Is IE8 your default web browser?

If not, why not? I’ve heard them all (actually, I probably haven’t but it feels like I have :)). For the record here’s where I stand:

• IE8 – Installed on my laptop. Default browser. Used 99% of the time.
• Firefox 3.6 – Installed on my laptop. Used mainly for testing.
• Safari – Never (knowingly) installed it on any device.
• Opera – Never installed on my laptop. Installed on my Samsung Omnia phone as the default browser.
• Chrome – Tried it some time back. Failed to see what the fuss was about however I’ve recently installed Chrome 4 to check it out after hearing some good feedback from friends and colleagues

Why do I stand by IE8? Easy. It’s fast, it’s secure, it really has embraced standards, features like accelerators and search providers have me hooked (I kick myself whenever I find myself doing a manual address lookup), the developer tools are fantastic (and they’re always available as they’re an integral part of IE8) and of course, I work for Microsoft and anyone found using anything other than Microsoft technology receives “corrective coaching”.

It’s fast

Seriously, if your IE isn’t fast there’s a problem. If it’s slow to start or open a new tab, check you add-ons because it shouldn’t be. Try launching in “No Add-ons mode” from the Start menu as a quick test. People often talk about performance as benchmarking. I’m sure they’re right that browser abc can perform faster on JavaScript benchmark xyz but that’s only one part of the picture (in fact it’s only one part of the client picture which is only one part of the overall picture!).

In the real world, the performance differences across the different areas on the major browsers are tiny. This post about IE8 Performance from the IE Blog makes interesting reading. As does the (slightly irritating) IE8 Performance Testing video.

I did my own little experiment by clearing my cache and loading my blog 10 times in IE8 then in Firefox 3.5.7. IE8 won hands down. I mean by a mile. This surprised me. Then I realised Firefox was downloading an update :). Still, IE8 won by a mile when I’d updated. Then I realised that perhaps what I was using as my measure of “page loaded” wasn’t working as I expected in Firefox (Firefox was spending an age reading from Slideshare.net). So I started timing how long it took for my recent tweets to appear in the sidebar. There is nothing to choose between IE and Firefox. I’d have to capture the screen and frame count to separate them.

As an aside, I sat in awe in the MIX10 Keynote this morning where an early developer preview of IE9 was unveiled. IE9 has a new JavaScript engine, takes advantage of background JavaScript compilation and uses hardware accelerated rendering. The results are truly amazing. Watch the keynote video to see what I mean.

It’s secure

We made massive investments in IE8 security to be sure that IE8 would be the most secure browser straight out of the box. Secure by design and secure by default. In other words, security as paramount from the earliest stages and with a default set of features and configuration that maximises protection for users.

The much talked about NSS Labs testing of IE8, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera demonstrated just what a high level of protection IE8 provides. Yes the study was funded by Microsoft (NSS aren’t a charity after all – how else do these things get done) originally for internal use for the IE team to understand just how far they’d come. Turns out they’d come a long way, overtaken the competition in the process and were now glancing at them in their rear-view. Who wouldn’t opt to publish it given the results? I’d have favoured employing some trumpeters and a decent composer and having myself an IE fanfare but then nobody asked me.

It’s best friends with standards

We may have had our differences in the past. Standards even fell out with us for a bit while we were too busy playing with other toys but we came to our senses. IE and standards are new best friends and long may it continue. We even helped out with some of his homework we were so keen to get back on good terms with him.

Although other browsers have been quick to implement features of the HTML 5 working draft, we haven’t been simply spectating. In IE8 we implemented some features from the HTML 5 working draft. Features such as browser state (network connectivity), local storage, native JSON support, cross-domain requests etc. We’ve submitted a request to join the W3C SVG working group and we’re actively engaged in the debate around HTML5.

We’re serious about standards and committed to helping define them and test conformance to them as well as implement them in our products. That’s a big change and one that many people either fail or refuse to acknowledge.

Features

Where should I start? There’s tonnes of stuff and I’m sure I haven’t explored it all yet. I love the convenience of accelerators and the simplicity of the new search capabilities. The SmartScreen filter is a powerful new security measure incorporating both anti-phishing and anti-malware defences, zooming support is much improved and of course it’s just far more stable than previous versions.

And, of course, there’s the built-in dev tools…

Developer Tools

Just fantastic. I’m a huge fan and they’re unique in that they’re part of the browser install so any machine with IE8 has the developer tools available. The IE8 Developer Tools offer a rich HTML, CSS and JavaScript debugging environment for you to work with. For monitoring HTTP traffic (one thing the Developer Tools wont do) I use Fiddler, a free, powerful HTTP debugging proxy.

Try it

Go on. Give it a shot for a bit and see what you think.Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. :)

Comments

• Anonymous
  March 16, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 16, 2010
  It is hard to say for me what my default browser is.  It would have to be between IE8 and Chrome.  I disabled all the foolishness of warning me when I open a browser that isn't my default and I have both of them on my Windows 7 bar. I see how you like the IE Accelerators, but they bug me. It isn't that I don't like them, but the accelerator I try to use most isn't on the list.  They forgot the copy to clipboard accelerator. I wouldn't want to count the number of times I select something, see the accelerator pop-up, and naturally get attracted to it to try to copy to the clipboard. It may be that the idea of the accelerators are to make it so you don't need to copy to the clipboard, but I find myself clicking them to try to copy to the clipboard, find that copy to clipboard isn't an option.  Then I click off of the little pop-up to see my selection disappear.  Then I have to reselect and hit ctrl-c or right click and choose copy. They are a cool idea, but missing the most important item on the list.  And I know you can find other custom accelerators, but I never want to go to that trouble while I am just trying to copy text.

• Anonymous
  March 16, 2010
  It's the Adblock that makes me use Firefox... With that it's just nicer on teh web!

• Anonymous
  March 17, 2010
  Ie8 is my default browser but only because I need to be for developing in vs2008.  I use chrome because I prefer  it, its fast and it has some plugins I use.

• Anonymous
  March 17, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 22, 2010
  I use Firefox purely for firebug, IE8 dev tools are better than IE7 but are still clunky... as for speed, there's no comparison, IE8 is the slowest of the bunch (even with most addons disabled)

• Anonymous
  March 29, 2010
  I'd switch to IE8 if I could stop it fading out most of the URL in the address bar.  I want to clearly see everything that's there, not just the core domain.

• Anonymous
  April 05, 2010
  I use Opera 90% and IE8 10%. Opera is fast and user friendly. Unlike Firefox Opera has most of the important features included. And please: don't use Adblock. You are killing the web. Can you imagine: websites made by amateurs, websites where you have to pay to be able to see the content...