Why does anyone still use Internet Explorer?
One benefit of switching my new webhost, TextDrive, is that they have a much cooler statistics program called Urchin. With it, I can see a lot of information about who’s visiting the site, and what articles they’re reading. Plus, I can learn what browsers they’re using. Here are the current percentages:
26% Internet Explorer
22% Firefox
5% Safari
3% Opera
(The numbers don’t add up to 100%, because I’m omitting RSS readers, robots and specialty browsers, such as those on mobile phones.)
I’m genuinely curious to find out why anyone is still using Internet Explorer, when there are much better options. Firefox is available for both Windows and Mac, and is superior on just about every level. It’s faster; it blocks pop-ups; it offers modern tabbed browsing. It even automatically imports all your old bookmarks.
If you haven’t at least tried it, stop reading and get it.
One thing the official site doesn’t explain is that it actually makes web pages look much better. That’s because it properly supports modern standards like CSS and .png graphics. For instance, compare the brad icon in the upper left right corner:
Currently website developers have two choices. They can make their sites compatible with published standards (and support Firefox, Safari and Opera), or they can support Internet Explorer. Increasingly, they’re simply giving up on Internet Explorer, which hasn’t been properly updated in a long time.
That’s what I’ve chosen to do. With a day or two of work, I could probably get johnaugust.com looking better with IE, but I’m convinced it’s not worth the bother.
Articles
January 25th, 2005 at 3:06 pm
90% of Internet users wouldn’t know that much about the Internet. It’s just easier to stay with that’s already there. Most people probably wouldn’t know there are different option that you can use, when it comes to other browsers.
I used to use Internet Explorer until about 4 months ago. It got hit with a bad bug, an ad bug. I count even search a domain. Whenever I typed in where I want to go, the page would load it wouldn’t be where I wanted to go, it would be a bogus search engine that I couldn’t get past.
Ad Aware not my service provider could fix it. So I switched to Firefox and the Firewall and the features are so much better.
January 25th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
Amen! I preach Firefox to anyone who will listen. Internet Explorer is the biggest heap of shit short of the loaf I pinched this morning.
Here’s the thing, though. Even after switching to Firefox, my IE was still enabled and I still got pop-up ads even though my IE browswer wasn’t open. You can’t uninstall IE because Bill Gates is a techno-Nazi but you can disable it. Unfortunately you may have to reinstall your operating system to completely clean out all the spyware to fully ensure nothing gets on your computer again.
Down with IE! Long live Firefox!
January 25th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
I’m gonna give it a go!
January 25th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
I tell everyone I know to use Firefox. Many people don’t really understand what I’m saying; they don’t know what a “browser” is. They think IE is what you use for the Internet in the same way Windows is what you use for your computer. (Obviously I don’t know too many Mac-heads, although I just convinced a friend to replace her stolen Compaq with a PowerBook!) When I explain that you can use Firefox instead of IE, they look worried. “Um, I don’t know about changing stuff on the computer, I don’t want it to crash.” It ain’t easy, let me tell ya.
But there are success stories: a more technically literate friend recently installed Firefox and can’t stop thanking me for recommending it. And when I clean a friend’s PC of spyware, I simply download Firefox and say “If you don’t want this to happen again, use this and not IE. No ifs, buts , ands or maybes. Just do it!”
January 25th, 2005 at 5:42 pm
I really like Firefox, but I still use IE because of how it handles hyperlinks. They’re individual 1k files that can be dragged from the Favorites folder into other folders. So if I’m researching a topic for a movie I’ll create a folder that has my notes, hyperlinks to sites, and (eventually) my script drafts. Unfortunately, Firefox links are all in a single file that, as far as I know, can’t be dragged and dropped out.
January 25th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
I know I suck, thanks for reminding me.
But my Mac isn’t robust enough to run OSX.
Actually, I just recently started running an older Netscape Navigator (version 6 something), and that is an improvement.
January 25th, 2005 at 7:54 pm
I still use IE. I’ve tried firefox, but didn’t like it. Maybe it was a familiarity thing with not wanting to leave my comfort zone of a browser that I’ve been using since I first started searching the web, but who knows.
I’ve got enough computer smarts to have myself well protected with using it. Had I no knowledge of firewalls and various other security related programs, I might want to use firefox, but as is, I likes my explorer.
