Chrome vs Firefox Review – The Browser Battle

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Chrome vs Firefox - The Browser Battle

In today’s digital world, the wide availability of high speed internet requires the use of an equally adequate browser. Modern browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, are built to take advantage of the latest web technology and maximize its full potential. The following compares the features and capabilities of both browsers.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox version 5, boasts more speed and better use of system memory. It is quicker to start up and stays stable after running for a while, a big improvement over version 4. When tested against Chrome and Opera for start-up time, it beat both by a large margin. Firefox also consumed only 225MB memory when running 10 tabs with resource intensive features.

Firefox 5 looks basically the same as version 4, which brought better support for the Aero theme in Windows Vista and 7.

Security was also beefed up in Firefox by the addition of Do Not Track, a feature that prevents web sites from tracking a visitor. There is some debate as to how useful this feature is, however, it is sure to appeal to security conscious types.

Web standards such as HTML5, SMIL, canvas and XHR have improved support in Firefox 5. The browser also has a web based building environment called Firefox Add-On Builder which is a very attractive feature for the development crowd. Currently, Firefox 5 has the top support of open web standards.

Firefox 6 was silently released yesterday as part of its new “rapid release” schedule. Major new features are minimal. But that’s not to say Firefox 6 brings nothing to us. In fact, a look at its complete change-log reveals a total of 1,300 changes and fixes!

Firefox 6 seems slightly faster in performance than its preceding versions.

One of the changes that users may notice include URL highlighting, which, like Internet Explorer 9 and Google Chrome, shows the domain name in darker font than the rest of a page’s address.

There is also improved security features and tweaks, such as Advanced site security block and site-specific permissions. “A new permissions manager, accessible by typing ‘about:permissions‘ in the address bar, lets users set site-specific permissions to control acceptance of cookies, location sharing, pop-ups, and password and data storage!.

Below is the list of changes in Firefox 6:

  • The address bar now highlights the domain of the website you’re visiting
  • Streamlined the look of the site identity block
  • Added support for the latest draft version of WebSockets with a prefixed API
  • Added support for EventSource / server-sent events
  • Added support for window.matchMedia
  • Added Scratchpad, an interactive JavaScript prototyping environment
  • Added a new Web Developer menu item and moved development-related items into it
  • Improved usability of the Web Console
  • Improved the discover-ability of Firefox Sync
  • Reduced browser startup time when using Panorama
  • Fixed several stability issues
  • Fixed several security issues

Click here to see the complete list of changes in Firefox 6. There is major update coming from firefox due in about 6 weeks, so stayed tuned for that.

Firefox is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It also has a clone called Palemoon, which is optimized for Windows.

Google Chrome

The Chrome browser, now in its 13th incarnation, continues to wow web professionals and casual surfers alike. It scores top marks in security and performance, and many users appreciate its minimalist interface. Chrome was the first and is still the only browser to feature the Omnibox, where web addresses and search strings are typed in the same place.

Chrome is easy to install and is up and running in under a minute, in most cases. It is zippy from a cold start and maintains stability with multiple tabs through tab process isolation. It also has a Flash player built in and native support for PDF.

New in Chrome 13 is Chrome Instant, which loads either a web page from the user’s history or shows search results when a web address is typed. The page will be fully loaded even before the address is completed. This is a major factor in Chrome’s overall speed and efficiency.

Chrome’s tab management is impressive as well. The new tab page features thumbnails of most visited pages and web apps. Tabs themselves are managed so that when one crashes, it doesn’t bring down the entire browser. This alone can increase productivity for most users, especially on high speed internet.

Chrome is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Chromium is the source code and is available for anyone who wishes to build on it.

Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are both excellent browsers that support the modern web well. There is no clear winner in this browser war; it all comes down to the needs of the user. Chrome may have a bit of an advantage for developers with its great support of HTML5, while Firefox may appeal to those who wish to have a better and more secure browsing experience. It is up to the user to decide.

Chrome vs Firefox, Your Thoughts?

Most people would have both on their systems, and that surely would be a good idea! So which one do you prefer? whats your reasoning behind using it? Sure, We would love to hear from you 🙂

Note: Photo courtesy of brucknerite via FlickR Creative Commons.

12 Comments
  1. Rahul Rao says

    I can’t believe some people are actually saying that Firefox 4-5 is worst than IE 9! I am updating my firefox right now to firefox 6, didn’t know it got released already! Thanks for the heads up!

  2. Pasha says

    OK, but Forget FIREFOX! it is not what it used be, as a matter of fact it isn’t even close to what it used to be ‘A Good, Fast and Safe Web Browser’. Now its just on road to becoming another Internet explorer.. I have long ago switched to Chrome. Its a hell of alot better then the others!

  3. Trixie says

    I will still go with Chrome, I used Firefox before but basing on web experience. Firefox loads slower than chrome and needs additional add ons to make it look better.

  4. Zain says

    My vote will go to Firefox. It is and would be the best choice for me as a web developer. chrome is just a good alternative as a web browser.

  5. Ahmed Najib says

    Firefox is the browser of my choice…………………..and the 6th update makes it so much more snappier,it can be customized extensively and also sum pages are still not that compatible with chrome………..if u r going just for speed chrome makes an awesome alternative but if u want that balance between speed,stability and customization….I have to say Firefox all the way 😀

  6. Anil Baba says

    Chrome is 100x times more faster, safer and can be customized even more than firefox. Have you heard of that event that was held to find the safest browser? every browser got hacked/exploited, but chrome was in the lead.

    The bottom line is, you know Chrome is better but you can’t accept the undeniable truth infront you. Firefox has been copying from Chrome lately if you haven’t noticed.

    Chrome is a better browser for browsers too, it is supporting alot of the new technologies that firefox doesn’t.

    Firefox is slow in every part; and soon it will be so far behind that it will be impossible for it to catch up with Chrome.

    It’s fate will be that of Netscape from which Firefox Evolved and soon… Dissolve.

  7. Alex says

    Mozilla have a lot of catching up to do as regards CSS3, but they’re not far behind. Also, you can’t beat Firefox for extensibility. I just can’t live without my Firefox Addons, but if I disabled them I have a feeling that the the speed differences between FF6 and Chrome would be negligible.

    1. Zubair says

      I couldn’t agree more! The biggest reason i’ve seen people having slow firefox browsers is due to them having wide array of firefox addons installed.

      Firefox has become very popular and the number of addons in its repository is getting huge. You can get a firefox addon for just about anything.

  8. Rodrigo says

    I currently use Firefox as my default browser, but this version race is pissing me off. As with everything else, I feel like Firefox is trying to be a Chrome clone (but without the data spying, at least). Chromium (not Chrome) seems to be a good alternative nowadays.

  9. Ramesh says

    I’m using both – Firefox and Google Chrome on a Linux based OS (Ubuntu), Firefox is slower then Google Chrome, but it becomes extremely slow – if I use more than three add-ons or any toolbars such as Google Toolbar. That’s why I prefer chrome for browsing but Firefox for experiments. 🙂

  10. Bulk SMS Reseller says

    I’m not really a technical person but, I use both Firefox and chrome. they have different sets of extensions that I can use so i try to switch from time to time.

  11. Web Hosting in Pakistan says

    Firefox is superb! The only thing that makes it irritating is the load. Chrome is much more faster.

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