While it may seem I only use Opera, and while I like the browser quite a lot, I use the other browsers fairly extensively, either to test against websites, or just for the sake of testing. Some browsers, like Opera and Firefox require a lot of quality time spent with them to make them behave properly and to get to know them well. Browsers like Chrome and Safari are just speedy little buggers right out of the box. Internet Explorer is a slow and bloaty thing with the basics installed, and not much quality time needed.
With the amount of time that I spend on the internet each day I would lose too much time to use a browser that slows it down with, say, 2 seconds for each page in general, maybe tons more if you’re using Internet Explorer, so finding the one that is the fastest to browse with is important to me.
Speeds gotten from the rendering and javascript engines of the various browsers can be found here. Keep in mind they don’t say anything about the streamlined and quick browsing that Opera and Firefox gives through i.e. Mouse Gestures (Opera built in, Firefox here), Speed Dial (Opera built in, Firefox here) and Opera Link (Opera built in, Firefox here, Chrome has something akin to it, Safari built in).
Opera is sort of like the Swiss Army knife, or Leatherman, of browsers out there today. It’s starting to fall behind in speed, feeling more and more sluggish compared to alternatives like Chrome, which feels absolutely astonishing. It’s got a ton of useful features though, and while Chrome is faster it doesn’t have half the features that Opera’s got. Still my primary choice.
Firefox is the Lego house you can add stuff to as much as you want, but will add a lot of bulk, and will make generic browsing slow down considerably. Sluggish and slow, it’s sort of between Internet Explorer and Opera in usability, even with a tonne of addons to support it.
Safari and Chrome are the rockets. They’re fast as hell, but they pretty much just go straight forward as of today. Chrome is my second choice in browsers, Safari not so much for some reason. These two win a lot for their lack of a title bar and Chrome for it’s colours being pleasant.
Internet Explorer is the fat old man all the ignorant kids believe is Santa Clause.
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