January 25th, 2005 at 11:38 pm
I don’t really suffer problems with ie, could be because I have an excellent firewall that completely blocks all popups/banner ads etc. I also have mozilla/Opera for web design purposes but I always try to create CSS compatible with ie for “the masses”. It is a pain :o(
Likewise, almost everyone I know uses ie, because they don’t know of anything else. Took me long enough to persuade my best friend to install a firewall that wasn’t windows lol She kept complaining that it wanted her permission for new programs — such a chore to know what’s trying to go through your own connection! It’s amazing to me when people can’t be arsed to look after their computers right.
The net is like a giant catch 22. You have to know how to use it right to get anywhere that tells you how to use it right… boggle
January 26th, 2005 at 4:17 am
am trying out Firebox at the moment – it’s pretty (and I love the search box in the top right corner!) but it seems to load pages quite a bit slower than IE. Why might that be?
January 26th, 2005 at 5:41 am
Mac users who are still on OS9 have little choice but to use IE 5.1 or Netscape 6. For me to upgrade to Firefox (or Safari) would entail buying a new machine. But I love my old ‘Sex In The City’ G3 power book too much to abandon her.
January 26th, 2005 at 7:15 am
I imagine that people continue to use IE for the same reason so many continue to use AOL: it’s comfortable. Because they’re used to its foibles, they don’t really see the need to upgrade, even though they’d probably enjoy the improvement in performance and functionality.
January 26th, 2005 at 9:08 am
The company I work for refuses to allow us to switch to Firefox because of an issue with encryption. I use it anyway but I am sure I will be let go if I am found out.
January 26th, 2005 at 10:43 am
I actually commented on exactly this yesterday in response to a Wired article about Firefox. The majority of Internet Explorer users are drowning in newbish ignorance. However, I still think a large chunk of the web audience is using computers they can’t alter, like at work. It kills me to have to use Internet Explorer every day(especially because my site has similar image problems to use, at least in this weird, older version), but I can’t install Firefox.
I’ve been a big supporter of standards for a couple years now, I think first evidenced by my website turning away Netscape 5 and previous users. It’s good to see things changing.
January 26th, 2005 at 12:41 pm
My full sympathies for anyone who is stuck using a crappy browser because the IT department at work won’t let them switch. Likewise for the Mac users with old pre-OS X machines — though honestly, lack of OS X is probably more hurtful than lack of Firefox.
Urchin shows that on this site, less than 1% of total visitors are using IE on Mac, whereas 17% of all visitors use IE for Windows XP.
One factor which may skew the results is that malicious scripts (such as spambots) tend to identify themselves as being IE for XP. Or so I’ve heard.
Kas found Firefox slower — whereas most PC users I talk to say it’s faster. It might be worth Googling to see if there’s settings you can adjust.
January 26th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
Faster or slower, I haven’t noticed much of a difference between IE and Firefox 1.0 for Win Xp.
However…
Firefox doesn’t have all those Active X exploits that IE does have, and for Microsoft to be two years late in integrating pop-up blocking and tabbed browsing tells me that they could care less about the user experience, they’re betting most people won’t switch because they’re still “comfortable” with IE. Unfortunately, so are hackers.
January 26th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
Blast! That meant to read:
Unfortunately, most virus writers are betting the same thing
“Hackers” is so 1990’s.
January 27th, 2005 at 1:11 am
I just didn’t know any better. Because of John, I’m downloading Firefox, as of the end of this post. Later IE, you crashing, bug-filled, pop-up riddled piece of (expletive deleted)!
January 27th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
Anonymous: you can copy the website address from the address bar in Firefox, and just paste it into a text file – then you’d have all your folder links in one file. It’s about as much trouble as finding the link in your favourites, then clicking and dragging it to a folder. If that’s your main reason for not switching, I heartily recommend you do so anyway. You’ll save so much time with Firefox, you’ll soon forget about the links thing.
To anyone using IE because it’s comfortable or familiar – it wasn’t when you first started using it. As soon as I saw that I could have tabs, extensions, themes, other customisations, and no script/spyware troubles, I switched over to Firefox immediately. Took a little while to get used to it, but it was so much fun learning all the cool things it can do, the time flew by.
