Is internet explorer 8 worth downloading?

wizk1

Duarte_Fonseca wrote: »

yeah firefox is best but it IE 8 is not too bad compared to IE6 and7.

Hmmm, choosing an IE is like choosing between syphilis, gonorrhea and herpes in my opinion

Marty_J

Chipping wrote: »

It might be worthwhile here to point out that versions of Opera are the most popular Internet browsers in the world on mobile phones and PDA's.

Given that the iPhone and iPod Touch dominate web traffic on mobile devices (in the US, they have a 40% lead over their nearest competitor, RIM), I'm not sure that's totally accurate.

It might be on more devices, but I'd hardly call it the "most popular" if it's used less often. I think I even have a couple of old phones lying around at the bottom of a drawer with Opera Mobile on them.

Duarte_Fonseca

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Use Chrome it's quick and efficient

both chrome and IE8 styles are almost same. the css style of firefox and ie/chrome are different.

wizk1

Duarte_Fonseca wrote: »

both chrome and IE8 styles are almost same. the css style of firefox and ie/chrome are different.

ie and chrome are not the same though. they couldn't be more different. Seeing as chrome uses the webkit rendering engine and IE uses Trident.

aliEnRIK

I installed IE8 just 2 days ago. The odd thing was that on rebooting ALL settings were lost (Even firefox was back to if id just installed it). It was as if a brand new profile had been created - documents were doubles up too (ie - two PICTURES, 2 MUSIC folders etc)

On reboot (After removing the extra folders), it was ok again.

But then a microsoft update put me on a blank profile again Hopefully its gone for good now

-TangleFoot-

Chipping wrote: »

Whats bad: its not compatible with some websites designed for IE7 or IE6 - if you must access them you will have to revert back to IE7 or IE6.

anewhope wrote: »

That's what Compatibility Mode is for (the broken page icon to the right of the address bar). You do not need to revert back to a previous version.

Indeed. Refer to this for detailed instructions on its use.

Jaffa.

GKWelding wrote: »

The only addon I run (and I only run this when I'm developing) is firebug, I never need any other addons. It seems to run particulaly slowly when you have multiple firefox windows open. You can have as many tabs open as you like and it runs ok, but as soon as you have more than 1 window open it kills the CPU.

It's not a good program, is it...

Chipping

I think this thread is to help OP (and others), who may not know or care much about browsers but just want to be able to browse without hassle (explaining why OP's still using IE6). We've had plenty of suggestions now of other browsers and pros and cons; I don't think it will help the OP to continue with that (IMHO).

CHOICE OF OTHER BROWSERS
The OP should now have an idea of the ones they can try out instead of using IE. To summarise; the main alternatives to IE are Firefox and Safari, and there are others such as Google Chrome and Opera. Firefox has the largest market share apart from IE, and Chrome is becoming v.popular (IMO). All the browsers suggested (including all versions of IE) have minor problems but they all will be perfectly fine most of the time.

Personal preference of the style of the browser (how you work with it) and its performance on your particular system have a lot to do with choosing a browser. The answer is to try them. Installing/uninstalling them is easy (getting used to them may take a little longer).

INTERNET EXPLORER
Unfortunately, you don't have a choice (on Windows) to get rid of IE because Microsoft have forced it to be part of the operating system (un-necessarily). IE6 is no longer any good by all accounts. So you should install IE7 or IE8. Personally I would install IE7 first then IE8 at a later time. This way, if you have problems with IE8 you can revert to IE7 (and not IE6). As with any microsoft upgrade there might be problems (see blogs.computerworld.com/heres_why_ie8_crashes).

MY EXPERIENCE
I have used IE6, IE7, Firefox and Opera. They were all OK in usability for me, but I prefer Opera (although, I did find IE to be slower). I hope to try Safari and Chrome at some point (time permitting).

I won't add any more on the discussion, except, I will respond to those who commented on my original post.

Chipping

anewhope wrote: »

That's what Compatibility Mode is for (the broken page icon to the right of the address bar). You do not need to revert back to a previous version.

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Indeed. Refer to "//support.microsoft.com/kb/956197" for detailed instructions on its use.

Thanks for posting.:beer:

I accept that this function is meant to overcome compatibility issues with web sites designed for IE7. Microsoft are also releasing hotfixes via AutoUpdate that download into IE8 lists of websites they have found to be incompatible with it (which means that these sites will automatically use Compatibility View). Interestingly, but off-topic, the incompatible sites include 'microsoft.com', 'google.com', 'yahoo.com' and thousands more (see here '//blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2072' and here 'support.microsoft.com/?kbid=961813'). However, because Microsoft say that this function will fix all compatibility issues does not make it so; they have vast sums of money riding on this issue.

There may still be sites that won't work in Compatibility View. Many people at work still use IE6 and they use specially developed corporate applications that work only with IE6. These applications are not going to be re-developed overnight. The reason I mentioned compatibility as a 'con' for IE8 was that if someone uses one particular special site a lot, or it is essential, and that site does not work in IE8, then they will HAVE to revert back to IE6.

I agree that this is not likely to affect the vast majority of users, so I should not have given it such prominence (I will edit my original post).

Sorry can't post links yet.:o

Chipping

Marty_J wrote: »

Given that the iPhone and iPod Touch dominate web traffic on mobile devices (in the US, they have a 40% lead over their nearest competitor, RIM), I'm not sure that's totally accurate.

It might be on more devices, but I'd hardly call it the "most popular" if it's used less often. I think I even have a couple of old phones lying around at the bottom of a drawer with Opera Mobile on them.

Although this is now going off topic, I mentioned this to try to show that Opera is not as rubbish as a previous poster implied. I admit I may have gone a bit too far - have edited my original post.