Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 has been around since 2001. At that time, Internet Explorer 6 was one of a kind, and for most of us, it was the way we got on the web. Today however, it is beginning to show its age.

Microsoft’s web browser has been preinstalled on computers since the day it was released. For some people it’s standard at their office because their IT department doesn’t see a need for the new browser. What if I told you that IE6, as it’s commonly referred to, is keeping you from experiencing much of the internet web pages that are being built today.

Shire Interactive, while not dropping the support/development for IE6 completely, is collaborating with a group of people online to say ‘no more IE6’. This step will be beneficial to many people in many ways. These benefits include: shorter web site development time (which saves our clients money), more creative design and functionality choices due to newer and higher browser standards, as well as shorter loading times for the user. We feel that by encouraging people to upgrade their web browsers, and support the new wave of choices, your web presence and your web experience will be better.

At Shire Interactive, we believe in empowering our clients with information they can use both personally and professionally. Let’s explore the browser options together, so you can decide which is the best fit for you and your company.

We’ll begin with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. You may be saying to yourself at this point, “What happened to 7?!.”
Internet Explorer 7 was Microsoft’s stepping-stone between the outdated IE6 and the fuller, richer experience that IE8 offers. Internet Explorer 8 is better choice to be using simply because it aligns with a larger scope of web standards. The pro side of IE8 include: faster web experience than previous iterations, tabbed browsing, clean/familiar user interface to IE6 or 7 and compliant to web standards for better website development. Internet Explorer is still a familiar household name and sometimes, staying with what you know can be good. IE8 is still a Microsoft product and for many of it’s past browsers the same faults reign true. IE8 is considered one of the more memory consuming browsers (be prepared for some slow down on your computer), it also doesn’t always play by the web standard rules set by the W3C and can sometimes break web pages that would otherwise appear correctly.

Mozilla’s Firefox is another popular browser which boasts quickness which will not slow down your computer, and the most stability of any of the other browsers. Firefox also includes tabbed browsing for viewing multiple web pages or saving something to read for later without having to bookmark it, a search bar built in (using your preferred search network), and is recognized as being more secure than Internet Explorer.

Apple’s Safari browser is a great browser in terms of speed. It is light weight and lightning fast and not much of a resource hog for the amount of speed you get with it. Safari may or may not be available for use on a PC computer because it was made for Macs, but there is a version of Safari that you can download and try. Safari also has some neat little tricks up its sleeve when it comes to printing web pages. Apple boast Safari as the Greenest Browser because of it’s recognition of pages and it’s ability to dynamically scale text before you print so that you don’t print a wasted sheet with only a sentence or two on it.

Google Chrome is a new contender in the ‘war on the web’. Made by Google it has tight integration with various Google Applications and also boasts quick speeds similar to that of Firefox. Google Chrome borrows a lot of its design and is on the same engine that runs Firefox. There are a lot of similarities to Firefox so preference will be the deciding factor here.

While it may seem that there are a lot of choices with Internet Browsers, the best way to see which fits you is to download and install each of them (there is no charge), if your computer system permits you to, and test them out for yourself. You could also read the “how-to’s” on each browser, or perhaps ask other people which browser they use and why. Feel free to call in to the Shire Interactive office and hear our thoughts and suggestions on which browser is best for you.