Mozilla prides itself in supporting open-source programming and the fleet of add-ons for its Firefox product. Chrome is catching up but is nowhere near as robust in add-on support. On top of this, some add-ons they share don’t work quite as well on Chrome as they do on Firefox. Chrome does support apps that run in the browser and payments for apps and add-ons, clearly aiming to be a new operating system in a browser. Google is even pushing this with a free copy of Angry Birds available to all users. Even so, Firefox pulls ahead in this category.
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Overall
While close in many respects, Chrome may be the better choice for users across all internet service providers. Firefox is not a bad choice, but Chrome’s style and usability bring it to the top. In addition, Firefox’s memory problems make it slightly harder to recommend over its counterpart.
