People jump online and use the internet every minute of the day, but I’ve found that many people do not actually realize which web browser they are using, the fact that there are more than one available to use, and what the advantages and disadvantages of each may be. The first thing I’ll convey is please realize that all web browsers are not created equally. This means it’s very possible that some things may work fine while using one browser but may not work at all using another. The more popular browsers these days include Google Chrome, Safari (for Mac users), Microsoft Edge (for Windows 10 users) and Mozilla Firefox. See current usage share of web browsers.

Cross Compatibility

Everyone should understand and recognize that web browsers are largely used to promote brand loyalty and are therefore developed to work best with the products of a particular company. For instance, if you are accessing a mailbox on the Office 365 platform you will get the best experience by using the Microsoft Edge browser. Similarly with using enterprise versions of Microsoft SharePoint. All of the features and capabilities built into SharePoint will work best or at all, when you access SharePoint using a Microsoft developed web browser like internet explorer or Microsoft Edge.

Native Functionality

There are some basic features that are considered standard and are very likely present in all web browsers. Features like bookmarks and bookmark bars, privacy and security settings and the ability to print and to open web pages in new tabs are all standard features of web browsers today. However there are other features that are more specific to one or the other and more designed to build brand loyalty. The ability to login to a browser and save all your settings so that they follow you from one device to the next is one example of a feature that seeks to build brand loyalty and in many cases does a good job at doing so.

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Browser Login

Users should be aware of the implications of using some features and understand the risks. For instance logging into a web browser like Google Chrome and allowing the default settings to remain in many cases will allow for the tracking of all of your internet browsing history, capture website passwords, and automatically login to websites you may have a username and password set up on across all devices that you login to the browser with. This can be very dangerous and can allow for someone to access your information who you may not intend to.

Google Chrome – Google Chrome is of course Google’s web browser. It is generally a fast loading web browser and works well across many platforms. It’s real power however is its tremendous integration with Google platforms like Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs and YouTube. It is also the only web browser available on Google Chromebook devices. If you’ve ever used a Google Chromebook you really get to see the power of this web browser on display through powerful use of plug-ins.

Mozilla Firefox – Mozilla Firefox is a favorite of mine just because of its sheer reliability. I’ve had many cases were other browsers just wouldn’t work and Mozilla did. Mozilla offers a suite of features and plug-ins that both empower and integrate well with the browser including spell checking, Smart Bookmarks, location aware browsing, also known as geolocation, and a search system that is integrated with Google by default. While it is reliable, it does tend to be a bit more resource intensive than Google Chrome.

Safari – Safari is the native web browser on all Apple products. It has heavy integration with Apple’s Icloud service and is Apple’s web-powered virtual assistant, Siri. Safari, just as many other browsers continues to get upgraded and as of the writing of this article is on version 11. See Cult of Mac’s review of Safari 11 here to learn about it’s rich feature set. For Apple product users it is only sensible to use Safari as your main browser however be aware that it may not be compatible with some things so it may be necessary to use another browser in those instances. See article here for those wondering about using Safari on a Windows system.

Microsoft Edge – Microsoft Edge is the default browser used on Windows devices. It is the redesigned and upgraded replacement web browser for internet explorer. As internet explorer was, any platform that is Microsoft-based will work better when accessed using the Microsoft Edge browser. The three big features are an integrated .pdf viewer, an integrated Adobe Flash Player and web page annotations that can be automatically saved in OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud file sharing capability.

There are certainly more browsers available to use than the ones I mentioned above. See review of Best Internet Browsers of 2018 here. No matter which browser you choose to use just do your best to understand it’s limitations and be open to using another if necessary. Happy browsing!