Firefox: My Internet Browser of Choice

Browser Choices
The most common web browser is that of Internet Explorer. The blue E is recognizable anywhere, and Microsoft does all it can to ensure you are accessing the net via IE by including it as the default browser for Windows operating systems and providing previous versions for Mac. The current version available is IE7 best known for the added tab option (similar to firefox). Another common option from days past is Netscape, but after several years, the majority of users have moved on. Mac operating systems feature Safari as its default browser; it has also undergone several updates throughout the years for Apple. Whereas these three browsers focused primarily on a specific operating system, new browsers developed as cross-platform browsers allowing users to use their browser on a variety of systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) The most popular are Mozilla Firefox and Opera.

To learn more about the history and popularity of these web browsers, see Wikipedia article: Internet browsers.

Advantages of Firefox
Firefox is most praised for being a cross-platform browser and for having open source code. Firefox allows for users to create add-ons, extensions, which generate endless possibilities for the personalization of the browser. Toolbars and bookmarks are easy to customize and share. Tabbing organizes several open pages in one window keeping the screen uncluttered. Because Firefox ranks second in most common used browser (behind IE), most web tools, pages, software work flawlessly. Greasemonkey is my favorite extension; it allows for several small scripts to be added and managed for specific web pages (like Flickr).

To learn more about Firefox and its amazing features or to download, see Mozilla Firefox's site: Firefox 2.

To learn more about Greasemonkey, see Wikipedia article: Greasemonkey or to install (after Firefox is installed) see: Firefox Add-ons: Greasemonkey.

My personalization of Firefox
With the toolbars, I changed around my Google search options, used the Google Toolbar Button Gallery to find the perfect assortment of buttons and removed all text, added page tools, and set up the auto-fill feature. When I started organizing my bookmarks, I took advantage of the bookmark toolbar and added all my daily links without the names just leaving the icons. I also set up my gmail account to be refreshed from my toolbar.

After downloading and installing Firefox, opening the browser will link to pages that can help set up all your preferences and search for add-ons and extensions to better your internet experience. If you already use Firefox, but want to check out your options, see Customize Firefox.

I really recommend checking out some of the sites for more, detailed information about browsers and what Firefox can do for you. In all fairness, I must add that I decided to download Opera as well to see how other features can change my routine.

Hope this post helped explain how Firefox has become my gateway to the world wide web and how others can use it to enhance their internet experience.