This isn’t some evangelical thing, I don’t care if your machines get riddled with spyware or you can’t see some sites properly. Trust me, it’s for your own good. Anything but Ie, for your own sake…
January 27th, 2005 at 8:31 pm
“One thing the official site doesn’t explain is that it actually makes web pages look much better. That’s because it properly supports modern standards like CSS and .png graphics. For instance, compare the brad icon in the upper left corner:”
Holy crap John! You’re right! it’s in the upper RIGHT corner in Safari! Sheesh, I’m switching PERMANENTLY to Firefox and dumping Safari, right this instance!
Not really. I use both.
January 28th, 2005 at 2:49 am
I tend to do as much web trawling as possible in work rather than at home, because ’tis cheaper. I wonder how many people would fall into this category?
That said, I’m downloading Firefox over the weekend at home. I’m sick and tired of letting my PC get riddled like a cheap whore by evil spyware crap when I should really know better.
January 28th, 2005 at 9:27 am
For those reluctant to totally let go of IE there is an extension for Firefox that allows you to open a page you are viewing in Firefox in IE. Sometimes I come across one of those IE only pages . . . a little right click on the page open it in IE and I am done. There’s a ton of cool extensions. Right now I’m looking at my local weather and controlling my iTunes without having to leave this page . . . and don’t forgot about the adblockers . . . I think I promote Firefox only slightly less than TiVo . . .just waiting for my Tivo 2 Go for Mac.
January 28th, 2005 at 10:07 am
Right, left. When I was a kid, the only way I could tell my directions apart was that I had a dog bite scar on my right hand. I need to remember to check it more often.
January 28th, 2005 at 10:33 am
hehe John, I had to learn a far less painful way but it made me look stupid for years… stick your hands out palms down, thumbs out at right angles. Left hand makes an L tada!
Luckily I can picture this mentally these days…
This posts sure stirred up the nerd in everyone anyway! Nutscrape and exploder are truly hated I see… evil cackle
Kirst x
January 28th, 2005 at 11:58 pm
ok, i made the switch, now someone want to tell me why the window jumps up and down? could it be cause i use windows blinds? cause all i really have to do is reload the page a couple times and it stops. Anyone know what i have to download in order to get it to stop?
January 29th, 2005 at 11:29 am
Americo: try adding a bookmark to the bookmark bar under the address bar (just drag a link or the current address to the bar, you can change it later), or installing the Flash plugin (go to a site with flash content, and Firefox will come up with a thing above the page telling you to install the plugin – follow the instructions there, it’s really simple, does it all for you).
If that doesn’t work, try some of the solutions on this page:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=113117&highlight=window+jumps
It may be something to do with Windows Blinds, try changing your theme to something else, then changing it back – try using Firefox both ways, see what happens.
January 29th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
appreciate that jimbo, was getting sick of jumping up and down to compensate.
January 30th, 2005 at 7:10 am
No worries – hope you enjoy using it!
January 31st, 2005 at 10:39 pm
Moo-crosoft,
Why would anybody be still using IE? Why would anybody still be using Moocrosoft anything.
I just started a new job that is wired, as most companies are, (97%) with PC’s.
How can you people work like this.
No wonder America is falling comfortably into second place in just about everything. Not only are we led by the wrong man at absolutely the worst time but almost all of us are suffering from an operating system that is one click away from freezing the entire office.
Meanwhile, a legion, no make that a brigade of left brained excel heads must be kept working full time just trying to stay one step ahead of the teen hacker.
Any company whose response to a system full of holes is to dole out a so called fix (Service pack 2) that has a 50% chance of wrecking the whole system Rocky style. Permanent. Is a company I will not support. Moo.
I don’t understand.
Get a mac but wait until Tiger comes out. Get firefox and join a world where crashes, freezes, blue screens, spyware, and viruses are something that somebody else gets.
VP
February 1st, 2005 at 12:29 pm
“I imagine that people continue to use IE for the same reason so many continue to use AOL: it’s comfortable.”
Really? Using IE or AOL for me is about as comfortable as drinking battery acid while gouging my eye out with a spoon. Really, though, it’s a good comparison.
