What's In A Web Browser Anyways? Back To The Basics.
Whenever I write a post about techonology and mention using Firefox or Safari I get emails and comments with the following questions:
- What is Firefox?
- I can't use Firefox because I have to use IE for my MLS.
- Why do you say you use Firefox and Safari?
- I want to use Firefox but it is just a habit to use IE.
So let's go over some basics:
When you buy a windows PC you get IE- Internet Explorer.
When you buy an Apple computer it comes preloaded with Safari.
Whether you have an Apple or a PC; you can download FREE Firefox web browser, you can have Safari on a PC also.
There are many other browsers out there for you to choose from.
These are all Internet Browsers.
You use these programs to browse, search or use the Internet.
You can have more than one browser on your computer at the same time.
In fact you can have more than one browser open on your computer at the same time.
For instance: you can have IE opened up and be on your MLS and have Firefox open in another window for gmail or Google documents and you can have Safari open to be surfing on the internet.
You can also have tabs open in Firefox; lots of them without slowing down your computer.
So what do we use and why:
We joined the Mac world in the last few months so we use Safari a lot now.
But before we got our Apple computers we had PCs and this is what you can do to get the best browser experience:
Set the Firefox browser as your default browser.
That means that whenever you go on the internet you will automatically open Firefox.
When you need to get on the MLS you will click on the IE Icon and Internet Explorer will open.
When you are finished using the MLS, close out of IE.
Unless you are a really heavy gamer you do not need IE for anything other than MLS.
Firefox is a much safer browser. The new version is lightning fast!
You will get used to the speed that Firefox browses the internet and will wonder what took you so long to get Firefox. You can also save all your tabs when you log out of Firefox. There are so many features, too many to list. Just go to their website and read all about it.
The next best part about Firefox is all the great add-ons.
I wrote a post about managing your social online life with Yoono, a Firefox Add-on.
I have Colorful Tabs- and add on that lets me see all my tabs clearly and I have lots of tabs on!
Then there is the Read It Later add-on that I wrote a post about here.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of Add-ons that developers make to use with Firefox.
Hope this helps!
FTC Disclosure: I am not an employee of any of the browsers, I am not an affiliate of any of the browsers or add-ons. I do not make any money explaining how to use these programs. I may get a thank you from the company. I may get more subscribers to my blog because of sharing great information I find on the internet. At this time these are all free add ons however since I don't know any of their marketing plan I do not know nor can not know if they ever plan to monetize their tools. I am only sharing my experience with these tools.
What's In A Web Browser Anyways? Back To The Basics by Coach Katerina Gasset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset- Realtors®, CIPS, ABR, SFR, GRI, REOS
Now this is back to basics and we thank you for a clear concise explanation!
I've tried Firefox twice before and both times reverted back to IE - can't even remember why now - maybe it did have to do with the mls -you can keep both? hmm maybe i should check it out again...?
Hi Katerina ~ I use Firefox to figure out no-follow / do-follow links but aside from that I find it very confusing and haven't liked using it. If I knew what I was doing maybe I would feel differently but for now I open it up only as an adjunct. I had to quickly figure out how *not* to have it as my default browser - I really don't like tabs and have never understood the need for them - I find windows much easier to manage.
Perhaps an idea for a webinar - Using Firefox....
Liz
Katerina--you are right on !! I do the same as you, I have Firefox set as my default browser, and use I-google as my home page. Loads of features there also.
Wow, great explanation of what a browser is and how it all works. I love firefox and it is my preferred browser, but do have IE for MLS only. No safari yet, but maybe in the future. I am forwarding this blog on to my mom...she has the hardest time understanding the whole browser thing, and you have explained it perfectly, THANKS!
Katerina,
I tried it and really did not like it. It is sitting on the computer but I never use it. Not sure I would. Like IE
Your always there for us .. i know that this must have taken up a lot of your time and I truly appreciate it. I am in the market for a new computer and I'm looking at the firefox since it will help me do more for my client...
I'll bookmark your post and make sure that I review it once I have my computer on hand...
thanks again..
Hi Katerina...again another great informative Post.
Thanks !
Maybe if you don't like Firefox, you are just used to IE. The security issues with IE really took me away from IE in the first place. Firefox even checks each website before you go to it to alert you if it is not a safe site. There is even an add on that I have on Firefox that tells me if the website I am going to is in another country and what country it is in. This helps a lot when you are shopping online and such.
IE is very slow but if that is what you know, I suppose you don't know you can surf the web faster. :) I have issues with Microsoft products to begin with. I don't use Word, Excel or any Microsoft products for a long time now. Of course, now we have macs so we use Apple software which IMHO is far superior and user friendly that Microsoft. But before I had my macs, I used OPEN OFFICE and GOOGLE DOCUMENTS; which we still use both of those.
I took your advice a while back and love Firefox. Our MLS is only IE compatible now but I hear that might change. Hope so! The MLS committee in charge of that says that is their biggest complaint, being IE only.
Katerina, I use Firefox and IE both. mainly Firefox. But of course our MLS only runs on IE so I always have that browser open as well. I'm fairly new to Firefox so haven't really played with it much. I guess I need to.
Dick and Dixie- We complain to our mls too. They said that their vendor told them it is also the #1 complaint and that they will be Firefox friendly by the end of 2010.
Katerina,
I guess some of us simply like different things. I remember Open Office, and I ran from it. Funny how it is.
Thanks Katerina! We are PC based (my husband was with Intel for 24 years), but my son has been trying to talk me into using Firefox forever!