IE and AOL both have similar problems (not their only problems, mind you) in that they both dominate the whole computer. You can’t get rid of AOL. It installs itself in everything, like some kind of widespread malignant cancer. I have family members who insist on using it and they don’t realize that about 60% of the reasons why they get so frustrated with computers are related to AOL. Ah, well.
BTW, this is my first time comment. I enjoy the web journal, John.
February 4th, 2005 at 9:28 am
Lucky you John! Some 90% of the people running into my blog do it thru IE. So I’m starting to evangelize (maybe you can go as far as adding a button from spreadfirefox.com, at least in the footer section).
BTW folks Firefox 1.1 will be out by late March and running even faster and safer
February 7th, 2005 at 3:24 pm
I just had a problem with Firefox. It stopped loading pages, so I closed it and reopened it. Before it would continue it asked me to choose a profile. I chose the only option given, which was “default”. But it said “default” was already in use, chose or create another. So I created another and it opened normally…except all my bookmarks, history and stored information were gone! Nowhere to be found. Anybody have any ideas what this was all about? Firefox never asked me to create a profile before this.
February 8th, 2005 at 4:04 am
On installing, didn’t Firefox ask you to create a profile ? For what i know Firefox does so and the installation assistant is so careful as to ask you which bokmarks you want to import from your previous browser. Was it v1.0 ?
February 8th, 2005 at 1:56 pm
Yeah, it was version 1.0. I had a beta version before that. I don’t recall it ever asking me to create a profile upon installation. Is there a way to revert back to the “default” profile and get my info back?
February 8th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
I’ve been using it for several months and this is the first problem I’ve encountered. It’s a great browser; never will I go back to IE.
February 19th, 2005 at 10:54 pm
I was curious and tried Firefox a little while ago. I couldn’t get the bookmarks ordered the way I wanted (Fx insisted on alphabetical order) and I was annoyed that I couldn’t just click and drag folders around in the Bookmarks menu. I managed, after a lot of searching, to figure out how to organize my bookmarks and I’m sailing along pretty happily now.
The best part of Firefox is the search box — I love being able to search IMDb or look up a word at Webster right from the box. Amazing how often I use it.
Oh, one other reason I didn’t switch sooner — same reason I haven’t switched to being a Fundamentalist Christian. Firefox users can come on a little strong. If someone implies that I’m an ignorant jack-ass for my current choice of browser, why the heck would I listen to their suggestions? It’s not necessary to vilify IE, MS, Bill Gates, and everything the man has touched — Firefox can stand on its own merits.
February 23rd, 2005 at 6:20 am
You really should try and fix the IE PNG problem rather that making other people suffer because they can’t or don’t want to switch to FireFox. Even if you assume the stance that MS have done something wrong or are evil, don’t make their users suffer.
Personally I prefer IE, it’s just the browser of choice for me.
A simple Javascript solution…
Add this script to any page that uses PNG’s
Create the following as a file “png.js”
ctPNG() // correctly handle PNG transparency in Win IE 5.5 or higher. { for(var i=0; i"
img.outerHTML = strNewHTML
i = i-1
}
}
}
window.attachEvent("onload", correctPNG);
February 23rd, 2005 at 6:21 am
Ah… seems the comments munged my post… if you are interested email me and I’ll send you the small solution.
February 28th, 2005 at 3:06 pm
Chris,
Thanks for the info (it came through properly as email, even though the comments section mungled it). I may very well try it, though I’m (a) reticent to use any javascript, and (b) focussing on some bigger problems at the moment.
May 7th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
erm…hi, yes firefox owns IE
but i only use IE for the reason that one specific part of it owns the whole firefox, activeX programming for web including: VBScript,Visual Basic, can’t run on non Microsoft browsers, visual basic and VBscript i the easiest programming language and it pisses off FF users which i strongly dislike, i do not know why people would care for such things
skins:stupid and useless tabbing:annoying and pointless popup block:use pop-oops genious viruses: you monkey, use antivirus! hacking: do you say yes to every single download thing asked? activeX controls?
i see no point in using IE and plus, stop spreading FireBox, it will burn and die, it is not a close time until Internet Explorer turns into Internet Exploder
plus, IE is a true powerful browser that supports everything!
October 5th, 2007 at 12:39 am
[...] from the margin. If your browser isn’t up to the task, why are you still using it? See another example at John August’s site. Then go download Firefox for [...]